Michael Ted “Mike” Macapagal is recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) by President Rodrigo Duterte on September 6, 2019. He replaced Benjamin Magalong, a retired police director who was elected mayor of Baguio city.
He immediately took his oath of office before his cousin, Pampanga’s 2nd District Congressman, Juan Miguel “Mikey” Macapagal Arroyo.
PNOC’s mother company has two (2) subsidiaries: the PNOC Renewables Corporation (PNOC RC), and the PNOC Exploration Corporation (PNOC EC).
The PNOC was initially established to forge oil-supply partnerships with supplier countries. It further initiated exploration and development of oil and non-oil energy base and other renewable sources.
Its MALAMPAYA deepwater Gas-to-Power project is widely considered one of the most significant endeavors in the history of the country as it “signalled the birth of the natural gas industry in the Philippines.”
Macapagal brings to PNOC a wealth of experience in a corporate setting gained after many years of working abroad.
A business executive in his previous life, Mike Macapagal once served as Division President for Stewart Title, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.
Stewart is a financial services, information and transaction management company that offers title insurance, title search and escrow services.
The company [and its affiliates] is publicly traded both at NASDAQ and the NYSE. It is one of the largest of its kind in the world with offices across the United States and around the globe.
“The Duterte administration, through PNOC, intends to make the country self-reliant in gas and oil and other alternative sources that is clean, efficient, and cost-effective to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” Macapagal said.
“The president’s ultimate goal is to sustain the growth of the economy. It is material that we provide vital energy infrastructure to meet current and future demands in order to ensure the social well being of our nation,” he adds.
“I am deeply humbled by the president’s continued trust and confidence in me. I fully support his vision — specifically, on the issue of oil and gas exploration with China in the West Philippine Sea; where there is no doubt [the MOU] is a positive development towards promoting peace and security to the region,” he explains.
President Rodrigo Duterte, in his recent visit to China, discusssed offshore drilling and joint exploration with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was previously reported that Duterte was okay with a 60-40 sharing, with the Philippines getting the larger share.
The two countries announced the setting up of an intergovernmental joint steering committee and a working group between relevant enterprises on oil and gas.
Both the PNOC and its Chinese counterpart, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), were tasked to form a technical working group.
Macapagal, a former member of the Board of Directors at Clark Development Corporation (CDC), is also the local president of PDP LABAN in Olongapo city.
He previously ran for congressman of Olongapo-Zambales in 2016, side-by-side with then candidate Duterte. More recently, he vigorously campaigned for Duterte’s candidates in the 2019 midterm elections.
“I said it before and I will say it again: progress is at the other end of that golden gate bridge that connects us to our shared destiny.
It is happening in Clark. It is happening all across the country. We need to find the bridge towards energy self-sufficiency — for when we do find it — we need to cross it, one small step at a time”, Macapagal adds.
He is the oldest son of former Olongapo city Mayor Teddy C. Macapagal, who, along with President Duterte and former senator Aquilino NENE Pimentel Jr., founded PDP LABAN and were the very first ones to join the party back in the early 80s.
His younger brother, Marvin Ted, also sits in the Board of Directors of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
The Macapagals of Olongapo are related to former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of Pampanga.