PLDT Inc. has been receiving the flak lately for the P48 billion in excess spending over the past four years that was not picked up by the otherwise powerful radar of the company.

The company which is the crown jewel of the Hong Kong-based regional conglomerate First Pacific Co. Ltd. had incurred huge losses in its shares traded on the stock market as some sectors started calling it a scandal.

Even Bloomberg said the spending could have been the result of intense competition in the telecommunications sector that pushed telcos to aggressively invest.

It was PLDT led by its chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan who blew the lid off the oversight which was a move that blunted its impact.

Being the point man in the First Pacific offensive in the region made MVP very particular about transparency which always works in favor of the interest of the conglomerate.

MVP said all through internal turmoil, PLDT was totally transparent.

"There's nothing we're hiding here. We're not playing with the truth," Pangilinan said.

He estimated that PLDT's excess baggage will be cleared from its books by next year. It is now negotiating with vendors for discounts and the cancelation of projects.

"The discussion also includes the possible replacement of certain projects that will be canceled, with new projects that will improve revenue growth and customer experience," PLDT reported to the stock exchange.

PLDT will incur a temporary hit in its financial records while it resolves the capital expenditure problem.

Rather than an anomaly, the problem was more of an error in judgment after some of the equipment purchased was overtaken by the speed of the development in broadband technology.

To support the statement of MVP, the company said in a disclosure that "there was no fraud, no anomalies, and no unrecorded transactions about the overrun." It also said it expects earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation to remain unaffected this year.