How about a businessman, RSA, for president?

The best corporate response to COVID in the Philippines today is being shown by San Miguel Corp., silently and without undue publicity, under the able and proven leadership of Ramon S. Ang or RSA, an excellent corporate statesman, a visionary, and a tried and tested leader, who make things happen without bragging about it. From a one-product beer company, RSA transformed SMC into what it is today, a trillion-revenue conglomerate of a corporate titan, with a diversified portfolio of businesses, increasing stockholders' value a million fold, while caring for its own people with genuine compassion and concern.

Under the leadership of RSA, SMC has become the Philippines' biggest, strongest and most successful corporate enterprise with no less than 25,000 employees, not counting the hundreds of thousands of external service providers, who also derive their means of livelihood from the conglomerate. SMC is now a publicly-listed multi-national conglomerate with hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates and joint ventures. In 2020, even in the vortex of the pandemic, SMC earned a revenue of more than a trillion pesos, and a net income of no less than P48.6 billion. The total assets of SMC is P1.8 trillion. Aside from its flagship San Miguel Brewery Inc., SMC owns the San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc., Ginebra San Miguel, San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Corp., San Miguel Properties, and Petron Corp., the country's number one oil company, that operates the only oil refinery standing in Limay, Bataan. SMC also owns Bank of Commerce, Manila North Harbor Port Inc., Northern Cement Corp., SMC Asia Cars Distributors. SMC also operates the TPLEX and is building Asia's biggest airport in Bulacan.

SMC grew tremendously under RSA. Not even Don Andres Soriano, Andres Soriano Jr., and Andres Soriano III, not even Danding Cojuangco achieved what RSA has accomplished. RSA is both a man of vision and one of action. He can see in the future what ordinary mortals cannot discern. He has an eye for transforming businesses into pots of gold. He could turn around a losing outfit into a multi-million enterprise. RSA knows how to choose the right people for the right jobs. He has a special gift that not even the other taipans have. Under the Sorianos, SMC was besieged with hundreds of labor strikes. Under RSA, the SMC employees have become partners of management in pushing for productivity, quality, and profitability, thereby adding value to the stockholders' equity and making SMC the employer of choice among brilliant and passionate new graduates of leading institutions of learning.

RSA is the vice chairman, president, and CEO of SMC. His own net worth in 2019 was $2.9 Billion and is now one of the ten richest Filipinos. He is also the Chairman of Eagle Cement and Cyber Bay Corp. and president and CEO of Top Frontier Investment Holdings. Under his leadership, SMC has ventured into infrastructures through the SMC Holdings Corp., Rapid Thoroughfares Inc, Private Infra Development Corporation (TPLEX), Manila Expressways Inc., SMC SLEX Inc., Citra MM Tollways Corp., Stage 3 Tollways Connector Corp., Vertex Tollways Development Inc. (NAIA Expressway), Universal LRT and San Miguel Mass Railway Transit, San Miguel Aero City Inc., the operator of the new Manila International Airport, TransAire Development Holdings (Godofredo Ramos Airport), and many others. RSA has the Midas touch. He can transform losing firms into highly-profitable businesses.

We have tried a provinciano politician in RRD and we are failing. We tried a son of Ninoy and he blundered. We tried the daughter of Macapagal and we failed. We even tried an actor and he bungled it. The military, FVR sold Fort Bonifacio and many other government assets. We were so desperate in 1986 that we ended up electing an inexperienced housewife and Cory also failed us. Marcos destroyed our institutions and devastated the Philippine economy, from being second only to Japan to among the lowest in ASEAN. Perhaps, it is time to elect a tried and tested, financial expert, corporate wizard, builder of enterprises and people, and a true leader. RSA may be our man. Don't rush into bashing me. Just think about it objectively.