BIZ BUZZ: SMC vows more help in flood-control efforts

After removing over 2 million tons of solid waste and silt from the Pasig, Tullahan and San Juan rivers, all three waterways are flowing more freely again thanks to the P3-billion cleanup drive of San Miguel Corp (SMC). Now, the country’s largest conglomerate by revenues and assets wants to help solve the perennial flooding issue in Central Luzon, several areas of which were swamped in recent weeks due to incessant rains. San Miguel president and CEO Ramon Ang made this commitment to  Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga in a recent meeting, where he detailed the progress that the firm has made in its river restoration efforts. San Miguel has offered to undertake these efforts for free because it has a big stake in the area in general, and Bulacan in particular, namely the MRT 7 project, the Bulacan Bulk Water Supply facility and the P740-billion New Manila International Airport. With the conglomerate’s technical expertise and financial muscle, hopefully the floods of the last three weeks will be the last the area will experience for a long time.

—Daxim L. Lucas

Stamp of approval

When Danny Yu stepped in as PLDT Inc.’s new chief financial officer (CFO) in May, he was served with a (very) tall order: take the lead in settling the multibillion budget overrun that dragged the company’s bottom line in the past year. The former group controller previously outlined measures to prevent the financial fiasco from happening again, including a stricter project management system to monitor capital expenditure outlays. And his efforts seem to be paying off as PLDT president Al Panlilio commended the brand new CFO. “Danny has done a good job fixing a lot of depreciation. Our objective is to bring down loans eventually,” Panlilio told reporters during PLDT’s recent financial briefing in Makati. “We can only do that once we fix more things and see if we can push revenues [and] improve Ebitda (earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization),” he added.

—Tyrone Jasper C. Piad INQ