I was reading
the papers recently and came across a column where the writer expressed
curiosity over a trust fund that’s supposed to benefit PLDT employees when they
retire. It’s a nice notion, a fund that
you can dip from when you’re ready to call it a day on your career – but, upon
reading further, it’s anything but
beneficial for the employees. In fact,
it looks like someone else stands to
benefit from that fund.
PLDT’s
Beneficial Trust Fund or BTF is apparently being used to buy up whole TV
networks and shares in radio stations and newspapers – and we aren’t talking
about just any old media outfit, we’re talking about the big guns: TV5, shares
in the Star and Business Mirror, and there was even talk about PLDT’s head honcho buying
GMA 7. But what’s got PLDT’s employees
running scared is that these acquisitions are all losing money at a pretty fast
clip – and there are nasty rumors circulating that this is all a front that
will lead to the Indonesians (It was in the news: the Salims are the real power behind PLDT.) taking over
Philippine media. What the hell?! And that still
isn’t all: other rumors say that it’s all a ploy to put PLDT big man Manny
Pangilinan in Malacanang come 2016!
Again: what the hell?!?
Honestly, it all
smacks of transparency here because the PLDT employees are up in arms. Considering that the BTF was created for
their benefit, they’re going to be on the losing end if no one gets to the
bottom of this business of buying up TV stations that seem to be going to
pot. Someone had better look into that
BTF (and the companies formed under
it: BTF Holdings and Media Quest) soon.
I may not be a patriot, but I don’t care much for the notion of
foreigners running the show.
