Telecom giant PLDT Inc. disclosed that veteran newscaster Catherine L. Yap-Yang has voluntarily retired as first vice president and head of the company’s corporate communications group.
PLDT informed the Philippine Stock Exchange that Yang’s retirement took effect on December 1, 2024 but assured that this will not have any significant impact of the firm’s current or future operations, financial position, or results of operations.
Pending the appointment of her replacement, PLDT has convinced long-time PLDT-Smart spokesperson Ramon Isberto to come back and hold the fort during the transition to the next corporate communications head.
Isberto had earned his retirement from the same post after decades of service and was replaced by Yang after a long search.
The other half of the transition duo tapped by PLDT is top-tier speechwriter Gian Lao who wrote speeches for the late President Benigno Aquino III as well as for PLDT Chairman, President, and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan.
After his stint with President Aquino, Lao said “I have since moved on to a career in strategic communications, while occasionally contributing to different publications, including CNN Philippines, ANCX, Esquire Philippines, among other publications.”
In a post on Instragram today, Yang said “2024 has been truly eventful — the full ecosystem of Tech, Media and Telco (TMT) coming together for me in quite unexpected ways, deepening and broadening my roles as journalist and corporate citizen.”
“I am immensely grateful for the international recognitions that have come along while straddling both worlds for nearly four and a half years - from Asian TV Awards' 2023 Best Talk Show Host to Stevie® Gold Award for Technology Excellence 2024 Executive of the Year - Communications Technology.
“And most recently, as the Asian Academy Creative Awards' 2024 National Winner (Philippines) for Best Factual Presenter,” she noted.
Yang added that, “For 2025, the clarion call comes from Media. With five seasons in — and multiple international awards to boot — Thought Leaders with Cathy Yang turns out to be just the start.”
“Thank you to all my Kapatid at PLDT Group - I am incredibly privileged to have worked with you all. And to all my Kapatid in CignalTV ONE News PH, I look forward to the new year creating more content and conversations for our fellow Pinoys — on air, on ground, and online,” she said.
Yang joined ABS-CBN Corporation as reporter, researcher, and eventually, news anchor from 1992 to 2000. With the network, she was a business news presenter for several Sarimanok News Network (the predecessor of ABS-CBN News Channel) shows.
In 2000, she joined Bloomberg TV in Tokyo, and then moved afterward to Hong Kong. Yang also joined Reuters Television as their news anchor from 2010 to 2013, and CCTV News as their reporter covering the whole of Hong Kong from 2013 to 2015.
In 2015, Yang re-joined ABS-CBN as business news presenter and managing editor. She served as the anchor of ANC's Market Edge and of Business Nightly in September 2015.
On August 6, 2020, Yang joined PLDT as First Vice President and Group Communications Officer and was also tasked to oversee the communications needs of the MVP Group of Companies.