The Philippines’ hosting of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 was hailed as a spectacular success.

It all started with a dream from Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (“SBP”) Chairman Emeritus Manuel V Pangilinan. He saw it as “a gift to the Filipino people who adore the sport.”

The dream was realized with the staunch support of PLDT, and Smart (FIBA’s official Global Partner), other First Pacific Group companies in the Philippines and the myriad of organizers and fans.

The record-breaking tournament culminated in the signing of a new Global Partnership between FIBA and Smart for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 in Qatar.

A successful voluntary delisting tender offer process was completed on 9 October 2023 with the delisting of MPIC from the PSE.

The tender offer price was 5.20 pesos (US$0.09) per MPIC share, valuing MPIC at 149.2 billion pesos (US$2.7 billion) in equity value on a 100% basis.

The privatization aims to release the intrinsic value of MPIC’s core investments in infrastructure in the Philippines. No substantial change in the nature of MPIC’s businesses is planned, which will continue to focus on key sectors including power, toll roads, water, healthcare, rail and newer businesses in food and agriculture.

Indofood created a "Fun Gathering at Indofood's House" at Jakarta Fair Kemayoran 2023.

Visitors (Fair organizers reported an estimated 6.3 million people) enjoyed a world of food and beverages, culture and sport at the 2,000 sqm Indofood stands and booths.

A highlight was a program of events with players from the Indonesian Football Association of Jakarta (“Persija”).

Hungry visitors could also watch chefs in action and sample exciting new Indofood products.

Philex Chairman Manual V Pangilinan has a clear vision for the future of mining in the Philippines, which he shared at September’s Mining Philippines Conference 2023, Seeing Green.

With a supportive mandate for mining from the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Government, Pangilinan sees sustainability, good governance and green technology as the drivers for success.

This November, Philex reached a milestone for its large-scale gold and copper Silangan Project. The company signed a US$100 million debt facility for the ongoing development of the project. This complements Philex’s Stock Rights Offering completed on 3 August 2022 which raised 2.65 billion pesos (US$47.6 million).

PLDT and Smart have been developing innovative and collaborative approaches to the heartbreaking problem of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. These approaches support the recommendations of the 2023 Scale of Harm study by the International Justice Mission (“IJM”) and the University of Nottingham Rights Lab. The study reported that nearly half a million Filipino children – roughly 1 in 100 children – were sexually exploited in new abuse images and videos in the country in 2022 alone.

PLDT and Smart are testing a cooperative cybersecurity project called the Global Chain of Trust (“GCOT”), which aims to provide members and their stakeholders a ‘clean’ digital environment and block from the network domains that store and publish child abuse material. The GCOT promises a cleaner, safer, and more resilient digital ecosystem.