MANNY V. PANGILINAN is among those who wishes PBA play to resume soon, but the businessman/sportsman, who owns three PBA ball clubs, stresses much of his attention right now is on his group's response to help the country survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The (PBA) board had a meeting. 'Di ko alam kung ano ang final decision. I was talking to (PBA chair) Ricky (Vargas)... don't deprive naman sana, sana may mapanood ang tao. It may be weird. But the logistics? No easy solution, 'di natin alam," said Pangilinan in a recent interview with "The Chiefs" on Cignal TV's One News.
"(As of now) wala sa radar ko (ang sports) pero nami-miss ko definitely. Given the situation, araw-araw may tumatawag, pwede ninyo ba kaming tulungan dito, ganito, ganito; saka syempre may requirements sa negosyo," he also said.
With sports at a standstill, Pangilinan is focused on their all-out support to help the government get through the crisis.
Like the other PBA giant player in San Miguel Corp., the MVP Group of Companies are among the major responders in the pandemic, with various responses, including boosting the government's coffers with advanced tax payments.
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In the same interview with "The Chiefs," Pangilinan, chairman of the MVP Group that maintains PBA teams TNT KaTropa, Meralco Bolts and NLEX Road Warriors, said expanding investments in the health sector and continuing donations beyond the quarantine period are among their help to the Filipinos.
On advance tax payments, Pangilinan said at least four or five companies in his group are committed to pay ahead of the June 14 deadline.
He declined to reveal the amount, but it could run into at least a billion pesos with their major companies Smart Communications and Meralco being among the consistent top corporate taxpayers in the land.
Then there's their hospital group.
"We are planning to invest more in the hospital business. Yes, we really need to expand our healthcare business from primary, secondary to tertiary healthcare," said Pangilinan.
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"We have to be here for the long haul. This is not because we're in front of the camera. This is a long-haul situation. Our help should be for the long term also. This is not going to be just helping for this moment," he added.(SB)
