Ayala Corp. (AC), one of the country’s leading conglomerates, is increasing its investments in the country with about P182 billion in capital expenditures earmarked for this year for their various businesses even as the company continues its COVID-19 efforts with donations already hitting P12.7 billion.

“So, I'm cautiously optimistic and hopeful that we will see growth next year. Hopefully 5-6 percent, which will be a very dramatic reversal from what we have seen for 2020 for understandable reasons,” said AC CEO Fernando Zobel de Ayala during a Malacanang press briefing.

“I think if companies continue to invest and create jobs, we will be able to help people get out of this crisis. It will not be easy, but we have to continue we have to continue growing the engine of the economy,” said Zobel, who will succeed his brother Jaime Augusto as the next CEO of the country's oldest conglomerate. Jaime, who served as company CEO for 15 years, will remain as company chairman.

The P182 billion 2021 capex is higher than the P167 billion for 2020 that went into various types of capex such as for telecom, real estate, and water. Aside from these capital expenditures, Zobel said they have already donated P12.7 billion in various responses to the COVID-19 efforts of the government.

The latest is its P120 million donation for 450,000 COVID-19 vaccines from Astra Zeneca where the cost of vaccine is $5.50 per with the 50 cents going into logistical requirements to bring the vaccines in. He even cited the need for the private sector’s participation in the distribution of the vaccines, given their own peculiar requirements in terms of storage temperatures.

He expressed hopes that the second wave of infection happening in other countries will not reach the Philippines as he urged to be extra careful otherwise the situation will be a very different.

“If we don't (get the second wave), every month that passes has started to show better results in terms of consumer behavior, in terms of mobility, in terms of people, expanding and investing again. I was quite pleasantly surprised that the OFW remittance numbers did not go down as much as we thought they would. And they're now doing a little better. That's a safety net for many of our Filipinos in the country,” he said.

He, however, agreed that the pandemic situation has affected businesses.

“I think a lot of companies last year, especially during the worst part of the pandemic were on survival mode, they really have to look back at their businesses,” he said. As a result, he said, companies have to do a combination of helping people because part of running a business is to take care of employees and making sure they could survive this pandemic, and the same time keeping their businesses running because it is not just their internal businesses that they rely on but also suppliers and others.

Fortunately, he said, a lot of the businesses were fairly well capitalized, before going into this crisis that he attributed to the government’s low interest rate regime that enabled companies to operate and expand amid the pandemic.

“We've been lucky as a country and that's thanks to the good efforts of the government to be operating in a fairly low interest environment, and where we have been able to raise capital in the past and we were actually also able to raise capital in the middle of the pandemic. This was the comfort that banks and bondholders had, and investors had in the Philippines, that we've actually been able to borrow at record low rates during the pandemic year. So that that helps us get through the crisis, and it allows us to continue investing, as a company,” he said.

As for the Ayala Group, along with other firms, that came in a big way to help the government in their

COVID-19 efforts, Zobel said “We've never faced anything like this, at least in our recent history as a company. This is a time for everyone private sector, public sector to work together. Never have we faced a crisis of these proportions.”

He expressed appreciation that government also acknowledged the private sector efforts. “We appreciate Secretary Harry that you've also the other members of the government have mentioned the contributions of the private sector that's greatly appreciated,” he said.

There was also strong collaboration during the recent typhoons and calamities that hit the country. “There's a great spirit of collaboration among everyone to make sure that we get our country through this pandemic and through the many different challenges that we have been facing,” he added.