PLDT is foreign owned? Then who owns it?

It’s two weeks to go in the first year of the Aquino administration and it seems that the cracks are beginning to show from a very unexpected source. Yes, we’re referring to the call on YouTube video of Marine Col. Generoso Mariano, Deputy Commander of the Naval Reserve Command, who virtually issued a call for a “change in the government” because “The Aquino administration failed to deliver on its promises.”

Col. Mariano, who turned 56-years old, was set to retire last Sunday but he made that video available just a day before his retirement, hence Navy Flag Officer Vice-Admiral Alexander Pama restricted the Marine Colonel to the Marine Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City pending a formal investigation. Meanwhile, so many rumours have surfaced ranging from a mere personal opinion of a disgruntled Marine officer all the way to his being backed by former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. At this point we can only wait and see where we go next from here. I hope they can diffuse this issue. 

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 Somehow because of the so many dramatic events happening with the Aquino administration, especially the exposé of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chairperson Margarita Juico on the so-called “Pajero Bishops,” which, for all intents and purposes boomeranged on her and the PCSO because it was far from the truth… we failed to notice that Supreme Court (SC) ruling that declared the Philippine Long Distance & Telephone Co. (PLDT) as a foreign entity as they have “breached the 40% foreign ownership limit for utilities.”

 In all truth and honesty, we have always believed that PLDT has been a Philippine carrier since the time it was created decades ago. Unless of course there was a foreign company that bought all of its controlling shares, then that should change the ownership equation. At this point, I’m glad that PLDT through its Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan has asked for a motion for reconsideration from the SC and I agree with him when he asked the question, “Our investors are asking why are they changing the rules now? It’s not good from a foreign investors’ perspective to change the rules. I don’t understand why we’re doing this, why we’re committing economic suicide?”

 We’ve always known that the PLDT stock are traded in the New York Stock Exchange for many decades and it is one of the more stable investments in the stock market. But its investors are not buying PLDT stocks to take over control of PLDT. More importantly, just because a lot of PLDT stock is bought in the New York Exchange, it should not mean that PLDT is now a foreign controlled entity.

 Now if a personality like Warren Buffet decides to take control of PLDT stocks, then that is another matter. But since it is still run by Mr. Pangilinan and his associates like PLDT President Napoleon Nazareno, I am of the belief that PLDT is still under Filipino control. Perhaps the question that the lawyers of PLDT ought to ask is, “If PLDT is not Filipino owned, then which country does PLDT belong to?”

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 That Cebu had 9 fires in less than a week was quite a shocker, especially in these times when it is not Fire Prevention Month. Yes, people often ask why March is dubbed as Fire Prevention month. It is due to the fact that the month of March has always been on record as having the highest number of fires. But apparently, just like the changing climate or weather, July wants to grab that honor of the most fires in a month.

 At this point, I would like to believe that our fire investigators have their hands full finding out the causes of the recent spate of fires that struck Cebu. I just hope that their findings won’t point to some pyrotechnic nut who, like the fabled Roman Emperor Nero, enjoyed watching Rome burn. But there are many other ways to prevent fire, or at least contain it so it would develop into a huge conflagration. That is through proper planning, something that we Cebuanos always fail to practice.

 One of the reasons why fires cannot be contained is due to the fact that people simply don’t use their heads or use every single inch of their properties and build their homes beside their neighbors. Worse, the road to these homes is so narrow, fire trucks cannot even enter anymore if fires occur. This is why until this time a fire that could have been contained spreads very quickly. People really forget that old quotation that said, “Those who do not remember their history are doomed to repeat them.” When these fire victims begin rebuilding their homes in the usual place, it is almost a guarantee that they would experience the same problems when fire hits them again. So when will we ever learn the lessons of the past?

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