President Bongbong Marcos playfully poked fun at National Grid Corp.’s President and CEO, Anthony Almeda, for their shared history as college dropouts.
The former classmates both studied economics at the University of Asia and the Pacific but didn’t finish their degrees.
“Anthony is known to me because we were classmates together, we were studying towards economics, actually. (University of) Asia and the Pacific. Pero pareho kaming hindi nagtapos,” said Marcos.
“I know him well, and I’m happy that he has taken the lead in this,” he added.
Despite this setback, both men have achieved success in their careers, with Marcos following in his father’s footsteps and Almeda running the country’s main power transmission line. Almeda even remarked that a college degree isn’t always necessary for success.
During a Memorandum of Understanding signing event between the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and NGCP, Marcos commended the move as a positive step towards strengthening the country’s defense against potential attacks on power systems and other aspects of everyday life that require electricity.
Almeda reassured the public that NGCP – – a 60-40 partnership between Big Boy Sy-Robert Coyiuto and State Grid Corporation of China – was willing to cooperate with the government’s premiere intelligence agency amid security fears.
“We’ve got nothing to hide,” said Almeda.
Marcos said the MOU was “a very good step” towards creating a more robust defense against “any possible attacks on our power systems, on any other elements in our everyday lives that require power.”
