Former PLDT chief revenue officer elected as DITO CME director

Former PLDT Inc. chief revenue officer Ernesto "Eric" Alberto has joined the Board of Directors of DITO CME Holdings Corp., the holding firm for Dennis Uy's media and telecommunications businesses.

In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, DITO announced the inclusion of Alberto in its Board following its annual stockholders' meeting on Tuesday.

Other elected directors of the company include Dennis Uy and his wife Cherylyn, Eric Recto, Adel Tamano, Joseph John Ong, Raoul Kizibash, Gregorio Yu, and Francis Chua.

To recall, Alberto stepped down as PLDT's second-highest officer effective June 30, 2019, and was succeeded by Alfredo Panlilio.

In joining DITO, Alberto will also head the Corporate Governance and the Board Risk Oversight Committees and will be part of the Audit and Risk and Related Party Transactions Committees.

"Dito CME will own indirect interest in Dito Telecommunity once the necessary governmental approvals are obtained and the appropriate transfer documents are executed; however, the holder of the government franchise is Dito Telecommunity," said Dito CME chief operating officer Donald Lim, who previously served as the chief digital officer of ABS-CBN Corp.

DITO Telecommunity Corp., the country's third telco player, is a venture of Dennis Uy's Udenna Corporation, Udenna's subsidiary Chelsea Logistics Holdings Inc., and Chinese state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation.

The company on Tuesday said it is still on track to onboard subscribers by March 2021.

DITO failed to fulfill its first-year commitments by the July 8 deadline under its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN), but was given six more months by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to meet this.

Earlier this week, President Rodrigo Duterte, in his SONA, threatened both Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. to improve services by December, else have their properties expropriated or be shut down.

Globe said it will heed Duterte's order, but noted that challenges remain in the telecommunications industry, such as securing the necessary permits to put up cellular sites which would in turn boost its signal. Smart has yet to release a statement on the matter.—AOL, GMA News