Passion, drive and heart of an MVP

When I joined PLDT-Smart Foundation in 2011, our first gift to Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP) was a book entitled “Game of Life: Passion, Drive and Heart of an MVP.” The book put together what we think are three of MVP’s dominant passions: business, basketball and CSR. It also captured some of the precious moments of an exhibition game where he brought in some of the top NBA players to the Smart Araneta Coliseum. This amazing feat was topped by the Philippines’ hosting of the FIBA Games in 2023, again made possible by MVP’s single-minded resolve to bring the best of the sport to our basketball-crazy country.

But what drives MVP to go the extra mile, not just in basketball, is his love for the Filipino. In a 2005 speech, he said, “People often ask me why I decided to come back from Hong Kong. Why not stay in Hong Kong and live the comfort of a First-World environment? The simple answer is that this is home for me. I believe in the Filipino. I believe in the Filipino of Rizal, Bonifacio and other heroes – who all left home and after having touched the embers of enlightenment, came back. I believe in the Filipino because I know he’ll find a way to survive and succeed outside his shores. I believe in the Filipino most of all because of our values.”

This love of country propelled MVP to invest here in a big way, starting with the most needed utilities such as telecommunications, power, water and roads. He also took the risk and put his money in businesses sometimes considered complicated such as hospitals, mining, entertainment and recently agriculture. “I firmly believe that all business enterprises – large, medium, or small – have an impact on society beyond their established role of providing goods and services for a profit. Businesses transform societies. They not only shape our physical and virtual worlds, but also create new needs, new hopes, and new dreams.”

Aside from the transformative power of our business operations, we also aim to make our corporate social responsibility programs impactful on the lives of people, especially the underprivileged in our society. “At its very core, CSR is about poverty, and its alleviation – reflecting the view that conquering poverty must be the business of business.”

We in PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF), along with the other corporate foundations (One Meralco Foundation, Metro Pacific Investments Foundation, Alagang Kapatid Foundation, Makati Medical Center Foundation, Cardinal Santos Charities and Maynilad) of the MVP Group take this commitment to heart. In general, we align our CSR programs with the core business, extending the benefits of our services of communications, power, water to people who have less access. And since our country is often visited by typhoons and other natural calamities, our foundations often come together as “Tulong Kapatid” where we try to provide immediate relief to disaster-hit communities.

However, this is not enough. MVP himself has challenged us to go beyond short-term aid, and pursue economic recovery efforts for these areas. Thus, post-disaster when the attention to these communities has waned, we in PSF and the MVP Group continue to look for solutions to make the lives and livelihoods of fisherfolk, farmers and micro entrepreneurs a little better by investing in “Equipment, Training and Connection” or ETC.

Last year, we gifted MVP with the publication of the children’s book “Extraordinary Manny.” Written by Gian Lao and illustrated by Mark Andres, the book gives us a glimpse of how MVP is truly extraordinary, in his vision and his achievements. There is a line which captures MVP’s aim in every endeavor: “Extraordinary Manny wanted to give ordinary Filipinos that little extra so that they, too, could be extraordinary.”

Despite all his successes, MVP remains close to the ordinary man. Echoing his own words in the first birthday CSR activity I attended on July 2011, “I know that when you’ve lost your leg or your education, or when you’re sleeping on the floor of your shanty, or sitting on the steps of your flooded home, it is hard to imagine any future. But we CSR practitioners must believe that the future will come. We must believe in our shared humanity – that we are tied together in this life, in this nation, in the future. We must believe that the despair of one touches us all.”

In the game of life, this humility and compassion makes Manny V. Pangilinan, truly a Most Valuable Player.

virtual worlds, but also create new needs, new hopes, and new dreams.”

Aside from the transformative power of our business operations, we also aim to make our corporate social responsibility programs impactful on the lives of people, especially the underprivileged in our society. “At its very core, CSR is about poverty, and its alleviation – reflecting the view that conquering poverty must be the business of business.”

We in PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF), along with the other corporate foundations (One Meralco Foundation, Metro Pacific Investments Foundation, Alagang Kapatid Foundation, Makati Medical Center Foundation, Cardinal Santos Charities and Maynilad) of the MVP Group take this commitment to heart. In general, we align our CSR programs with the core business, extending the benefits of our services of communications, power, water to people who have less access. And since our country is often visited by typhoons and other natural calamities, our foundations often come together as “Tulong Kapatid” where we try to provide immediate relief to disaster-hit communities.

However, this is not enough. MVP himself has challenged us to go beyond short-term aid, and pursue economic recovery efforts for these areas. Thus, post-disaster when the attention to these communities has waned, we in PSF and the MVP Group continue to look for solutions to make the lives and livelihoods of fisherfolk, farmers and micro entrepreneurs a little better by investing in “Equipment, Training and Connection” or ETC.

Last year, we gifted MVP with the publication of the children’s book “Extraordinary Manny.” Written by Gian Lao and illustrated by Mark Andres, the book gives us a glimpse of how MVP is truly extraordinary, in his vision and his achievements. There is a line which captures MVP’s aim in every endeavor: “Extraordinary Manny wanted to give ordinary Filipinos that little extra so that they, too, could be extraordinary.”

Despite all his successes, MVP remains close to the ordinary man. Echoing his own words in the first birthday CSR activity I attended on July 2011, “I know that when you’ve lost your leg or your education, or when you’re sleeping on the floor of your shanty, or sitting on the steps of your flooded home, it is hard to imagine any future. But we CSR practitioners must believe that the future will come. We must believe in our shared humanity – that we are tied together in this life, in this nation, in the future. We must believe that the despair of one touches us all.”

In the game of life, this humility and compassion makes Manny V. Pangilinan, truly a Most Valuable Player.