RSA for president

I got a call and an email yesterday morning from Ramon S. Ang, the chair and CEO of the Philippines’ largest company, San Miguel Corporation. He wanted to stress one message – he is not running for president, of the Philippines. No politics for him. Only nation building.

Reports have circulated online in the mainstream media that a civilian-military group being formed wants to invite RSA to be the caretaker president in a major reset of the Philippine government.

Business and people in general are outraged by recent revelations of massive corruption, the looting of over P1 trillion in taxpayers’ money, money parked under the Department of Public Works and Highways intended for flood control in the past three years, 2022-2025. The money was stolen systematically by a syndicate of criminals composed of senators and congressmen, engineers and other officials (including cashiers) of the DPWH and a cabal of corrupt contractors numbering not more than 20.

People have never been so angry.  They want accountability. They want life imprisonment, if not death, to the flood-gate (as in flood control scandal a la Watergate) perpetrators. And yes, certain high officials must be ousted, through legal or extra-constitutional means. Hence, the talks of a caretaker government. Suddenly, the nation is in search for leaders. Like RSA. Here is RSA’s response:

“I have been getting many messages today, and I also saw the story that has been circulating. Let me put things to rest: I am not entering politics.
“Most people know me as someone who works quietly in business, building projects, fixing what I can and supporting government and communities. That is where I believe I can contribute the most, and that is where I intend to stay.

“Our country is facing many challenges, and it is understandable that people want things resolved quickly. But moving forward will never depend on one individual. It will take government, private sector and the public all moving in the same direction.
“My focus is to support that effort. I will be a dependable partner in building our country, nothing more. Thank you to everyone who reached out. Let us continue working together for the good of our nation.”

RSA is perhaps the best of our CEOs. He knows nation-building like the palm of his hand. In fact, ask him what SMC’s business is, and RSA says it’s nation-building. SMC currently accounts for six percent of GDP. With its NAIA and Bulacan AeroCity, that share will rise to 15 percent equivalent of GDP.

The country’s main problem is the economy. Inflation – one of the highest rates in ASEAN. Food shortages; easily two million tons of rice alone, yearly. Unemployment, at 3.5 percent one of the highest in ASEAN. Self-rated poverty, 50 percent of families, the highest in ASEAN. Interest rates, the highest in ASEAN. Income inequality is one of the worst in the world. That is a formula for a revolution.

Yet, the Philippines is richly endowed – 14th largest in the world in population, with 116 million today; the world’s 30th largest economy and Asia’s ninth largest, at $500-billion annual output. In minerals, we are one of the richest, Top Five. In fisheries and aquatic resources, we are probably No. 2. Two-thirds of our territory is water. Our coastline is twice that of the US.

RSA has taken on tasks other CEOs will invariably find formidable, if not impossible, to do.

As president since 2002 and, since 2024, chairman-CEO of San Miguel Corp., he has executed the most massive and meaningful business transformation ever undertaken by a Philippine company.

San Miguel is the largest – in revenues, beer, food manufacturing, packaging, petroleum refining and marketing, power generation, tollways under franchise, infrastructure, storage battery and in airports under management – NAIA, Boracay and the P735-million Bulacan Aerotropolis. SMC is probably also the largest in expenditure for corporate social responsibility.

RSA (net worth per Forbes: $3.7 billion) has volunteered to clean the perennially clogged rivers and tributaries of the national capital and nearby provinces, a job that costs several billion. Flood control is an expensive business. The Department of Public Works and Highways lost a colossal P1 trillion in just three years in bogus and substandard flood control projects. The failed projects resulted in massive floods this year across the archipelago.

In three years, SMC spent P3 billion or P1 billion a year to clean up rivers, which is half of the strategy of controlling if not stopping floods altogether.

“I will help Metro Manila in solving the flood problem at no cost to the people, no cost to the government,” Ang has declared.

“Your World Made Better” is SMC’s mission and vision, its firm commitment to national development to make the 130-year-old company and the Filipino more resilient and competitive. “Our business is nation building,” proclaims the company. “Creating value, driving economic growth and uplifting Filipinos define us as a company.”

For SMC, nation building means a nation with the needed infrastructure to thrive in the global economy, that enjoys energy security and food security and one that can attract investments to create support projects that will generate economic vitality. It is a nation where prosperity is widely shared.

“We focus on industries on which the country’s future depends. And we work to balance economic development with sustainability,” says RSA.

“This means protecting our natural resources and creating strong, cohesive communities where every Filipino has equal access to a better future. This means forging ahead with projects that will transform the Philippine economy and, more importantly, our communities.”

Today, SMC businesses touch every facet of the Filipino life – food and beverages, fuel and oil, packaging, properties, power, infrastructure, cement and automobiles.

In 2007, with RSA at helm, SMC uncorked a massive diversification to intensify growth, grow revenues and profits dramatically and assert its market leadership in essential industries and growth areas. Today, 60 percent of SMC’s business are the handiwork of RSA.

*      *      *

Email: [email protected]