Interesting times

It’s going to be an exciting year ahead for one conglomerate that has long been beset by leadership challenges at the very top.

That’s because the family patriarch is now old and physically weak, especially after an intense bout with COVID-19 a couple of years ago. His mind is still said to be sharp during his lucid moments, but a tight cordon sanitaire has been set up around him by the family matriarch who is slowly but surely consolidating control over the still substantial remnants of the business empire.

The last key piece that the matriarch needs to eliminate is the tycoon’s son from his second family who still holds key positions in the group, although the ground under him has been shrinking for some years now.

The problem for the matriarch is that this son from the second family is highly respected in business circles and, as such, carries some degree of gravitas that cannot be easily replaced by other family members. In fact, many business partners (both local and foreign) as well as government officials prefer dealing with this “second son” when discussing matters that affect the empire.

Unfortunately for him, 2023 is the year when he will will be excised from all official and unofficial roles completely. And the wheels have been set in motion since last year.

His replacement will be his young nephew—the grandson of the matriarch—who is now being given more and more operational responsibilities within the group. This young prince is, by all indications, smart and is full of potential. But he is way too young to take the reins of a multibillion dollar enterprise, and has little experience dealing with the local landscape.

So the young prince basically takes orders from the matriarch who basically acts as a “queen regent,” running things until the lineal successor is ready.

The question on everybody’s mind, of course, is whether this setup will work, given that the power structure within the group has been in a flux for some years now. More importantly, the infighting and jockeying for position among other family members is as bad as it’s ever been. And it looks like it will only get worse this year. What does 2023 hold for this group? Will the matriarch’s plans unfold as planned? Or will plans miscarry? Abangan! —Daxim L. Lucas

Albay’s SMC lifeline

It may be losing billions of pesos due to two prepandemic power supply deals, but that doesn’t mean San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) power generation unit will let the province of Albay go dark.

Last week, the conglomerate decided that San Miguel Global Power will come to the rescue of debt-saddled Albay Electric Cooperative (Aleco), assuring the province of continuous power supply for the next 12 months.

This development came after the National Electrification Administration (NEA) sought the help of SMC president Ramon Ang to prevent Aleco’s imminent disconnection from the grid, following a failure to secure emergency power supply contracts with other firms, due to the cooperative’s credit issues.

Earlier, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), independent market operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, had raised concerns over recent massive power purchases made by Aleco.

IEMOP was seeking credit support for Aleco’s purchases, in view of its historical credit standing.

Following a series of discussions, SMC, through its subsidiary Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd.—the owner and operator of the 1,000-MW Masinloc Power Plant—agreed to supply Aleco’s full power requirements for 12 months.

This would enable Aleco to prevent any further credit concerns with IEMOP, which could compromise energy security in the area.

Thanks to this arrangement, Aleco customers can meet the new year knowing their electricity supply is assured. — Daxim L. Lucas INQ

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