Biz Buzz: Danding’s parting words
Industrialist Eduardo “Dan
ding” Cojuangco Jr. passed away unexpectedly two weeks ago, but apparently, not before approving and signing off on a statement that he was to deliver during yesterday’s annual stockholders meeting of San Miguel Corp., according to the conglomerate’s chief financial officer Ferdinand Constantino.
And it was to Constantino— himself a longtime San Miguel employee—that the responsibility of reading Cojuangco’s remarks fell during the meeting that was broadcast online.
In his speech, Cojuangco said he “never imagined chairing a stockholder’s meeting in this way,” and added that the COVID-19 pandemic was “the single, most life-altering event on a global scale since World War II.”
“Lives have been lost,” he said. “Businesses have gone under with unemployment rates not seen since the Great Depression.”
But he held out hope that the conglomerate he chaired since 1998 “is better positioned to transition to the next normal and emerge stronger from the pandemic.”
And San Miguel’s numbers made a compelling point: consolidated revenue of P1.02 trillion in 2019—group-wide sales of P2.8 billion a day—reflecting strong revenues from most major businesses despite the setbacks suffered by its profit center, Petron.
Then came the most poignant part of his remarks, made even more moving because it was the last one he was to deliver.
“I am proud of the way our company has quickly pivoted during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “We saw this in Ginebra San Miguel, which switched to producing disinfecting alcohol within days of the crisis. We saw this in San Miguel Foods, which churned out flour and bread and other essential food items by the thousands—just so that there would be enough to stock the supermarket shelves, and address the very real food security challenges of lower-income families.”
“I am proud of our employees who kept our facilities running at full capacity, living inside the factory gates for over two months away from their families,” he added.
And perhaps as a parting pat on the back for his protégé, Cojuangco said, “I am especially proud of our president, Ramon Ang, my longtime friend, for being the leader we needed during this difficult time.”
“Because of Ramon, our company responded to every need, spending hundreds of millions of pesos on medical equipment, COVID-19 testing machines, ventilators, quarantine facilities and PPES (personal protective equipment), supporting our health services and our government at every turn—without being asked to do so,” he said. “How Ramon behaved and how he led us to collective action will be remembered for many years to come.”
Cojuangco pointed out that San Miguel is now 130 years old.
“And while we are experiencing unprecedented times as a result of COVID-19, the hope is that over time, this period will look like a temporary pause in life as we know it,” he said. “When we look back at this time, we can be proud of how together we took action to help our country survive this crisis.”
“Maraming salamat po,” he ended. “Stay safe and keep well.”
Talk about inspiring one’s employees from the Great Beyond, huh? —DAXIM L. LUCAS
Social bonds
As donations from philanthropists may not be enough to spend our way out of the coronavirus pandemic, “social” bonds have come as a timely instrument to fund socially relevant and high-impact projects, like boosting health-care services and equipment, or medical research.
Social bonds are financing instruments whose proceeds are exclusively used to finance or refinance new or existing projects that directly aim to address or mitigate a specific social issue and/or seek to achieve positive social outcomes.
In the Philippines, Ayala-led
Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) raised the curtain for social bonds by raising at least P3 billion to fund eligible micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMES), a sector badly hit by the pandemic. By offering COVID Action Response, or CARE bonds, BPI becomes the second in Southeast Asia to float such social bonds, after the 2019 issuance by Bank of Ayudhya of Thailand of $220 million to fund women-led SMES.
“COVID-19 has given rise to serious socioeconomic issues globally, pushing enterprises to the brink of failure and leaving millions of people jobless,” Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Emilio Aquino said. “The social bond market could boost our response to and recovery from the pandemic by unlocking the much-needed capital for the promotion of public health, reopening of businesses and preservation of jobs, among others.”
In the pharmaceutical industry, for instance, social bonds may finance research and development of COVID-19 tests, vaccines and/or other medications intended to alleviate symptoms of the coronavirus disease.
Manufacturing companies may likewise issue social bonds to finance the manufacturing or modification of existing machines to produce health safety equipment and hygiene supplies.
Like what BPI has done, such bonds may be issued to provide SME loans that support employment generation in affected small businesses, and advance projects specifically designed to prevent or alleviate the joblessness caused by this pandemic.
Other eligible projects include those providing or promoting affordable basic infrastructure, access to essential services, affordable housing, employment generation, food security, and socioeconomic advancement and empowerment.