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Who will take the fall for the P48 billion spending scandal? MVP to decide soon on fate of Annabelle Chua, other PLDT officials ‘on leave’

March 29, 2023

Bilyonaryo.com

Will they stay or will they go? This is the question facing PLDT CFO Annabelle Chua and other unnamed executives who were made to go on paid vacation after the telco revealed the P48 billion overspending scandal three months ago.

In a March 29 report to the Philippine Stock Exchange, PLDT said: “Employees who were placed on paid leave remain on paid leave at this time. PLDT has not reached a final decision regarding the future of those individuals at the company.”

“Now that forensic review is substantially complete, PLDT expects to address the status of the employees placed on leave soon,” it added. Pangilinan had promised the media he would announce the status of the affected employees on March 24.

Except for Chua, PLDT has not identified other officials who were made to go on leave with pay since disclosing the budget overrun on December 16. PLDT was only forced to name Chua after it was asked by the PSE to confirm a Bilyonaryo.com report that the long-time CFO has been allegedly suspended.

Chua did not sign PLDT’s 2022 annual financial statement which was submitted to regulators last week. Chua has been replaced by PLDT controller Danny Yu as company’s “principal financial officer” in the AFS.

PLDT is currently facing a class action lawsuit in the US for allegedly misleading investors on the P48 billion budget overrun which it incurred from 2019 to 2022 (Pangilinan was president and CEO of the company from 2019 to 2021).

PLDT is claiming that it has been able to reduce its outstanding commitments to vendors to P33 billion, with discussions for 20 percent of its capex budget as of 2022 still to be negotiated.

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Who will take the fall for the P48 billion spending scandal? MVP to decide soon on fate of Annabelle Chua, other PLDT officials ‘on leave’

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