PLDT to fill vacated positions in less than a quarter

PLDT Inc. is expecting to fill vacated positions in the listed telecommunications company in less than three months, its top official said.

“It’s in process. Soon, there will be a nomination committee meeting about it,” PLDT President and Chief Executive Officer Alfredo S. Panlilio told reporters on the sidelines of an Ookla awards event on Wednesday.

When asked how long the appointments would take, Mr. Panlilio said: “Not more than a quarter.”

On April 20, the company named officers-in-charge for the departments previously handled by officers who voluntarily vacated their key posts last week.

Mr. Panlilio said that there is a possibility that the officers-in-charge will be upgraded to the posts they were assigned to.

“There’s a lot of good people in PLDT. For example, for finance, Danny Y. Yu has been with the group for the longest time… so he has a lot of experience.”

Mr. Yu is currently in charge of the company’s finance department after the early retirement of Anabelle L. Chua, who was senior vice-president, chief financial officer, and chief risk management head.

PLDT appointed First Vice-President Bernadette C. Salinas to be in charge of supply chain management after the voluntary resignation of Mary Rose L. Dela Paz, senior vice-president and chief procurement officer.

First Vice-President and Deputy Network Head Roderick S. Santiago was assigned to be the officer-in-charge for the network department, following the early retirement of Mario G. Tamayo, senior vice-president and network head.

Meanwhile, Mr. Panlilio said that there could be a challenge in PLDT’s expansion this year as inflation rises, but said the demand will remain as a lot of people need connectivity.

“There’s still demand but maybe not as huge as last year. Because of the challenged wallets of our consumers, affordability becomes an issue,” he said.

The company aims to service all the socioeconomic classes of the market through new product offerings such as sachet-size products and other prepaid wireless solutions.

“Hopefully we can come up with products that are aligned to these. We are trying to be sensitive to what the public can afford,” Mr. Panlilio said.

“There’s demand as connectivity is a human right so it’s a matter of us thinking of a product that is suited to the requirement,” he added.

On Wednesday, the company was awarded by the global benchmarking firm Ookla for the fifth consecutive year as it topped the Speedtest Awards in 2022.

Ookla said PLDT achieved a top speed score of 86.52 due to its aggressive network expansion.

PLDT is the only provider in the Philippines to have achieved the highest award for the fifth time from Ookla. Luke Deryckx, chief technology officer of Ookla, said that feat is achieved only by a handful of internet service providers worldwide.

In Southeast Asia, only PLDT and Singapore’s ViewQwest have achieved it.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Justine Irish D. Tabile