Team San Miguel regains lead as Phl’s best-paid executives; Meralco comes in 2nd

Team San Miguel regains lead as Phl’s best-paid executives; Meralco comes in 2nd

San Miguel Corp. has regained the lead in executive compensation among listed companies for 2013, with Manila Electric Co. zooming up as a close second on the back of record management bonuses.

San Miguel chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., president Ramon S. Ang, chief finance officer Ferdinand Constantino, general counsel Virgilio Jacinto, deputy CFO Joseph Pineda and corporate human resources head Maria Cristina Menorca received a combined P362 million in salaries, bonuses and other allowances last year, according to the company’s regulatory filings.

Despite bouncing back to the top spot, the 2013 San Miguel package was still P2 million less than what the same group had received two years earlier.

Meanwhile, Meralco president Oscar Reyes, senior executive vice president Ricardo Buencamino, SVP Alfredo Panlilio, chief finance officer Betty Siy-Yap and SVP Ramon Segismundo were catapulted into the compensation stratosphere after receiving P249 million in bonuses and “other” unspecified financial incentives on top of their combined P106-million basic pay package.

In all, Reyes and four other highest Meralco executives took home a combined P355 million, which works out to an average of P71 million for each of them.

Interestingly, the Meralco package works out higher on average than San Miguel’s P60.33 million.

The Meralco management team even managed to leap over by a considerable P27 million the compensation package received by their bosses over at the Metro Pacific Investments.

The rest of the baker’s dozen:

• First Philippine Holdings, P336.6 million, for chairman emeritus Oscar Lopez, chief executive Federico Lopez, chief operating officer Elpidio Ibañez, managing director Arthur de Guia and comptroller Perla Catahan.

• Ayala Corp., P330 million, for chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, his brother/president Fernando Zobel de Ayala and management committee members John Eric Francia, Delfin Gonzalez Jr., Solomon Hermosura and John Philip Orbeta.

• Metro Pacific Investments, P328 million, for chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, president and chief executive Jose Ma. Lim, chief finance officer David Nicol, executive advisor Augusto Palisoc Jr. and vice president Robin Michael Velasco.

• Union Bank, P233.6 million, for chairman and chief executive Justo Ortiz, president Victor Valdepenas, SEVPs Edwin Bautista, Eugene Acevedo and Jesus Roberto Reyes.

• Bank of the Philippine Islands, P193.8 million, for president Cesar Consing, treasurer Antonio Paner, EVP Natividad Alejo and Alfonso Salcedo Jr., and SVP Maria Corazon Remo.

• Ayala Land, P161 million, for now retired president Antonino Aquino, EVP Vincent Tan, and SVPs Arturo Corpuz, Raul Irlanda and Emilio Lolito Tumbocon.

• Globe Telecom, P158 million, for president Ernest Cu, CFO Albert de Larrazabal, strategy management head Rebecca Eclipse, business customer facing unit chief Gil Genio and human resources head Renato Jiao.

The Globe package, incidentally, is P25 million higher than what PLDT president Napoleon Nazareno and his team received last year, despite Globe clearing a core net income of P11.6 billion, a third of PLDT’s P35.4 billion.

• GMA Network, P144 million, for chairman and chief executive Felipe Gozon, president Gilberto Duavit Jr., CFO Felipe Yalong, SVP Marissa Flores and FVP Jessica Soho.

• ABS-CBN, P143 million, for president and chief executive Ma. Rosario Santos-Concio, Sky Cable president Carlo Joaquin Tadeo Katigbak, star creatives chief Ma. Lourdes Santos, CFO Rolando Valdueza and broadcast head Ma. Socorro Vidanes.

• BDO, P142 million, for president Nestor Tan, BDO Elite Savings Bank chair Walter Wassmer, SEVP Jaime Yu, BDO Capital president Eduardo Francisco and EVP for consumer lending Rolando Tanchanco.

• Manila Water, P133.2 million for president Gerardo Ablaza Jr., treasurer Luis Juan Oreta, and group directors Virgilio Rivera Jr., Ferdinand de la Cruz and Ruel Maranan.

Two local companies with multinational reach now peg their top management compensation in foreign currencies.

The country’s first true multinational, International Container Terminal Services Inc., denominates the senior management pay in US dollar, while Del Monte Pacific, despite having taken over Del Monte Foods in the United States and Canada, is still pegged in Singapore dollar because of the food company’s primary listing in the island-nation’s bourse .

The 16-strong ICTSI management team led by majority owner and chief executive Enrique Razon Jr. received $6.7 million (about P298 million) in combined compensation last year, which works out to an average of P18.6 million per executive.

Del Monte Pacific, in turn, would only disclose that its controlling shareholder and chief executive Joselito Campos Jr. and chief operating officer Luis Alejandro each made “above S$500,000” in 2013, while executive director Edgardo Cruz Jr. received anywhere from “S$250,000 to below S$500,000.” –Victor C. Agustin, Philippine Star