BIZ BUZZ: Almendras hangs up Ayala hat

Not a few tears were shed during the touching retirement ceremony in honor of Rene Almendras, who is stepping down as senior managing director and group head of public affairs of Ayala Corp.

Almendras joined the Ayala Group in January 2001 when he was appointed chief executive officer of Cebu Holdings Inc. and Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corp. He took on different roles in the succeeding years, including CEO of Manila Water Co.

He did take a six-year break from 2010 to 2016, as he was called up to join the administration of his friend, the late former President Benigno Aquino III. He took on different roles there as well, among them secretary to the Cabinet.

READ: Ayala earnings up 5% to P34B

But even if he had held top posts in both the government and the private sector, the proud Cebuano has been known to be among the most approachable of the top Ayala executives, able to relate to everyone up and down the corporate ladder.

This is not difficult for Almendras, who believes that “You can be significant no matter how lowly your position or how simple your role [is] when you affect others positively.”

Informed sources told Biz Buzz that Almendras’ retirement—to be followed by the retirement next year of Globe Telecom CEO Ernest Cu— means that the changing of the guard at the country’s oldest conglomerate is almost complete.

What will Almendras do next? For now, what is sure is that he will join the boards of the Center for Family Ministries of the Ateneo de Manila University and the Institute for Regional Security in Canberra, Australia.

He has also been asked to stay on at Ayala as a part-time consultant. But will he eventually join corporate boards outside the Ayala Group? Only time will tell. —Tina Arceo-Dumlao

Travelers keep Cebu Pacific busy

It is, indeed, the holiday season.

And we’re not saying this just because of the hellish traffic we’ve been seeing in Metro Manila lately.

For the first time, budget carrier Cebu Pacific surpassed 80,000 passengers flown in a single day on Dec. 20, when 81,243 people boarded its aircraft toward home or vacation.

READ: Cebu Pacific receives delivery of 16th aircraft for 2024

The celebration was brief but made better the next day: according to Cebu Pacific chief operating officer Javier Massot, they flew 83,100 passengers on Saturday, Dec. 21.

“As we approach the Christmas season, we’re proud to help reunite families and friends for the holidays,” Massot said in a LinkedIn post.

This, of course, should no longer come as a surprise, especially as nearly everyone we know will spend their holidays in other parts of the country, or, for some, the world.

Cebu Pacific has likewise been launching new routes left and right. Earlier this year, it began offering direct flights to Chiang Mai and Don Mueang in Thailand, and Osaka in Japan and announced additional flight schedules to local destinations.

Just to make sure that they have enough planes in their fleet to accommodate the booming travel demand, Cebu Pacific also recently took delivery of its 16th aircraft for the year.

Maybe we can expect another breach of its daily record before the year ends. After all, we still have the New Year holiday. —Meg J. Adonis

What PPP? It’s air navigation JV

When an official of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center of the Philippines spoke about the “rejection” of the P29.82 billion proposal of Comclark Network and Technology Corp. to upgrade the country’s air navigation facilities, it came as a surprise to the proponent, tech tycoon Dennis Anthony Uy of Pampanga.

Discussions are still ongoing but the project is shaping up now to be a joint venture (JV) with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) — and not a PPP, Uy said in a recent media chat.

As such, it’s the DOTr that knows more about the progress of the project, he said.

Uy said he’s willing to invest because nobody else will do it.

Why JV and not PPP? It’s because there are equipment that had already been purchased by the government that officials wish to fold into the venture.

Meanwhile, Comclark’s outlays will go down a bit from the P29.82 billion estimate earlier given, because the government would have an equity contribution.

However, Uy said ComClark would still get majority control.

“We see that the country needs to be faster to move forward,” Uy said. “Our air traffic is totally outdated technology. Turnaround is 35 to 40 minutes so the plane is burning gases.”

“This is only technology intervention,” he said. — Doris Dumlao-Abadilla