BIZ BUZZ: The last laugh

It wasn’t an easy run at the Philippine National Bank (PNB), but ultimately—after four years at the helm—it turned out to be a relatively successful one for the bank’s former president and CEO, Wick Veloso.

The veteran banker earlier this week took his oath of office as the new president and general manager of the Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS) before President Marcos, who tapped him to ensure the safety and growth of the billions of pesos in retirement funds of some 1.5 million active and retired state employees.

But Biz Buzz hears he didn’t leave his former employers hanging, as he first made sure that he would leave the bank in better shape than when he came in (which, from what we heard back then, was in shambles, financially speaking).

We hear that, as of May, PNB’s unaudited net income was up six times the previous year’s level, even without the one-time gains brought about by the unloading of idle real estate to another holding company.

Similarly, the return on equity for the bank’s owners—the Lucio Tan group—was up to over 10 percent as of May from only 2.6 percent in the same period last year.

Return on assets was up to 1.5 percent from almost zero (well … 0.3 percent), and net interest margins were sustained at 3 percent in line with the previous year’s performance and that of the broader banking industry.

All in all, it was a good performance for Veloso, considering that he ruffled a lot of feathers among the many factions of owners by implementing a cleanup plan at the bank. In fact, so many feathers were ruffled that one powerful faction tried to ease him out just over the summer (as they historically tended to do with CEOs who get too serious about their work).

But all’s well that ends well, and Veloso, having had the last laugh, is now focused on his new role at the GSIS.

The big question is who will agree to take on the role as PNB’s permanent president? Abangan!

—Daxim L. Lucas

New chief

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) is now being headed in an officer in charge capacity by one of its current commissioners, Johannes Benjamin Bernabe, who was also the lead adviser for the Philippine Competition Act.

This came after former chair Arsenio Balisacan took the role of socioeconomic planning secretary under the National Economic and Development Authority for the Marcos Jr. administration.

This year, PCC seeks to settle all pending competition cases, address cartel cases and launch investigations on anticompetitive merger cases, among others.

Joining Bernabe are commissioners Emerson Aquende, Marah Victoria Querol and Michael Peloton. They are tasked with deciding on market competition matters within the agency’s jurisdiction. It is the job of PCC to ensure competition in the market for the benefit of the consumers.

Before his stint at the PCC, Bernabe was a senior fellow involved with international trade policy reforms at the Geneva-based International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development.

From 1999 to 2005, he was also the Philippines’ trade negotiator at the World Trade Organization on services trade, intellectual property and competition law.

He completed his undergraduate degree in Economics and law degree from the University of the Philippines.

Bernabe was also a Chevening Fellow in the University of London. He earned his postgraduate diploma in Competition Law from King’s College in London.

—Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Demolition job?

Whoever’s behind what many people who had worked with Customs chief Jagger Guerrero claimed to be a demolition job against him was most likely worried that the former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff would keep his post in the Marcos Jr. administration.

Up to now, the President has yet to name his choice to head the country’s second biggest tax-collection agency, which had also been reputed to be among the most corrupt in government.

But even Guerrero’s former supervisor, former Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, only had good words to say about the embattled Bureau of Customs (BOC) commissioner.

Dominguez said he even recommended to Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno to keep Guerrero, who fought smuggling and modernized the BOC under his watch.

Dominguez even warned Diokno about the repercussions of hiring a new guy in-charge at Aduana: that it would possibly delay by two years the ongoing modernization at the BOC, which Guerrero’s currently in the thick of implementing.

A day before President Duterte stepped down, Guerrero led the launch of two digitalization initiatives: the “i-Declare” system for digitalized and streamlined customs baggage and currency declaration at airports, on top of an online payment system of customs duties, taxes and other charges slapped on postal items handled by the state-run PHLPost.

When Biz Buzz asked Guerrero last Wednesday on the sidelines of the turnover ceremony between Dominguez and Diokno if he knew who shall succeed him at the BOC, he just shook his head.

But for some observers, the fact that Guerrero was dragged into the damning Senate report alleging he was among agricultural smugglers’ protectors also likely meant he was in the running to stay at the BOC.

So will Guerrero remain, or will he be replaced? Abangan!

—Ben O. de Vera

Pinoys love stickers

Do you find yourself sending too many stickers to your friends and family via Viber? You are not alone, apparently.

Berina Tanovic, senior partnership manager at the global messaging platform, said that Filipinos love to express themselves through sticker packs available in the app.

“It’s a fun and interactive way to exchange [messages],” she told Biz Buzz on the sidelines of an event in Makati last week.

And Viber makes sure there is a sticker out there for everyone to enjoy.

These include digital images of cats or dogs greeting you a “good morning” or cheering you on when you feel down because, sometimes, words are not enough to express one’s emotions. A visual representation of your thoughts can encapsulate what you are feeling as well when you hit send.

Viber also teams up with Filipino artists to provide users a more localized appeal and relatable content for the sticker packs.

“We try to make sure that when we are creating a sticker pack that we cover most of the target groups that the brand wants to attract,” Tanovic said.

More than this, however, the Viber official said stickers could also be used for brand awareness.

She explained that organizations were using Viber stickers to “highlight important topics” and boost engagement with their customers.

“The brands, if they want to create stickers, like a branded sticker, they can easily apply through our website and our sales team will take over to explain commercial models and all the steps to make sure these stickers will be popular [and] widely used,” she said.

So, what is your favorite Viber sticker pack?

—Tyrone Jasper C. Piad