Aquino names 3 tycoons to ASEAN-BAC

President Benigno Aquino III has named three business tycoons as members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation—Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC).

The appointments of Teresita Sy-Coson of the SM Investment Corporation, Manuel Pangilinan, chairman of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Company, and Jay Yuvallos of the furniture manufacturing and exportation business in Cebu was bared by deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte in a radio interview Sunday.

Valte told Radyo ng Bayan that the three were appointed based, among others, on recommendations from various groups, including the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The ASEAN-BAC is intended to promote a public-private partnership — one of the policies of the Aquino administration — and provide private sector feedbacks on the implementation of economic cooperation identify priority areas for consideration of the ASEAN leaders.

Sy-Coson, the eldest daughter of businessman Henry Sy of the SM supermalls chain, is the incumbent president of SM Inc., which handles the SM Investment Corporation’s department store business. She is also director of SM Prime Holdings, which owns and operates its chain of supermalls, and chair of the merged Banco de Oro-Equitable PCI Bank.

In 2005, Sy-Coson was ranked no. 46 in the Fortune magazine’s Top 50 influential women in international business. She landed the 41st place in the Fortune magazine’s Top 50 Most Powerful Women in the World in 2007.

Pangilinan, who earned his basic education at San Beda College and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University, earned his Masteral’s degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the current owner and chairman of the TV5 network and PLDT.

Pangilinan was the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ateneo de Manila University and former managing director and executive chairman of the First Pacific. He also served as chairman of the Maynilad Water Services, Inc., Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation, Medical Doctors, Inc., Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, Landco Pacific Corporation, Pilipino Telephone Corporation, and Smart Communications, Inc.

Yuvallos, who traced his roots from Leyte but lives in Cebu, is known as the man behind the furniture manufacturing industry in the province. He is the president of Interior Basic Export Corporation, Infinite Horizons, Inc., and YZ Global Resources, Inc. He is also the treasurer of MEDGRUPPE Polyclinics and Diagnostic Center, Inc.

He also served as trustee and president, and later as director and chairman of the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation, Inc. He also served as president of the Confederation of Philippine Exporters Foundation (Cebu), Inc. and vice president of the Business Development and Management Services of Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI). — KBK, GMA News