New Maynilad President-CEO talks about how he got the job, his plans to improve water service

Back in 1998, Victorico P. Vargas was in Bangkok as Citibank’s country human resource head, a job he held for two years and which allowed him every now and then to indulge in one of his early, pre-banking day passions – basketball.

It was while watching Tim Cone’s Philippine Centennial team during the Thailand Asian Games that year that a call came through from a headhunter that ultimately brought Vargas back to Manila to join the burgeoning company of a business intrepid and corporate genius named Manny V. Pangilinan.

The journey that set him off on a life-altering course through various stops in the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. for the last 10 years has now landed this University of Santo Tomas BS Psychology graduate, whose formative years were spent at Ateneo de Manila, behind a big black desk inside a spacious wood-paneled office in Quezon City – as President and CEO of Maynilad, the private water concessionaire that services the western zone of the Greater Manila Area.

That covers Pasay, Caloocan, Las Piñas, Parañaque, Valenzuela, Muntinlupa, Manila except Sta. Ana, some areas of Makati and Quezon City, Malabon and Navotas, as well as Cavite, Rosario, Imus, Noveleta, Bacoor and Kawit.

Taking time off from a busy weekday schedule that included a courtesy call from the national boxing team that will be leaving for the United States, Ricky Vargas, also the president of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines and vice chairman of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, sits down for an interview with the Manila Bulletin, discussing how he got the job, his plans to improve water service in his area of responsibility, and the ties that bind him to his benefactor.

MANILA BULLETIN: What were the circumstances surrounding your appointment to Maynilad?

MR. VICTORICO P. VARGAS: It’s funny because I was part of a group invited by MVP to find the next president and CEO of Maynilad. We had about three to four people in mind to take over the job. But when I left the room and came back, MVP very casually told me, “Ricky why don’t’ you just handle it yourself.”

MB: Did you have any inkling the offer was on its way? And how did you come to accept it?

VPV: It never struck me as forthcoming. Actually it didn’t enter my mind. Until finally MVP invited me to Hong Kong about three weeks later. And at 3 p.m. on a Sunday, I just came from church, he called and asked me to go to his office. We met and I shared with him my concerns, my reservations. I told him ‘I had no other desires, no more ambitions, and that I was happy with what I’m doing, happy working for you.’ But let me tell you, I also knew when I got to Hong Kong that it would be very difficult to turn him down. And so I told him I hope that if ever I do go for this job, I wanted to retain my involvement in basketball and in boxing. And he said yes.”

MB: And so you took the job?

VPV: Basically, yes. But what clinched it were two things MVP told me. First he said, ‘Ricky, you have to get out of your comfort zone, and that is PLDT.’ And second, ‘Why don’t you take on a job as running your own company and leading that company to success?” Of course that was a stamp of confidence, isn’t it? And for that I’m extremely grateful.

And he is right. At PLDT, I knew the environment. Maynilad is a totally new environment, a completely different challenge. So I thanked him and accepted the job.

MB: That was the end of it?

VPV: Well, he said: “let’s go see a movie.” So we got some hotdog sandwiches and went off to see a Tom Cruise action movie. Then he brought me to a hotel where my wife and I stayed and then told me, “Do your compensation package.” (Laughter).

MB: Other than the appeal of a new working environment, was there anything else that motivated you to accept the job?

VPV: It might sound too soft for engineers to understand. But I realized that this job has a big social responsibility attached to it and that’s providing water, a very basic need, to our constituents. In fact, I told myself, “take out electricity and telephone but never take out water.” And second, it is giving me a chance to contribute because I’m entering a water situation that is in crisis.

MB: And you believe you are up to the task?

VPV: I hope so. I believe there are several things that need to be done. One is finding an alternative source of water outside Angat Dam. But the most challenging is our ability to distribute that water as efficiently as we can to our customers. It all boils down to that although there are other items my group and I discussed, including improving customer service, becoming good corporate citizens and instilling good governance and compliance on how we run our day-to-day tasks and our partnership with the regulators.

MB: Improving customer service in what way?

VPV: This is my concept. Today our customers have no choice. We are the only service provider of water in the West Zone, we have no competitor. So, sometimes we have a monopolistic attitude that we don’t have to serve our customers well. I want us to assume that 10 other competitors are courting our customers. Wouldn’t that change our attitude toward them? That’s the shift in approach I want our sales and marketing guys to take. We also are committed to provide sewerage systems as part of our service not only to help improve the way of life in the surrounding communities but also in the manner of how we handle waste matter.

MB: Where else other than Angat?

VPV: We’re looking at several projects, some in Sierra Madre, Pampanga, Marikina. But still all under study.

MB: What means has Maynilad undertaken to ensure efficient distribution of water in the West Zone?

VPV: Basically, we’re focusing on the detection and repairs of leaks or non-revenue water (NRW). We have invested in technology and we have set up a whole organization to oversee our NRW reduction problem. Non-revenue water has two sources: leakage due to old pipes and pilferage or illegal connection. But it’s so difficult to detect them because we’re in the most populated part of Metro Manila.

MB: And what kind of technology have you invested in?

VPV: It’s called Sahara, a mobile equipment carried by trucks. To put it in layman’s terms, it’s like an angiogram procedure where you put it inside the primary pipes, a balloon there floats with the water and finds the leaks and a hearing apparatus like a stethoscope in your ear will indicate where the leak is. It was acquired before me but we’ll be acquiring more. A different kind of detection system is used for secondary and tertiary pipes where we put meters in sections and we measure the inflow and outflow of water.

MB: What about the problem of pilferage?

VPV: That’s a little more complicated because the connection needed to be cut off. That’s why some barangays don’t allow our people to get in.

MB: Were there other positions you had to let go when you took this job?

VPV: Oh, yes. As human resources head of PLDT, I had to let go of that, as well as that of being head of business transformation. And I had to resign from committees that are attached to PLDT, like governance and nomination, and compensation.

MB: You’re known to be an amiable, approachable, very casual person. Would anything change in the way you’ll be handling yourself in your new work?

VPV: MVP has also cautioned me about one other thing: Watch my ego. No, there would be no change. The only change I see, I now have to deal with the business press instead of the sportswriters. My first salvo with them, I admitted to them I am no used to business press people, that I’m more at home talking to the sports press. But they are alright. I found later. They have been very kind to me, very supportive.

MB: You want to retain your involvement in amateur basketball and amateur boxing. Why is that?

VPV: One, I believe in the sport (boxing) and I was elected to it for the next four years. I just can’t turn my back on that unless they fire me. Two, more for boxing, it’s become an advocacy for me, especially on the grassroots level. Three, it is also in support of MVP’s involvement in sports. And four, my continued involvement keeps the umbilical cord intact. Somehow I’m still connected with MVP and PLDT. My being here didn’t cut the umbilical cord all together. –TITO S. TALAO, Manila Bulletin