Businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan will turn 77 in July and yet his mobility is that of someone a couple of decades younger, one that allows him to work tirelessly even on weekends no matter that his schedule starts late on Saturdays and Sundays.
“I’ve been criticized for that (not having a downtime), and quite rightly as I age,” the man more known as MVP told Context.ph’s series Beyond The Boardroom.
“Mornings of Saturdays and Sundays are sacred to me because that is the only time I could sleep and wake up late in the morning. I start my day around noon time on Saturdays and early afternoon on Sundays. That carries me through the evening because in the evening I play badminton on Saturdays and Sundays…for about two hours,” he added.
MVP takes pride in his badminton skills, saying he often wins against opponents a third of his age, some of them national team players. “Of course, I bully them into submission,” he said, trying hard to suppress a smile.
The other sports he likes and engages in personally include boxing and basketball, more particularly basketball. MVP is an avid spectator, usually on the ringside, shouting his heart out, rabid enough to hurl dagger looks at game officials sometimes, and a generous sponsor with no qualms about dipping into his own pockets.
In the 10 years alone from when the FIBA, the international basketball association, suspended the Philippines for two years in 2005, MVP has spent over P1 billion—some of it from his personal fortune–to reorganize the national sports federation and bring back Filipino hoopsters to the World Cup.
Later this year, the Philippines together with Japan and Indonesia will co-host the FIBA World Cup—a redemption of sorts after Manila lost its bid to host the 2019 edition of the basketball event to Beijing.
Apart from several professional basketball and volleyball teams that the Metro Pacific Group owns, Smart also has a team in esports, particularly Mobile Legends: Bang Bang where the Philippines is considered the best in the world.
MVP also once dreamt of owning a team in National Basketball Association, the premier basketball league in the world. That has been placed at the back of shelf, likely to be forgotten. “It’s now too expensive,” he acknowledged.
In 2010, Michael Jordan bought the expansion team Charlotte Hornets for only $180 million. The team, which hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2016, is now valued more or less $1.7 billion.
But why is MVP so enamored with sports?
The founder of Hong Kong-based First Pacific said it’s because sports helps develop character and teaches values such as integrity, hard work, fair play, discipline, and winning honestly that are carried over to life in general.
“It is a metaphor for life, sports is,” MVP said.
While he doesn’t have his own children, MVP has several nephews and nieces that have given him a dozen grandchildren, one of whom will promote him to great grandfather hood soon.
“I keep telling my pamangkin and apos: The world doesn’t owe you a living. You have to engage with the world. You cannot withdraw from it. You have to engage and deal with the world, not necessarily accept the terms of the world,” said MVP. “You cannot impose your own terms on the world, you cannot. So, you have to deal with it in your own way, in your own time.”
Despite his many successes, MVP admits he has a long list of things he should have done—a list long enough to cover an entire interview–and places he still needs to visit.
The last book he read was about the Metaverse, which he confesses he is still trying to fully grasp, while his playlist has love songs from the 1970s and 1980s, some disco music, and the all-time great Earth, Wind and Fire band.
Will he soon be hanging up his CEO hat given his age and the stresses that sometimes lead to conversations about stem cell treatments?
He is yet to be convinced the procedure works. But for now, ice packs and massages suffice to sooth knees battered by a few rounds of badminton.
What he is mulling over now more often are suggestions of retirement. But not in the sense that he will be out of the corporate loop. “I don’t want to be completely, completely out that you are not doing anything. I think mamatay ako kapag ganoon. Maybe semi-retired,” MVP said.
