The Age of Disruption

I recently bumped into Ramoncito Fernandez, the indefatigable and witty president and CEO of Maynilad Water Services Inc.

As if his work at Maynilad isn’t enough to keep him busy, Mr. Mon now has additional responsibilities as the new president of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).

I was glad to see him because until that night, I haven’t had the chance to congratulate him after seeing photos of him all over the newspapers when he became MAP president last December.

Beaming with excitement, Mr. Mon gladly shared with me his plans and projects for MAP under his watch which are embodied in the organization’s theme this year: Competing in the Age of Disruption.

MAP, he said, would focus on three major areas during his term – competitiveness and ease of doing business, (which is a perennial issue among businessmen), managing disruption, and data privacy and cyber security.

With this theme, the MAP encourages “collaborative and transformative programs that will help companies face the massive disruptions caused by advancements in technology, innovations in business models, prominence of borderless competition, adaptation to climate change, and dynamism in geopolitics.”

He said the MAP, in partnership with the business community, the government, the academe, and civil society, would push for reforms to help the country improve its competitiveness, enable businesses to capitalize on disruptions, encourage the government to sustain a level-playing business environment, and inspire the citizenry to contribute to social progress.

The Age of Disruption isn’t just a figment of the imagination, he said. It’s happening now and fast with all the technological advancements.

Organizations have no choice but to adapt with the changes or die, he said.

“History has shown that even huge corporations are not invulnerable to disruptions. There is really no choice but to adapt, and some organizations need more help than others to turn disruptions into opportunities,” Mr. Mon shared.

MAP, he said, would come up with activities to help organizations face the massive disruptions to business.

What keeps CEOs awake at night

The third focus is data privacy and cyber security, which Mr. Mon said, are issues that keep MAP members and other CEOs awake at night.

“While there have been robust developments in the field of data protection, data breaches remain as pervasive as ever. If the seemingly impenetrable Pentagon is vulnerable to data breaches, how can an ordinary individual protect his personal information? Cyber-attacks put every organization at risk,” he warned.

Toward this end, Mr. Mon said MAP would be proactive in helping its members protect sensitive personal information and enhance cyber security.

There will be a lot of other activities along the way as MAP remains focused with all its other advocacies, which are all meant to help the business community and the country.

With all these plans, I teased him that he may no longer have time for Maynilad. He had a hearty laugh.

Turning serious, he said MAP has a very hard working staff, officers and cooperative members to help the organization reach its goals for the year.

Indeed, I am sure that with Mr. Mon at the helm, the MAP will be able to achieve its plans. Best of luck, sir!

I do hope we all survive the Age of Disruption.

Super consortium: Tweaking happens

The battle for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is heating up.

But competition is always good. Both groups vying to bid for NAIA, the country’s main gateway, are excited.

The first group to submit an offer was the super consortium of seven conglomerates: the MVP Group’s Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), Aboitiz Group’s Aboitiz InfraCapital Incorporated, Ayala’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Incorporated, Lucio Tan-led Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., the Gotianuns’ Filinvest Development Corp. and the Gokongwei Group’s JG Summit Holdings Incorporated.

Their P350 billion offer to operate and redevelop NAIA in two phases for a period of 35 years has been deemed complete.

The other group is the consortium of Megawide Construction Corp. and Bangalore-based GMR, which submitted a roughly P157 billion proposal to operate and redevelop NAIA for a concession period of 18 years.

I felt some tension between the two groups last week when the super consortium said it was open to tweaking its proposal to suit the government’s preference.

But Megawide said this should not be allowed because an unsolicited proposal, once submitted, must be evaluated as it is.

Over lunch recently, NAIA consortium spokesperson Jose Emmanuel “Jimbo” Reverente said tweaking happens when the government calls for negotiations with the proponent to determine what is best suited for NAIA.

He said during negotiations, the Department of Transportation could ask the proponent to tweak its proposal to incorporate the department’s inputs before it is submitted to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

The existing build-operate-transfer rules allow for these negotiations where “tweaking” may happen, Reverente said.

For the super consortium, tweaking isn’t an issue. In fact, it said it is now just waiting to be awarded an original proponent status after its proposal was already declared complete.

What’s happens next in this race remains to be seen. But as I’ve said before, I hope the country will end up having a better and more efficient NAIA.

Iris Gonzales’ e-mail address is [email protected]