Business titan Manuel V. Pangilinan chose to celebrate a milestone not in a ballroom but in the neighborhood where his dreams first took shape.
The PLDT chair marked his 80th birthday by returning to San Juan City, where he spent much of his childhood, leading a community initiative for children instead of the usual corporate fanfare.
Through ‘Tulong Kapatid’-the social responsibility alliance of companies under the MVP Group-along with the PLDT-Smart Foundation and partner organizations, Pangilinan helped turn over learning materials and joined a mural-painting activity at the Tibagan Child Development Center.
The effort also drew support from members of the Pangilinan family and several foundations across the group’s ecosystem.
For Pangilinan, the visit carried personal meaning. His family moved to San Juan in the early 1950s, and he spent his formative years in the city’s Little Baguio district.
Rather than dwell on the birthday milestone, Pangilinan highlighted the broader mission of the MVP Group’s foundations, saying the activity reflects their continuing work to uplift communities and create opportunities through education and social programs.
The donation included bookshelves, whiteboards, learning and hygiene kits, vitamins, art supplies and classroom toys, while volunteers transformed the center with a colorful mural.
For Pangilinan, turning 80 became less about looking back at decades of boardroom victories and more about returning to the neighborhood where the journey began.
FPH hopes third time’s the charm
For First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH), the third time may finally be the charm.
The Lopez-led conglomerate has again reset the date of its 2026 annual stockholders’ meeting (ASM), marking the third schedule for the event as the long-running dispute within the Lopez family continues to cast a shadow over one of the country’s oldest business groups.
In a disclosure on Wednesday, FPH said its board approved holding the annual meeting on Sept. 25 at 10 a.m. through a teleconferencing facility, with Aug. 5 set as the record date for shareholders entitled to vote.
The disclosure was only a few lines long. But behind the new date lies months of corporate uncertainty stemming from the feud between the Lopez family factions led by First Gen Corp. CEO Federico ‘Piki’ Lopez and the camp of the Lopez majority led by Eugenio ‘Gabby’ Lopez III.
Investors will likely watch whether the Sept. 25 meeting finally pushes through-and, more importantly, whether shareholders receive clearer answers on the state of the Lopez family’s corporate rift.
For now, FPH’s latest filing offers no clues beyond the new meeting date, leaving the market waiting once again for what could become one of the most closely watched annual meetings in the local corporate calendar.