After 23 years at the helm of PLDT Inc., Manuel V. Pangilinan today (June 8) officially passed his baton as President and CEO baton to chief revenue officer Alfredo "Al" S. Panlilio during the telco's virtual annual stockholders' meeting.

Pangilinan, 75, stays on as chairman of PLDT after accomplishing what he set out to do.

Under his leadership, PLDT attained convergence, the coming together of telecoms, media and the internet.

On top of that, he has rejuvenated the company and restored its dominance in the industry, this time in data, not in voice.

Effectively, Pangilinan has "discharged his final duty..

"We are now a stronger company, establishing historic high revenues and EBITDA these past five years. And as the only integrated telco, we have recreated our dominant position across product lines," he declared.

Furthermore, "Al, with his long experience with PLDT and his competent qualities, would be able to take my place without interruption or detriment to the progress of PLDT."

Panlilio, 57, accepted the post to become the sixth Filipino President and CEO of PLDT, though he acknowledged he's "far from perfect" and "needs support, cooperation and trust" from those whom he will now lead.

The telco's new top executive revealed he started out as a computer programmer though he first joined PLDT as Senior Vice President for the Corporate Business Group in 1999.

Then, he became head of the telco's Carrier Business Group, which handled domestic and international carrier requirements.

In 2010, he joined MERALCO and was head of Customer Retail Services and Corporate Communications, taking care of some P300 billion revenues and leading the company's shift to digitalization.

Now, his program as new PLDT President and CEO is to innovate, achieve excellence and serve world-class customer experience.

"We want to improve customer care, simplify our way of working and push digital to engage users," he noted.

He expects competition in the industry will be "stiffer this year", with the likes of Converge ICT expanding to Visayas and Mindanao while third telco player, Dito Telecommunity's service goes nationwide.

However, "We'll make sure we have the best network. We benchmark ourselves, not against local competitors, but against competitors in the region."

And he has the full backing of the PLDT Chairman.

"We support Al's drive for operational excellence and global standard for customer experience," Pangilinan confirmed.

For that, PLDT needs an excellent 5G network and so, it has allocated a P80-92 Billion 2021 capex to match.

"I look forward to a great future for PLDT, where our accomplishments will match our service, our passion with our purpose," the PLDT Chairman concluded.