MANILA - The late "King of Pop" Michael Jackson saved Sony BMG Philippines in terms of sales this year.

"Ever since Michael 'MJ' Jackson passed away, na-compensate ng sales ng MJ ang supposed to be sales namin for one year. (Ever since Jackson passed away, record sales of MJ are equivalent to our sales for a year)," said Vic Valenciano, Artist and Repertoire (A&R) Director of the record company.

"Na-save ni MJ [ang company]. Sobrang laki ng binenta niya. (MJ saved the company. His records sold a lot)," he told abs-cbnNEWS.com in an interview during his visit to Boracay for the Nescafe 3in1 SoundSkool band camp.

In August this year, the Sony company (with offices worldwide) reported a quarterly loss of around 26.3 billion.

Reports said this was buoyed by sales of Playstation 3 and Michael Jackson records.

Valenciano added that even old stocks of Jackson albums, especially ones that didn't sell, sold well when they re-issued the albums.

"We even released non-selling or slow-moving albums. We reissued, and still, the records sold. Actually, we were caught off-guard by the surge of demand for MJ [records]," he said.

Valenciano did not give an exact sales figure, but said the number reaches "millions." "We can say we made our quota," he said.

Next for MJ

Valenciano said they are planning to release the DVD copy of Jackson's movie "This Is It!" which details the singer's last days.

"We've already released the soundtrack of 'This Is It.' Our single is 'This Is It.' The DVD will be released 6 months from now so it will be [released in] February," Valanciano said.

The executive said they are hoping that their US office will release the DVD earlier than scheduled.

"Because of the clamor. So many people want to buy the DVD, and people might release pirated copies earlier," he said.

As for Jackson's unreleased music materials, Valenciano said "Sony International has their plans na already made up for the coming year."

Aside from releasing Jackson's "Live in Bucharest" concert DVD, Sony BMG Philippines released Jackson's "Number Ones" album -- all containing No. 1 songs by Jackson.

In 2001, Jackson said that he was "wronged" by Sony Music when the firm failed to promote his album "Invincible", which is considered to be one of his greatest works. Report by Reyma Buan-Deveza, abs-cbnNEWS.com.