MVP on what matters in life and business

What values are more important than wealth or money?

For Wharton-educated tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, the answer is family, faith and friends.

MVP addressed officers, employees and VIP guests of the First Pacific of Hong Kong at a glittering event marking the Hong Kong-based conglomerate’s 45th anniversary at the Meralco Theater on May 26, 2026.

MVP was nostalgic and philosophical. He sounded like the cardinal in “Conclave,” where the dean of the College of Cardinals, played by Ralph Fiennes, in his homily “prayed that the new pope be a doubting pope – one who sins and asks for forgiveness, and carries on.”

First Pacific was born one summer in Hong Kong 45 years ago, with four people, rented furniture and 50 square meters of office.

MVP was then 35. “There is something sacred about small beginnings that you cannot feel until they are behind you. There was freedom in being young. We risked freely. We didn’t have much in experience and money, but we made up for it in sheer energy, in daring, in taking risks and almost being promiscuous with it.”

Today, First Pacific is a vast Asian conglomerate with a strong presence in among the fastest growing sectors of the economy in the Philippines and the rest of Asia.

In 45 years, MVP built a business from zero, into a conglomerate with $5.3-billion assets, $10-billion annual revenues and $661 million in profits – a group “that found itself woven into the fabric of daily Filipino life. The water people drink in the morning. The power that lights their homes at night. The roads that take them to work. The connections that keep them close to the people they love.”

First Pacific owns 25.6 percent and controlling vote of PLDT, 100 percent owner of Smart mobile telco and 11.2 percent owner of Maya, the leading Philippine fintech. FP owns 49.9 percent of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), 23.7 percent of Meralco, 19.1 percent of Maynilad Water and 46.6 percent of Metro Pacific Tollways.

In natural resources, FP owns 31.2 percent of Philex and another 15 percent through an affiliate; 34.8 percent of PXP Energy and 37.2 percent of IndoAgri.

The FP business has gross asset value of $5.3 billion – $1.29 billion in MPIC, $1.205 billion in PLDT, $581 million in Philex Group, $398 million in PLP and $1.775 billion in Indofood.

Here is how FP describes its sprawling businesses:

“Indofood is the largest vertically integrated food company in Indonesia and producer of the global instant noodle brand Indomie while PLDT is the dominant integrated telecommunications and digital services provider in the Philippines with the largest fixed broadband network and the largest and most modern wireless network in the country. MPIC is a leading infrastructure investment and management company in the Philippines, with holdings in the country’s largest electricity distributor, power generator, toll road operator, water distributor and health care group. MPIC also holds investment in real estate, light rail and agribusiness.

“First Pacific also holds investments in PacificLight Power Pte. Ltd., Philex Mining Corporation and PXP Energy Corporation. PLP operates one of Singapore’s most efficient gas-fired power plants. Philex is one of the largest metal mining companies in the Philippines, producing gold and copper, and PXP is an upstream oil and gas company with a number of service contracts in the Philippines.”

Meralco is the Philippines’ largest electricity distributor, with 50 percent of electricity demand from a population of 30.4 million. MPIC has 1,119 kms of toll expressways in ASEAN. Maynilad is the largest private water utility, servicing 10.5 million people with 1.6 million connections. Metro Pacific Health has 29 hospitals, the largest chain, with 4,592 beds, 5.4 million outpatients and 241,937 inpatients.

In 2025, FP generated revenues of $10.23 billion, with record recurring net profit of $740 million, and record net profit of $661 million, both up 10 percent over 2024.

“It takes ambition and power to build empires, any empire,” MVP shared. “But equally, it requires passion for your work, and the love and care of your people to build a lasting legacy of an empire.”

More than empire building, MVP ruminated on what really matters in life. “Comfort, strength and mobility are blessings we often take for granted until they are taken away,” he said.

To Manny, First Pacific’s story “is not a story about loss or about pain. It is a story about resilience. About courage. About learning to slow down, to heal and to appreciate the people who stand beside us when life changes course.”

“We may own luxury cars, but today, the vehicle that matters most for me is a 16-year-old, thrice-depreciated van – because it is the only one that can carry me, my wheelchair and my hope for recovery,” he confided.

MVP urged his audience to doubt. Why? “Because certainty is the enemy of tolerance, of unity, of progress – if certainty were pervasive, there would be no mystery, and therefore no need for faith.”

“We shouldn’t dislike the mystery brought by the unknown in our lives. I know it makes life more complicated for us, but it’s also what makes living so dynamic, so alive, so interesting,” he preached.

“Variety and doubt in life go hand in hand because views, beliefs, approaches and doubts are all part of life’s rich tapestry. And the sheer presence of variety and doubt precisely requires leadership that is able to manage the increasingly immeasurable complexity we encounter every day.”

“That I doubt freely – and even proudly – has made me a better person, and a better leader. I hope this tradition of leadership continues on for First Pacific,” MVP exhorted.

With that message, he concluded, “I cannot wait to get back to my previous healthy life, and continue working with all of you and playing badminton. Again, congratulations to you all. Mabuhay ang First Pacific!”

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