Goodbye Sun Cellular?

“…dusk is the time when men whisper of matters about which they remain silent…” – Simon Raven

It started out as a mere whisper within the four corners of the board room after our wireless consumer head Ariel Fermin took over from Charles Lim in May. A few months later, the whisper about Sun Cellular being dissolved is now slowly echoing within every floor of Smart Tower. 

TOP 4 RUMORS WHY CHARLES LIM IS STILL HERE

CONTRIBUTORS’S NOTE:  We are back! After our last post “A Quick Guide to the Rumors inside SMART”

 (http://smartbehindthescenes.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-quick-guide-to-rumors-inside-smart.html), we were overwhelmed by the traffic it generated. Honestly, we became afraid and feared for our job security here (not that we have one anyway). We even contemplated of shutting down this blog site after it was cited in Philippine Daily Inquireronline  last April 10 in their BizBuzz column but it mysteriously disappeared after (note: the article about it is now gone - http://business.inquirer.net/189965/biz-buzz-management-shakeup).But after a secret meeting with all the contributors composing of existing and former employees of Smart (some were offered the walking papers last year), we decided to continue our crusade for the love of Smart.  We want the old glory of our beloved company restored. We will be the eyes, ears and voice of all the employees who are loyal and whose family livelihood relies on the well-being of the company. And so here is another edition of Smart Behind the Scenes.

Perhaps many of you were surprised when our beloved Chairperson MVP announced the recent organizational movement. Contrary to the rumors circulated for the past months, Charles A. Lim or CAL as we call him is still part of the PLDT organization. The announcement killed all the rumors about CAL’s supposedly imminent exodus. But it only gave birth to a new series of rumors on why he is still here which we all gathered and compiled to share it with you.

Here are the TOP 4 Rumors Why CAL Is Still Here:

NUMBER 4:  CAL overpriced himself to SMC.

According to a very reliable source, there was indeed an offer from the camp of Ramon Ang to bring in CAL to head the upcoming third player telco in the country. However, our sources revealed that he asked too much. When CAL was offered to lead Sun back in the day, JG Summit big boss James Go offered him a fortune like international scholarships for his children in the country of their choice, a luxury car, at least a 7-figure monthly salary excluding bonuses and a lot more.  How much did he ask? Let’s just say it’s at least double than what he is getting now. The SMC group found his asking price ridiculous and drop the idea altogether.

NUMBER 3: James Go to the Rescue.

After the dismal performance of Smart for several consecutive quarters, everyone knew that he was on his way out and it was only a matter of time. But CAL they say has an ace up his sleeve and that is his patron, James Go, Chairman of JG Summit and PLDT Board Member. Rumor has it that because of CAL’s sterling performance as business unit head of Sun Cellular, Mr. James has CAL’s back.  We heard that it was Mr. James who endorsed CAL to MVP to head both Smart and Sun in 2013 to replace Noel Lorenzana.  Many believed that he is again responsible why CAL is still with PLDT today.

NUMBER 2:  We pre-empted his departure! It’s our FAULT!!!

Before we published our last blog post, many of us here were certain that CAL was already on his way out.  Everyone in Smart Tower was hopeful and excited that justice can be attained here against his Machiavellian rule.  We too got excited and we published “A Quick Guide to the Rumors inside SMART”.   After a few weeks, this was featured in BizBuzz column in Philippine Daily Inquirer online where San Miguel executives denied that they were in talks with CAL and where Boss Poly disputed all rumors written in our blog.  Perhaps management changed their mind to prove this blog wrong. Funny, the portion about management shake-up that cited this blog vanished (good thing we have a screenshot, see below).   You have to hand it to our Public Affairs team, they know how to put out a fire. But this also reflects negatively on the business editorial of PDI for succumbing to pressure by removing online the said published material.  They even forgot to remove the tags of Napoleon Nazareno, Manuel V. Pangalinan, Sun Cellular, and PLDT. This only strengthens our credibility and our resolve to continue this blog.  #WeAreNotAfraid

NUMBER 1: The Ateneo-Basketball Connection

From being the head of individual wireless business for Smart and Sun, CAL now reports directly to MVP as the head of wireless strategic investments and acquisition group. Our chairman was quoted that CAL will be with him on a “secret mission”.  You have to give it to CAL, he knows how to save his ass. Good thing he was a former Ateneo Blue Eagle Basketball player.  Go figure!

A Quick Guide to the Rumors inside SMART

The entire Smart organization has become a big corporate grapevine for tons of rumors these days. Many are confused and are afraid of being affected by the organizational change that might be implemented in the coming days.  Here is a guide to the rumors and we hope it will enlighten you and guide you properly.

1. Is it true that the head of our mobile business, Charles A. Lim, is out?

Yes. According to multiple reliable sources, after the company incurred a P5 Billion revenue loss due to the Free Internet Promo since September 2014 which angered MVP, Charles A. Lim also knowned as CAL was asked to step down early March of this year.  Inside PLDT group, the Free Internet Promo is called as the great free mobile data fiasco. The failure of CAL’s price war strategy did not work in Smart and it dragged down the revenue of the entire PLDT group. Another reason is our low morale as Smart Employees. Since he stepped in to take over the mobile business, CAL replaced good people in Smart with his people in Sun. This was known as the great Sun takeover. All key positions were taken over by Sun executives.  We even heard that he engineered the removal of Jane Basas out of Smart. Karma is a bitch!

2. Where will Charles A. Lim go?

There are reports from the same reliable sources that he is on his way to SMCTel to start their telco venture.  Hopefully, his marketing expertise will work there like what he did when he started Sun Cellular.

3. Who will replace him?

Temporarily, Ariel Fermin from PLDT Home will replace CAL and will head the mobile business unit. We hope that he won’t make any “wais” move like what he did during the Gilas vs. NBA Exhibition Game Scandal. There are also reports that former Smart boss and now TV5 head honcho Noel Lorenzana will make a comeback. 

4. What about Big Boss Polly Nazareno?

We should give the guy some break.  With all due respect, our most senior executive who led us during our glory days should be spared from all these rumors inside the company. But we heard from the grapevine that when he retires, PLDT’s Eric Alberto will be his shoe-in successor. 

5. What will happen to Sun employees who were transferred to Smart?

Like what our Chairman MVP said, job security in Smart is suspended unless everyone performs accordingly and unless we recover from the loss revenue brought about by our out-of-date-marketing-directions thanks to CAL. Whether you are long-time Smart employees like me or transferee from Sun, unless we perform, “we have no job security”.  But we think those who are close to CAL and hold key positions are in immediate danger of being replaced, removed and fired.

We hope that this guide helped you achieve clarity and not more confusion. More to come!

Off with his head: Smart Executive may secretly own a retailer store

We all thought that all is lost for our company given the what seems to be the endless politicking and bickering among the different forces here in Smart Communications.

A lot of us are happy that the organizational cleansing has finally begun. The internal crackdown has resulted to almost 300 employees due to different types of fraud in both Smart and PLDT. Yes, an estimated 300 employees have been suspected to be involved in fraud. Yes, we are like a government agency with the high number of people involved allegedly with corruption.

It's disappointing but at the same time, it's a welcome move for all of us here who honestly work our butts out day in and day out. It's an open secret in the grapevine that these under the table activities happen.

We just hope that the cleansing happens not only among middle management and rank and file but also up there in the executive level.

I am writing now to let management know that we, concerned Smart employees, are watching to see this organizational cleansing goes up to the top. And at the same time, give top management the lead on who to check as well.

We urged the bosses to audit one of the retailers called SIMPLUS in Bulacan and trace who is the rightful owner of the said business. This is again an open secret. I can't believe our former sales head who recently got sacked missed this one or he knew but remained quiet about it. Everyone knows that one of the top honchos has a major stake in this retailer. Others believed that he actually owns it. The stories said that he set this company right under the nose of the previous owner of Sun Cellular. Many of us wondered that how come this was not seen or checked by his new employers here in Smart before they made him head to lead our future?
Let us give you a clue: He appointed one of his many lieutenants from his previous company which became a part of this company to head a major business segment and discreetly calls her “Babe” (figure this out)

Another clue: He was positioned as the “Messaiah” of Smart because of his so-called innovative marketing mind only to lead us with a -14% financial performance slump this year. Because of the financial downtrend of the company, all of us here won’t have any of the bonuses Smart is known for this year except this guy. He will get his bonus in full because it’s part of his contract. I wonder what our PLDT counterpart will say if they find out about this? PLDT performed well this year but their bonuses will not be in full as well because of Smart poor performance. Damay-damay na.

Again, we call on our top bosses and even to our beloved Chair Manny V. Pangilinan to check and audit the retailer SIMPLUS and unravel its real owner.