PLDT CFO, SVP take early retirement amid budget overrun issue

MANILA  -Key officials of telco giant PLDT Inc., including chief financial officer Anabelle Chua, took early retirement while others tendered voluntary resignation and availed themselves of the company’s manpower reduction program following the conclusion of the probe into the P48-billion (now down to P33 billion) budget mess.

Apart from Chua, senior vice president and network head Mario Tamayo also went into early retirement while senior vice president and chief procurement officer Mary Rose Dela Paz filed for voluntary resignation.

These changes in management are already effective.

The telco filed a disclosure on this with the Philippine Stock Exchange Monday but it did not expressly say these officials’ early retirement and voluntary resignation were linked to the budget issue that roiled the company.

Earlier, Chua was “on leave with pay to allow the company to conduct an independent investigation” of the budget overrun, which was caused by “over orders” of 5G technology.

Last month, PLDT said it had “substantially” completed the probe into the budget mess, stressing no evidence of fraud was uncovered. INQ