‘Count us in’: MVP backs Ang’s flood control initiatives

MANILA, Philippines — Business titan Manuel V. Pangilinan is joining tycoon Ramon Ang of the San Miguel Group in his quest to help solve flooding problems in Metro Manila.

Pangilinan met with Ang last Friday, which the chairman of the MVP Group of Companies described as a “social lunch” rather than a business meeting.

“Not much about business was discussed,” Pangilinan told The STAR.

During their lunch, Pangilinan said Ang described his plans to help address Metro Manila’s flood problem.

“We agreed to help and coordinate with (Public Works) Secretary Vince Dizon,” Pangilinan said.

He also agreed to back Ang’s flood control initiatives and convince other corporates to join and support the government and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

“A quasi-PPP (public-private partnership) effort, really,” he said.

Ang, chairman and CEO of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), earlier offered to help address flooding through the conduct of a cleanup of rivers and other waterways at no cost to the government.

SMC’s Better Rivers PH program, which was launched in 2020, has so far removed more than 8.5 million metric tons of silt and waste from 163 kilometers of rivers and tributaries in and around Metro Manila – all at no cost to government or taxpayers.

“For five years now, we have been cleaning rivers because we want to help solve the flooding problem. We don’t profit from this work and none of the dredged material is ever used for our projects. This is about doing our part for our communities,” Ang said in an earlier statement.

Pangilinan and Ang, two of the country’s most prominent business executives, have formed alliances in their energy and tollways investments.

In 2023, SMC and Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) signed a memorandum of agreement to design, build and operate the 87.96-kilometer Cavite-Batangas Expressway and Nasugbu-Bauan Expressway.

A merger between MPTC and SMC’s toll businesses has also been planned.

SMC unit San Miguel Global Power (SMGP) also recently acquired state-run Land Bank of the Philippines’ 3.8-percent stake in Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), which Pangilinan currently chairs.

Meralco’s MGen and SMGP are likewise working together with the Aboitiz Group for a $3.3-billion deal involving the development of an integrated liquefied natural gas facility in Batangas.

Recently, SMC and Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Group invested in Eight8Ate Holdings Inc., the holding company for Conti’s Bakeshop and Restaurant and Wendy’s Philippines, with both companies acquiring a 15-percent stake each.