Former TV exec named chair of UCPB

MANILA, Philippines — (UPDATE) Former GMA Network Inc. chief executive Menardo Jimenez was officially named as the new chair of the state-sequestered United Coconut Planters Bank on Wednesday.

UCPB, the country's 11th largest bank in terms of assets, announced in a press statement that Jimenez had joined its board of directors and was elected to chair the 15-member body.

Eight other new directors are now onboard UCPB, namely: Arthur Bautista, Raul Del Mar, Nilo Divina, Ma. Angela Ignacio, Higinio Macadaeg, Jr., Jose Alfonso Poblete, Danilo Pulido and John Young. Incumbent directors Ramon Sy (president and CEO), Datu Mao Andong, Karlo Marco Estavillo, Cristina Orbeta, Oscar Solidor and Efren Villasenor complete the roster.

Of the 15-member board, eight represent the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC), namely: Jimenez, Sy, Bautista, Ignacio, Orbeta, Poblete, Pulido and Young. In 2008, the national government infused P30-billion in cash into UCPB.

Solidor, Villasenor and Andong represent the coconut farmer sector.

UCPB's new chair Jimenez was president and chief executive officer of GMA7 for 26 years. He has significant holdings in various industries, including broadcast, real estate, manufacturing, print media, agriculture, bio-fuel and food retail. He also sits on the board of several other Philippine companies such as San Miguel Corp., Nuvoland, Inc., Unicapital Finance and Investment, Inc., Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Inc., and Albay Agro Industrial Corp.

Biz Buzz earlier reported that the Presidential Commission on Good Government had succeeded in installing a new board at UCPB last week, after a boardroom battle, as the state agency withdrew the nominations of its chair Juan Andres "Andy" Bautista, commissioner Richard Amurao and former Sen. Jun Magsaysay from the board slate. This allowed the three sitting coconut farmers’ representatives to keep their positions in a holdover capacity “pending consultation with coconut sector and Palace.”

Bautista (Andres) is widely believed to be on the short list of President Aquino's candidates for the post of Securities and Exchange Commission chair.

Most of UCPB's shares were sequestered by the PCGG after strongman Ferdinand Marcos was ousted by the People Power revolution in 1986. (report from Doris Dumlao, Philippine Daily Inquirer)