Manuel V Pangilinan leads the MVP Group of Companies in delivering message of hope for Filipinos here and overseas, amid the challenges of the pandemic.
The message, delivered on behalf of Pangilinan by PLDT and Smart First Vice President and Group Head for Corporate Communications Catherine Yap-Yang, was aired during the long-running Sunday noontime variety show ASAP Natin ‘To on TV5.
Pangilinan’s message was deeply cognizant of the amount of human pain and economic suffering that the pandemic has caused, as the whole country celebrates the second consecutive Easter under similar exceptionally difficult circumstances.
“Holy Week as we know it sees the days of our Lord’s torture and suffering, leading finally to his death on the Cross. And Jesus was at the center of it all— from his agony in Gethsemane to his death in Golgotha. Jesus knew human pain; Jesus knew human suffering, Jesus knew death— a death he painfully received at the hands of the people he was saving,” according to Pangilinan.
“The first abiding lesson for us must be to emulate Christ’s life on the cross— our acceptance of pain as part of our lives, that pain nourishes courage— already I see many circumstances of heroism large and small, of our people. And that is the more important lesson. Christ has transformed his suffering into salvation, into love,” the message continued, with Pangilinan referring to the acts of bayanihan that the MVP Group has initiated, supported, and witnessed throughout the pandemic. “This Easter Sunday something simply amazing could happen.”
Pangilinan ended his message by reaching out to Filipinos here and abroad, emphasizing hope, light, and love and remembering that “the Apex of Holy Week is the Resurrection—which speaks to light and life, to hope and healing, and to a fresh purpose and a new beginning, that suffering doesn’t have a final say in our lives; that pain can be vanquished with work, faith, and prayers, and that our faith is a greater force which can drive away fears and turn dreams into destiny,” which, he says, is the real meaning of Easter to the MVP Group.
Aside from leading PLDT and its wireless subsidiary Smart, Pangilinan also serves as Chairman of Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc., Manila Electric Company (MERALCO), Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, Maynilad Water Services Incorporated (Maynilad), among other Filipino companies.
Pangilinan also serves as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Hong Kong-based investment management and holding company First Pacific Company Limited, which he founded in 1981 and which continues to operate in the Asia-Pacific region.
You may watch the full video here
