The Future” Column in the INQUIRER

Volume 7 Issue No. 09 map.org.ph March 2, 2021

“MAPping the Future” Column in the INQUIRER

The SGV - MAP NextGen CEO

Transformative Leadership Program

March 1, 2021

Mr. AURELIO “Gigi” R. MONTINOLA III

On behalf of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), I would like to thank SGV (SyCip Gorres Velayo & Company) for being our Knowledge Partner for the very first MAP NextGen Conference last November 20, 2020 and our forthcoming second MAP NextGen Conference on November 12, 2021.

As the Knowledge Partner, SGV has agreed to conduct the “SGV - MAP NextGen CEO Transformative Leadership Program.” In this regard, we are all virtually gathered together for an opening Kick-Off ceremony for a pioneering 12-month interactive leadership program. Fifteen (15) MAP NextGen members have been carefully selected to join this program to improve their leadership skills and help them reframe the future of their companies.

Allow me a few words to welcome our 15 Participants and our Knowledge Partner SGV.

Dear NextGen Participants and Future Thought Leaders of the Country:

I returned at age 29 to Manila in 1980 after 5 years of international Graduate School and overseas work experience with an international bank to start a career in the Philippines.

Little did I know that the Philippines would be going rapidly economically downhill during the next 5 years of Martial Law, that I would join a local bank (BPI), that Ninoy Aquino would be assassinated, and that I would have my first taste of a severe economic crisis where the country would plead for an international debt moratorium, inflation and Interest rates would hit 50-60% per annum, and foreign exchange of even $10,000 had to be rationed out.

And yet, I survived and actually later thrived, as I knew less than most, stayed focused on my job, and was not in a position to over-worry about things beyond my and the country’s control.

Why am I telling you this?

Each generation has a “once in a lifetime” life-changing event. For my parents, it was World War 2. For my generation, it was Martial Law. For you NextGen leaders, it will be the COVID-19 pandemic. Each event lasted longer than anyone thought, and was, at minimum, life-threatening to many. And yet, each major crisis brought major opportunity - the Philippines gained independence and rebuilt its economy with a new generation of entrepreneurs after World War 2. Post-EDSA 1986 started slow with political change focus on the first 15 years, and then steadily upward economic progress the next 18 years to the point where NEDA Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua recently said, we were on the cusp of becoming an upper middle-income country by end-2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic cruelly struck in 2020.

Due to my age, I have also been through four major economic crises - effectively one per decade for a few years. In the 1980s, it was the Philippine debt moratorium from 1983-1985. In the 1990s, it was the Asian Financial Crisis in 1996-1997. In the 2000s, we had the Global Financial Institutions crisis in 2008-2009. In the 2010s, we thought that had miraculously escaped, but then COVID-19 hit us like a sledgehammer in the decade’s last year, or 2020. From being considered among the best in Asia, the Philippines suddenly and unfortunately is being forecasted to be one of the slowest countries to recover to pre-COVID growth days.

Some Current Opinions

A New York Times article by David Brooks on February 18, 2021 is entitled “Get ready for greater technology”.

Some Relevant Quotations

“ … Discoveries in information technology have been massive - the internet and the smartphone… But life altering breakthroughs, while still significant, are fewer than they once were. If you were born in 1900 and died in 1970, you lived from the age of the horse drawn carriage to the man on the moon. You saw the widespread use of electricity, air conditioning, aviation, the automobile, penicillin, and so much else. But if you were born in 1960 and lived until today, the driving and the flying experience would essentially be safer, but otherwise the same, and your kitchen, aside from the microwave, is basically unchanged…. But this technological lull may be ending … the first and most obvious is vaccines…One could go on: artificial intelligence, space exploration…, anti-aging technologies, … even lab grown meat…. what if we create a world with cheap clean energy, driverless cars, and more productive years in our lives?“

Locally, Francis Kong , in a Philippine Star article on February 21, 2021 has five notable observations in a “Pandemic Developments” opinion column - “... the Acceleration of Innovation, Resistance around Change Weakens, Leaders Learned

2 and Showed Empathy and Generosity, the Pandemic has Ushered in Healthier Habits, and There is Higher Appreciation of the Simple Things in Life.”

Excellent food for thought as you start your 12-month program.

Some Practical Advice

I close with some practical advice:

1. Stay Cool - My major learning after four economic crises is that by simply surviving, you will be ahead of 80 percent of others. Control what you can, observe what you cannot, and Stay Cool. You will be able to think more clearly, and be a step ahead of negative social media on “Why are things Going Wrong” mindsets. 2. Stay Focused - Be aware of what you can and cannot do during this pandemic, but also think through who is your Client and Major Customer, and what product you are trying to offer.

Lack of Mobility, difficulty in logistics, and social distancing requirements are the big negatives, but digitalization, work from home, and rapid culture change are the big positives. The vaccine will help, but don’t bet your Business Plan on it, as we will all be learning to live with this Next Normal for a few years, if not semi permanently. As an aside, in all three previous economic crises, I would advise against debt, but in today’s environment, I might be tempted as interest rates are so low; however, your key metric should be Cash Flow through either Operating Margin and/or EBITDA.

3. Stay Positive - You are young, and you would not have been picked for this Next Generation 12-month interactive management leadership course if you were not Good.

Think Opportunity rather than Risk, and anyway, you have less blinders than others precisely because you are the Next Generation and currently fearless. Learn to live and operate in a Philippine setting, and bet the Philippines - after all, it is your country, and you have the skills and the track record to make a difference. Above all, Trust yourself and your business instincts, but remember that each time you learn something new from others, you make yourself a better manager and leader.

Finally, in my MAP 2021 Inaugural Address, I pointed to 5 Crises - Health, Economic, Environmental, Education, and Social Justice . Let the older generation experts solve the Health and Economic crises, while you Next Generation Leaders focus on resolving the fundamental present and future three - the Environment’s Critical Decade to reverse Climate Change, Education’s War against the Philippines’ Learning Crisis, and Social Justice’s fight for Jobs, Food, and Values Formation.

In short, please help us achieve MAP 2021’s Theme of “The GREAT RESET: LEADING for the COMMON GOOD”!

Good luck in your Learning Journey over the Next 12 Months!

(This article was lifted from the Welcome Remarks delivered by the author, as the MAP President, at the February 22, 2021 Kick-off ceremony for the “SGV-MAP NextGen CEO Transformative Leadership Program”. The author is Chair of Far Eastern University (FEU). Feedback at and < [email protected]>. For previous articles, please visit ).

“MAP Insights” Column in BUSINESSWORLD

ON THE MORAL RESPONSIBILITY

OF BUSINESS: An Alternative View

March 2, 2021

Dr. NICETO “Nick” S. POBLADOR

In November last year, the largest business and professional associations in the Philippines – collectively called the Philippine Business Group (PBG which includes the Management Association of the Philippines, sponsor of this column) signed a “Covenant for Shared Prosperity” by which it pledged to address the universal issues of economic and social inequality and non-inclusivity by ensuring “…ethical wealth creation and the sharing of prosperity with all their stakeholders.”

This Covenant echoes the “Statement of Purpose of the Corporation” which was formally adopted by the Washington, DC – based Business Roundtable (BRT) over a year earlier. At its annual meeting in January 2020, the World Economic Forum (WEF) launched its new “Davos Manifesto” in support of Stakeholder Capitalism. With these proclamations, the PBG, the BRT and the WEF abandoned their long- standing advocacy of Shareholder Wealth Maximization and committed themselves and the rest of the corporate world to creating value for ALL stakeholders.

In public forums and in social media, corporate leaders everywhere assert their commitment to pursue the economic interests of all their stakeholders. By all indications, Stakeholder Capitalism is now the new mantra in the corporate world.

These corporate commitments to Stakeholder Capitalism and responsibility to society carry the implication that businesses have a moral obligation to serve the interest of others.

There is widespread belief that businesses are morally bound to serve the needs of society. This view is consistent with current thinking on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which is generally understood to require the voluntary sharing of business profits with the community and the other stakeholders in the firm. These acts of magnanimity are generally seen as means of giving back of what is owed to others. This widely popular concept of CSR stands in stark contrast with the Friedmanesque notion that business has no social responsibility whatsoever other than to make profits, nothing more, nothing less. 4

My own personal views on business ethics verge on the heretical and admittedly go against the grain of current thinking. I hold that as social institutions serving the specific function of creating economic value for society, business organizations have no moral obligations whatsoever. However, people in organizations do. The firms’ owners, managers, employees, and the other individuals with whom they interact, are bound by ethical norms, including the moral responsibility of serving each other’s interests. To my mind, the term “business ethics” applies to people in organizations, and not to the organizations themselves.

On Stakeholder Capitalism

There have been serious objectors to the idea of Stakeholder Capitalism, notably from academe.

According to Harvard Law School professor Lucien Bebchuk, the Business Roundtable’s statement that companies have responsibilities to society equal to their responsibilities to shareholders is “largely cosmetic,” adding that “…when CEOs and other corporate leaders face choices, they do not give independent weight to the interests of stakeholders.”

University of Chicago Finance Professor Raghuram Rajan holds that “… the new mode of capitalism is simply a repackaging of the old. Successful companies will continue to focus on the value of their shares over the long term, while avoiding the risks of wading into areas where they don't belong.”

As one who has lectured and written quite extensively on business strategy and corporate governance, I personally view with a good deal of skepticism the notion that business firms have the moral responsibility to serve the interests of all their stakeholders.

While formal commitments to Stakeholder Capitalism make good sound bites and signal good intentions, they provide no clear guideposts for implementation.

Moreover, they leave major questions unanswered: • Given resource constraints and limits to productive capacity, what should be the basis for apportioning economic value among the stakeholders? Who gets more, and who gets less? • In setting priorities, how should the conflicting interests of stakeholder be reconciled?

Even more pointedly, stakeholder strategies as popularly interpreted have no theoretical basis. Simultaneously aiming for several goals is problematic. Creating value for all stakeholders in a company deprives its managers of an unequivocal criterion for making rational choices. By aiming to create value for ALL stakeholders, any strategic decision is acceptable for as long as it creates value for somebody– no matter by how much or how little. Consequently, decision makers are unable to determine what is the best, or optimal solution.

For this purpose, firms must pursue only one goal by which everything else is measured. That goal, by long-standing tradition, is profit or Shareholder Wealth Maximization.

At the end of the day, every corporate CFO is bound to ask himself/herself: “What is it about my company that makes it attractive to my shareholders and to prospective investors?”

The obvious answer is “Profitability.”

(This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines or the MAP.) ------Dr. NICETO “Nick” S. POBLADOR is a Retired Professor of Economics and Management, and currently Professorial Lecturer at the University of the Philippines - Diliman. [email protected] [email protected] http://map.org.ph

Participants for SGV - MAP NextGen CEO Transformative Leadership Program

Participants for the

“SGV - MAP NextGen CEO Transformative Leadership Program” with MAP President Gigi Montinola, SGV Chair and Country Managing Partner Wilson Tan, MAP NextGen Committee Chair Donald Lim, and SGV Consulting Head Rossana Fajardo taken during the February 22, 2021 Kick-off Activity

SURVEY OF MAP MEMBERS' PREFERENCES for the MAP Arts & Culture Lecture Series

February 9, 2021

Circular No. 014 - 2021

Subject: SURVEY OF MAP MEMBERS' PREFERENCES for the MAP Arts & Culture Lecture Series

Dear MAP Member:

The MAP Arts and Culture Committee, after having presented the first-ever MAP Festival of Concerts last November and December 2020, will be presenting a Lecture Series on arts and culture subjects to be held monthly to provide MAP members with refreshing breaks from the steady diet of business meetings in this time of the pandemic and thereby, , enhance membership satisfaction.

The series will be structured with relevant content in a format that will be appealing, educating and entertaining through virtual media with a combination of narration and visuals by authoritative presenters.

Kindly respond to our SURVEY OF MAP MEMBERS' PREFERENCES for the MAP Arts & Culture Lecture Series thru the following link: https://forms.gle/STm9qdvZG9GZP4vJ8

We will highly appreciate your soonest response.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

EDUARDO H. YAP Chair, MAP Arts and Culture Committee

EVELYN R. SINGSON Vice Chair, MAP Arts and Culture Committee

EMMANUEL P. BONOAN Governor-in-Charge, MAP Arts & Culture Committee

List of MAP Governors-in-Charge, Committee Chairs and Vice Chairs for 2021

REGISTRATION FORM for MEMBERSHIP in MAP COMMITTEES for 2021

I will join the following Committee for 2020: 1. 2.

Name of Member: 10

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

MAP Calendar of Events for 2021

Articles/Papers from MAP Members

1. “Business groups optimistic on economic recovery following vaccines' arrival” by Lisbet Esmael CNN Philippines February 28, 2021

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 28) — The arrival of the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines is expected to trigger public confidence, spurring economic recovery.

This is according to big business groups in the Philippines—Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX), Makati Business Club (MBC), and Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).

Executives from the said groups shared the same sentiments, saying jump-starting mass vaccination against the virus would equip the Philippines to further pursue and fuel its economic recovery plan.

MAP National Issues Committee Chairperson Rizalina Mantaring told CNN Philippines that since the government has been implementing lockdowns, limiting Filipinos' movement to lessen the spread of the COVID-19, the economy "has been devastated".

Domestic consumption, she noted, comprises 70% of the local economy.

"Vaccination will boost confidence and help allow us to reopen fully - the faster we are able to vaccinate, the faster we will be able to reopen and the faster our pace of recovery will be," Mantaring said in a mobile message.

This afternoon, the government received the first shipment of 600,000 COVID-19 vaccines from China's Sinovac Biotech.

"We fervently hope that this is the start of a continuous flow of sufficient vaccines into the country as inoculating as many people as possible at the soonest possible time will significantly boost consumer confidence and accelerate our economic recovery," FINEX President Francisco Ed Lim was quoted as saying in a statement.

Makati Business Club executive director Coco Alcuaz in a mobile message said, "tens of millions" of Filipinos have to be vaccinated "before confidence is substantially restored".

"We support efforts to vaccinate as many frontliners as quickly as possible," he said.

For this year, the government is targeting to purchase 148 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate around 50 million Filipinos.

2. “Philippines set to roll out Sinovac Covid-19 jabs, but some businesses can’t wait” by Elyssa Lopez and Reuters South China Morning Post February 26, 2021

Although 600,000 Sinovac doses will be given starting next week, private firms throughout the country have secured their own vaccines Hundreds of companies have bought millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and other jabs, aiming to get their employees rolling again

The Philippines will receive its first batch of Covid-19 vaccines this weekend from China’s Sinovac Biotech, allowing it to start its inoculation programme next week and lifting hopes for an economic revival after lengthy lockdowns that have fuelled job losses and substantially cut consumer spending.

Harry Roque, spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte, said 600,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine would arrive on Sunday out of the 25 million doses that have been ordered, while 10,000 doses of a vaccine developed by China’s Sinopharm are also expected to arrive soon under a “compassionate use” license for Duterte’s security detail. Doses from AstraZeneca will arrive in March, Roque said.

Despite having among the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Asia, the Philippines will be the last Southeast Asian country to receive its initial set of vaccines. Pfizer and AstraZeneca, the two Western pharmaceutical firms whose vaccines have received approval from Manila’s health authorities, had asked for an indemnity clause to be inserted into purchase agreements for their vaccines.

They were worried about suffering the same fate as the French drug maker Sanofi, which is facing lawsuits in the Philippines after an inoculation campaign involving its dengue drug, Dengvaxia, allegedly resulted in the deaths of several children dating as far back as 2016.

Earlier this week, the Philippine Congress approved a law protecting drug companies that make the Covid-19 vaccines from most lawsuits, opening the way for the AstraZeneca doses. There has been no word on when the Pfizer vaccines might come.

While Manila is expected to provide more details on how it will prioritise its citizens for vaccination, an initial plan showed that health care workers would be the first to get the shots and that those aged 18 and above and employed in non-essential industries would be last on the list.

But with the Philippine Food and Drug Authority (FDA) saying the Sinovac vaccine was not suitable for health care workers – efficacy data found it was 50.6 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19 in a trial involving health care workers in Brazil, but 91 per cent effective in a much smaller trial conducted in Turkey – Roque said the Sinovac doses may instead be given to military personnel and workers in the transport, agriculture, fishing and export-oriented industries.

TAKING CHARGE

Meanwhile, anticipating a long wait for the government vaccine roll-out, a private initiative involving a group of 35 major companies in the country has already ordered 2.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, enough for around 1.3 million people (the population of the Philippines is about 110 million). The group said the vaccines, which are expected to arrive as early as May, would be equally distributed among the 35 companies’ employees and the general public.

Another group of 340 companies ordered 15 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in January, while a number of other private companies have also ordered vaccines from US-based firms Moderna and Novavax – though the latter two have not yet been approved for use by the FDA. Companies ordering the vaccines will distribute them to their employees for free, and members of the general public will be able to buy them.

Joey Concepcion, the CEO of food and beverage firm RFM Corp and the leader of both the 35-company and 340-company consortiums, said the Philippines was “the only place in the world where the private sector is paying for vaccines for employees”.

He told This Week in Asia that it would be a mammoth challenge to convince Filipinos of the importance of getting inoculated, but that it was essential to get the country moving again.

“Having everyone vaccinated is the only way we can safely reopen the economy,” he said.

An employee of one of the companies involved in the group purchases said that he had purchased vaccines through his company for US$100 for his parents, even though he realised they may be able to get vaccinated earlier under the government’s vaccination programme.

“I can‘t wait for the roll-out of the government’s vaccine because my parents are already over 60 years old and I want to be sure that they get the vaccine as soon as possible,” said the employee, who requested anonymity. “I’ll only worry myself longer if I wait. The health of my family comes first.”

Various business organizations in the Philippines have also initiated moves to consolidate vaccine orders so smaller companies can also access vaccines. The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), a business group of over 700 medium-size and large firms, said it had ordered 156,00 doses of the Moderna vaccine, enough to inoculate at least 70,000 of the companies’ employees. The doses are expected to arrive by the third quarter of the year.

Riza Mantaring, former CEO of insurer Sunlife Philippines and the current national affairs committee chair of the MAP, said the group acted on its own instead of waiting for the government roll-out in order to do its part in restarting the economy, which is in the midst of its worst recession in almost three decades. Where did the Philippines’ pandemic response go wrong? 19 Feb 2021

“Addressing the pandemic effectively in a developing country like ours, which does not have the resources of wealthier countries, does require a whole-of-nation approach,” she said.

“Vaccination would be a literal shot in the arm to give confidence a boost and get people to go out and start spending, and companies to start investing again,” she added.

Since mid-January, average daily reported coronavirus cases have stayed above 1,000, with total cases above 560,000 and more than 12,000 deaths reported.

The companies involved in the group purchases, however, are also finding that they face the same problem the government has with its vaccination programme – a majority of Filipinos remain unconvinced about the need to be vaccinated. According to Pulse Asia, a private pollster, almost half of the 2,400 Filipinos involved in a survey on the matter said they would refuse the jabs, with 84 per cent of them saying they were unsure of vaccine safety.

One business owner and MAP member said that after telling his staff members that he had purchased vaccines, most remained uninterested.

“I thought it would be good for them and for the company” because they could do their jobs safely after being vaccinated, he said.

“But most are hesitant,” he said. “It’s as if I’m indebted to them that they are getting vaccinated.”

But Mantaring said most MAP companies have been conducting information campaigns to educate their employees, and that vaccine hesitancy among employees was diminishing.

“In one group of companies, they have been able to raise the vaccine willingness to 80 per cent now,” she said.

News articles about the February 24, 2021 MAP Webinar on "Actions and Solutions to Safety Reopen the Economy"

1. “Retailers, hotels push for shift to MGCQ soon” by Louella Desiderio The Philippine Star (Front-Page Headline) February 25, 2021

MANILA, Philippines — Groups representing retailers, information technology- business process management (IT-BPM) firms and hotels and restaurants are advocating a shift to modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) as soon as possible, along with intensified vaccine information campaigns for a quicker economic recovery.

Speaking at the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP)’s webinar yesterday, various groups reiterated their call to relax the quarantines and allow more people to have a source of livelihood.

“We want the economy, not only hotel and restaurant industry, to open up, but all types of businesses to open up because the more people have jobs, the more the economy opens, the more people would take tourism. You need money of course and resources to visit these destinations,” Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines (HRAP) president Eugene Yap said.

“Definitely, the only way forward is really for us to reopen our economy. We are least performing among our neighboring countries. This is a worldwide phenomenon, even big economies (are affected). But what we are seeing here is we are too restrictive with our lockdowns,” Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) president Rosemarie Ong said.

“There is a high level of consciousness among our people already in terms of the safety protocols, health protocols that need to be done and we can continue doing all of that in an MGCQ, in a more relaxed level. But the other benefits of a more relaxed level will help in reviving and reopening the economy. I am supportive of moving to a more relaxed level of quarantine,” Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) chairperson Lito Tayag said.

Clarify IATF rules

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said it would clarify if some rules enforced by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) would still be in effect amid differing opinions and even protests against some of them.

Previously, the IATF announced it would allow movie theaters, gaming arcades, driving schools, social events, libraries, museums and tourism attractions like parks, theme parks and historical sites to resume operations in general community quarantine (GCQ) areas like Metro Manila.

It also declared that 50 percent seating capacity would be allowed in churches and cinemas.

The announcement was met by protests from the Metro Manila Council (MMC), composed of Metro Manila mayors, citing concerns that it could cause faster COVID- 19 transmission.

“Does it hold that it be allowed or not because it is GCQ, because it was passed by IATF?” MMDA chairman Benhur Abalos asked during the online Kapihan sa Manila Bay media forum yesterday.

Parañaque City mayor and MMC chairman Edwin Olivarez said the council would assure the public of a common goal in creating pandemic response policies of each local government in the capital region. – Ghio Ong

2. “BPOs report productivity boost from remote work arrangements” by Jenina P. Ibañez BusinessWorld February 24, 2021

PRODUCTIVITY in the outsourcing industry rose in 2020 following the extensive adoption of remote work arrangements, the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) said.

IBPAP Chairman and Accenture Philippines Country Manager Manolito T. Tayag said that employee productivity increased by 15-40%, while absences declined by up to 40%.

“Maybe because they didn’t have to be absent when their child had to go to school or to attend a program, and many other things,” he said at an online event organized by the Management Association of the Philippines. He added that employees no longer had to spend hours on the road because they did not have to travel to the office.

“We have seen reduction in attrition — it could also be partly because there were not many other employment opportunities.”

Mr. Tayag said the cost reduction in real estate and other expense items was around 20%.

“We’ve seen some reductions where it was appropriate. We didn’t have to pay all the utility bills for our real estate and telecoms in the office, but on the other hand we had other expenses: the connectivity for our people at home as well as some other expenses which are not normal to our processes.”

He expects few companies to return to 100% office-based operations.

Mr. Tayag said, however, that the pandemic has amplified mental health concerns in the workforce, leading employers to initiate mental health campaigns and offer counselling sessions.

“We had to find a way to create engagement with our people,” he added.

Industry revenue was flat in 2020, he said, in line with IBPAP projections late last year.

“We were able to keep many jobs (by keeping workers home), and that is still better than the contraction that we saw overall in the Philippine economy.” — Jenina P. Ibañez

3. “Business joins vax info drive” by Raffy Ayeng Daily Tribune February 25, 2021

As the country gears for the arrival of Covid 19 vaccines, the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) has enjoined business members and leaders to spearhead the dissemination of proper information with regards to the much awaited sera to protect the economy and the nation as a whole.

During the Management Association of the Philippine Webinar on Actions and Solutions to Safely Reopen the Economy, Wednesday, PRA president Rosemarie Ong urged her colleagues in the business sector to intensify the information campaign about the benefits of the vaccine.

“We must tell the public that the risk of having the vaccine is lesser than the risk of having the virus, which will be a great help in convincing the majority of the Filipinos who have different views about the vaccine because of the political issues in the past,” Ong told business owners.

4. “BPOs cite benefits of remote work” by Irma Isip and Paul Icamina Malaya Business Insight February 25, 202

The information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) has noted benefits from work-from-home (WFH) and remote work arrangements on the industry and is pushing for a long-term plan on these schemes especially for companies registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

This developed as a report of the International Labor Organization (ILO) showed the Philippines is one of the major providers of workers in digital platforms.

Lito Tayag, chair of the IBPAP and country managing director of Accenture Philippines, told a forum hosted by the Management Association of the Philippines said the group sees remote work and WFH will continue to be adopted as part of the hybrid model of operations of IT-BPM.

In his presentation, Tayag said IBPAP has seen increase in productivity for employees with optimized remote models, lesser absenteeism and attrition.

Citing the experience of Accenture Philippines which he heads, Tayag said productivity has improved anywhere from 15 to 40 percent.

Tayag said a 40-percent reduction in absenteeism and 10 to 15 percent reduction in attrition were also noted.

For corporate benefits, Tayag said there is over 20 percent potential cost of reduction in real estate and resource usage.

For workers, Tayag said the benefits were in the form of less time spent on commuting to and from the workplace, better collaboration among team members and more efficient means of communicating.

With return-to-office also related to vaccination, IT-BPM companies will continue to use hybrid models depending on the needs of their clients.

These models include: 25 to 50 percent of operations alternate on-site where the employee has alternate days or weeks on-site; 50 to 75 percent on-site on-demand where employees report to office on designated days and; 90 to 95 percent connected remote 35 where employees reside within three hours of the office to enable once -a-month attendance.

Digital platform labor growing

Meanwhile, the ILO “World Employment and Social Outlook 2021: The role of digital labor platforms in transforming the world of work” report showed the Philippines accounted for 12 percent of home-based online work at $16 million of the total volume of $135 million in 2019.

India had $26 million or 20 percent of the outsourced labor and Ukraine $13 million.

The report added the other sources of digital workers are United Kingdom, the United States Bangladesh and Pakistan.

However, workers from developing countries are paid less than British and American counterparts, the report said.

Half of online platform workers earn less than $2 per hour. In addition, some platforms have significant gender pay gaps.

Work on web-based platforms are tasks performed online and remotely by workers. These are mostly small, mostly clerical tasks that can be completed remotely using a computer and Internet connection such transcription and annotation; content moderation; data collection and processing; audio and video transcription; and translation.

The data collected showed demand for work largely originates from Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the UK and Northern Ireland and the US.

The report cited the advantage of developing countries such as Brazil, India and the Philippines in digital work since they have integrated information communication and technology development into their national development policies which has allowed them to dominate the business process outsourcing industry.

The survey of about 300 online home-based workers in the Philippines found about 14 percent of the respondents were working as “virtual assistants” for clients based in Australia, Canada, the Philippines and the US.

Data from 200,000 projects collected from one of the largest online freelance platforms in 2019.

5. “Businesses now ready to reopen” by Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat Manila Bulletin February 25, 202

Regardless of quarantine

Regardless of the quarantine level that the government will decide on, businesses said they are now ready to reopen safely and are confident of achieving their growth targets for the year.

In a virtual forum on “Actions and Solutions to Safely Reopen the Economy” organized by the Management Association of the Philippines, the retail, IT-business process management, and the hotel and restaurant sectors presented their readiness to reopen their businesses after almost a year of strict quarantines.

Manolito “Lito” T. Tayag, chair of the IT-Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), said they have already adjusted to the new normal and is determined to keep their recalibrated growth targets for the year of 3-5 percent growth. A motorcyclist travels along a deserted road in Bonifacio Global City, Metro Manila, the Philippines. (Photographer: Geric Cruz/Bloomberg file)

Whether it is modified general community quarantine, the most relaxed level, or the restrictive general community quarantine, Tayag said “Our growth projection will stay, even our recalibrated targets,” he said.

Tayag said that the recalibrated growth this year 3-5 percent is expected to translate to additional 50,000 new jobs for the industry, which currently employs 1.3 million young Filipinos. The industry posted a flat growth in 2020.

He also said that there are new investors, particularly in the health and software sectors, in all the sectors of the IT-BPM industry whether they are new or expansion of existing players.

The only challenge, he said, is the need to reskill at speed and at scale the local manpower because of the new accelerated technologies their global clients had been forced to adopt during the pandemic.

Thus, he urged for strong collaboration with the academe, government and all industry stakeholders to train workers.

Atty. Eugene Yap, chairman and president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines (HRAP), said that they have already learned to leave with the restrictions even as he expressed hope the government will heed the private sector call to ease up quarantine restrictions.

Since businesses have no control over these restrictions, he said that his industry, one of the hardest hit by COVID-19 pandemic, has not stopped during this pandemic as players spent so much in renovation and other preparations for the new market.

“Nobody is sitting down,” he said stressing that HRAP members are down there planning and training workers.

“Businesses should begin operating soonest because there is no better time than now,” said Yap, who is the general manager of Bayview Park Hotel. Tourism accounts for 12.7 percent of GDP and employs 5.365 million based on the 2018 data of the Department of Tourism. 37

Rosemarie “Rose” Ong, president of Philippine Retailers Association, said the only way is to recover is to “reopen the economy.” She said that with or without the restrictions “maybe we start reopening and trust that people are very much aware of the protection needed.”

Ong, whose family owns the Wilcon, the country’s leading chain of construction material stores, said that even during the lockdowns the construction business flourished because workers shifted their budgets to home renovations and improvements.

She just expressed hope that the Inter-Agency Task Force will elevate the retail industry’s frontliners in the list of priority for the vaccines because they are now at number 10.

6. ‘Government needs to loosen reins’ by Othel V. Campos and Maricel V. Cruz Manila Standard February 25, 2021

Days after the President rejected easing quarantine restrictions nationwide, representatives from the three industries most affected by the move said the government needed to loosen the reins on movement and capacity of their sectors.

Rosemarie Ong, president of the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) and executive vice president of Wilcon Builders’ Depot, said while retailers have tried to improve on merchandising and instill good practices, they continue to rely on foot traffic, which has been light given the quarantine restrictions.

Ong also reiterated the sector’s plea to the government to consider the retail frontliners in the essential list for COVID-19 inoculation.

The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, on the other hand, has adapted to varying levels of quarantine but maintains most of its workforce in a work-from-home setup.

“I still believe that we can go to a more advanced level of quarantine. There’s a high level of consciousness among our people already in terms of the safety protocols and other health protocols that needed to be done. And we can continue doing all of that in an MGCQ or more relaxed quarantine level,” said IT-Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) chairman Lito Taya.

The sector manages operations with about 60 to 78 percent of the total IT-BPM work force working from home.

Meanwhile, the tourism sector has been preparing to welcome a new breed of visitors while waiting for restrictions to relax further.

“We have already learned to live with the restrictions up to a certain point and we hope the government will improve it sooner. If they do not lift it on March 1 (2021), hopefully,

38 later on,” said Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines chairman Eugene Yap.

“What we do now is we have many of the hotels and the restaurants starting renovation. We have spent so much in renovation preparing for a new market. And for those improvements we cannot afford, we plan them for the future,” he said.

The President has previously junked the proposal of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to allow areas still under GCQ to transition to MGCQ that include Metro Manila and few provinces, until the vaccine arrives.

In the House, Abay Rep. Joey Salceda pushed for proposals to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution, saying this would address the “staggering” cost of the country’s inability to open its doors to foreign investments.

“We opened the fewest doors, so we were visited by the fewest opportunities,” Salceda said.

Comparing the country’s inability to attract foreign direct investments (FDI) to the success of Vietnam, its neighbor in the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Salceda said that since 1987 when the Constitution was approved, the Philippines’ share of the net FDI inflows in the region has declined.

“In 1996, a decade after the 1987 Constitution, we were still taking 5.1 percent of ASEAN’s FDIs. Now, we are just taking 4.4 percent, less than half that of Vietnam,” he said.

Salceda also said keeping out foreign investment “spoiled” domestic market players.

“Shamefully, and once again, we are the most oligopolistic market in the region. The World Economic Outlook Global competitiveness index, from 2017 to 2018, shows that the Philippine market is dominated by the fewest business groups, among all economies in the region,” Salceda said.

Salceda also cited a World Bank paper which showed that with less competition, there was little incentive to make investments that improve the quality of services or the prices for consumers, or the efficiency of the business. “Why try hard, after all, if you have no competition from foreigners?”he said.

In trying to be nationalistic with the Constitution, the former finance analyst said “we have ironically fattened our domestic oligopolies at the expense of the people.”

7. “Industry leaders still back shift to MGCQ” by Anna Leah E. Gonzales The Manila Times February 25, 2021

Industry groups are hopeful that the government would further ease quarantine rules next month to allow the economy to reopen further and recover from the Covid-19 crisis,

39 even after President Rodrigo Duterte said he would not do so until coronavirus vaccines are rolled out.

During a Management Association of the Philippines webinar on Wednesday, Eugene Yap, chairman and president of the Hotel & Restaurant Association of the Philippines, voiced support for relaxing lockdown measures, saying that if the government doesn’t do so by March 1, “then hopefully a little bit later on.”

But he emphasized the importance of the vaccines’ availability, as “vaccination will give more confidence in business transactions.”

“If everyone is inoculated, then people will” be less fearful, Yap said.

Manolito Tayag, chairman of the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines, said the country could shift to a “more relaxed level of quarantine,” as there was a “high level of consciousness among our people already in terms of the health protocols that need to be done.”

“We can continue to do all of that [under] MGCQ,” he added, referring to modified general community quarantine, the least restrictive of the four quarantine classifications of the government.

Rosemarie Ong, president of the Philippine Retailers Association, said the economy should reopen further, but the government should make sure that measures to do so were aligned.

“Maybe we should have all LGUs (local government units)” align themselves to “a unified version” of the quarantine, or maybe the government should implement this, she said.

The three also expressed optimism about their respective sectors’ growth prospects.

“Many Philippine destinations are reopening. There will be a boom for domestic tourism because of our big population. We have around 110 million Filipinos now,” Yap said.

“We expect 2021 as the year for domestic tourism and 2022 for the revival of international tourism,” he added.

Tayag sees his industry growing at 3 to 5 percent this year, saying that according to his group’s last calibration, “we see some growth in all” six subsectors, “including the in- house or shared services.”

These subsectors are call center, in-house centers, software, health management, game development and animation.

According to Ong, retail will continue to be an essential sector.

“We are still seeing growth in the business. It’s going to be soft, but still very hopeful. I just hope that the President will change his mind” on easing quarantine rules, she said. 40

She was referring to Duterte’s February 22 rejection of the proposal of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to place the entire country under MGCQ as long as Covid-19 vaccines are yet to be rolled out.

“The Chief Executive recognizes the importance of reopening the economy and its impact on people’s livelihoods. However, the President gives higher premium to public health and safety,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. told reporters on Monday.

WITH A REPORT FROM KEITH CALAYAG

Articles/Papers from MAP Members

1. “An agenda for agri co-ops” from MAP Member CIELITO F. HABITO’s “No free lunch” Column in PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER on March 2, 2021

Why has our record on farmer cooperatives been so spotty over the years, while countries around us that we mentored on agricultural co-ops made them such an important force for achieving agricultural dynamism? If we were their former mentors, we must have been good at it once.

Indeed we were — and our neighbors knew it. In the late 1950s on to the ‘60s, FACOMAs (farmers’ cooperative marketing associations) were a byword in Philippine agriculture, and a model for the Asian region. FACOMAs seemed so ubiquitous that the word entered my vocabulary as a young six-year-old in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, where my father briefly taught at the Central Luzon Agricultural College or CLAC (later to become Central Luzon State University). My elder siblings and their friends would gleefully shout, “Ayan na ang FACOMA!” as they waited on the roadside for sugarcane-laden trucks, whose drivers would obligingly stop and let them pull out a cane or two to munch on. On hindsight, the trucks must have belonged to FACOMAs of farmers planting cane in the CLAC campus.

Dr. Eulogio “Eloy” Castillo, a UP Los Baños colleague who once headed the Agricultural Credit and Cooperatives Institute or ACCI (now Institute for Cooperatives and Bio-enterprise Development or ICOPED), told me that as a junior ACCI staffer then, he had been tasked to train Korean and other foreign visitors on our FACOMA model. Many years later, an officer from the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) told him that our FACOMAs were their model and inspiration when they started in the 1960s with 57 member co-ops. Now, IFFCO’s network of 36,000 co-ops is said to be the largest fertilizer cooperative in the world. But our FACOMAs that saw their glory days in the 1960s now seem all but extinct.

As of 2015, Thailand counted 3,822 farm co-ops comprising 6,666,437 members, making up 56 percent of total cooperatives membership. Vietnam reports more than 10,000 agri co-ops, also comprising more than half their total. We have 18,581 listed co- ops, of which agricultural, fishery, dairy, and agrarian reform beneficiary co-ops 41 together number a measly 1,720, less than 10 percent of the total. I’m told that if one includes “multi-purpose co-ops” with farmer-members, the ratio goes up above 40 percent, but the numbers still pale in comparison to our neighbors, who trained with us in Los Baños not only in agricultural science, but in running co-ops as well.

What happened? Why can’t we sustain our farm co-ops, much less grow and empower them like our neighbors did? The reasons most commonly cited are weak management and leadership; poor understanding, appreciation, and commitment for cooperative principles, practices, and objectives; and lack of safeguards against unscrupulous self- motivated officers.

Knowing the crucial role agri co-ops have historically played in the dynamic farm sectors of Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, and others trained, ironically, by our own ACCI, the USAID-funded GROW-COOP (“Generating Rural Opportunities by Working with Cooperatives”) Project has embarked on the formulation of an Agricultural Cooperatives Development Agenda (ACDA). Agriterra, working with my colleagues at Brain Trust Inc., is facilitating a participatory formulation of the ACDA that would be owned and authored by agri co-op stakeholders themselves. But such a roadmap cannot succeed unless government itself, through the Department of Agriculture, puts agri co-ops at the center of the country’s agricultural development strategy. Agri co-ops development must be squarely among the top KRAs and KPIs (key result areas/key performance indicators) in the DA’s annual program planning and budgeting. It must also support a strong Cooperative Leadership Academy or network of Cooperative Leadership Training Institutes, a mechanism Korea successfully used to empower its well-known Saemaul Undong grassroots community movement.

We hope to see our own DA pursue the ACDA with the same seriousness as the Thais, whose agriculture ministry is in fact called the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. Need we wonder why they have long beaten us at a game we supposedly helped teach them to play? [email protected]

2. “Family business: Missing middle no more?” from MAP Social Justice Committee Vice Chair ALEXANDER B. CABRERA’s “As easy as ABC” Column in THE PHILIPPINE STAR on February 28, 2021

One thing you can bet on when it comes to a family business is that the family will protect the family asset. When the pandemic happened, they sure showed that they also protected their employees and helped their communities. It is no exclusive local thing, as the 2021 PwC Global Family Business Survey shows that these are prevalent traits worldwide.

Family businesses surveyed worldwide also showed that they are among the most financially resilient in the pandemic, with almost 80 percent saying they needed no additional capital in 2020. They also expect to recover quickly, with about 65 percent projecting growth in 2021 and more than 85 percent expecting steady or robust growth in 2022.

If the results of the survey of the family businesses appear optimistic, I am not surprised. Locally, we can see the stories of the country’s most successful businesses: the Sys, the Ayalas, the Gokongweis, the Gotianuns, the Aboitizes. All have robust growth from very determined, if not aggressive, business plans.

And the big conglomerate family corporations do not have a monopoly of this attitude as smaller family corporations in the country have the same instinct. Because when legacy is at stake, even the most difficult challenges do not downgrade ambitions. And when an intergenerational future is in play, then the incumbents cannot fail. There is a higher intensity of determination because it is self made, and founders become mentors, because the product of all their labors and dreams will be passed on, and because, at the risk of oversimplifying, there is love among family members that extends to the unborn.

Back in 2016, a staggering finding was brought out by the PwC Family Business Survey about the missing middle. I submit, however, that this puzzle about the missing middle may have been solved by the pandemic as one of its wonderful silver linings.

The “missing middle” is a strategy gap found after analyzing interviews with about 2,800 senior executives from family businesses across 50 countries. What it is, is that family businesses were found to be very good at dealing with everyday “nuts and bolts” of running their business and they could think in terms of generations vs merely in years. But the challenge is the middle, or that strategic plan in the next five to eight years, that can link the current business with the long-term vision of where it could be. In the same year (five years ago), from the PwC report, only one out of four businesses was worried about being prone to digital disruption, 43 percent of the businesses did not have a succession plan, and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) did not appear to really figure in the strategic discussions.

The pandemic compelled those at the helm to be transformational leaders. The acceleration of change converted medium-term goals into urgent short-term plans, with a mindset that it must be embraced as the new norm.

The 2021 survey showed stronger business performance and faster recovery for those with strong digital capabilities. One simply cannot be agile enough to adapt without digital transformation that allows online sales, and faster and transparent sharing of information that feeds urgent decision-making among family members. As shared by one family leader in soft drink distribution: “We shifted the business model when the pandemic hit so that around 80 percent of sales were online and our shops delivered the coffee locally to customers. We moved from being a retail business to an Internet delivery business in just four months. That’s the mentality you need during a crisis – don’t close the shops, change.” (Alfonso Libano Daurella, Cobega Group, Spain)

Probably the most telling part of this 2021 survey is that the younger generation is inspired by a commitment to ESG but at the same time, incumbents admit that they need to graduate family values into acts that demonstrate ESG commitment. A family leader shared that “...ESG was thought about as something we do when everything else was

OK” (Sara Hughes, Lwart Group, Brazil). And it may appear counter to the grain of values but some family members believe that companies must communicate the good that they’ve done. “In the past, we’ve never talked about [our positive impact], because if you do, you’re seen as boasting. That’s a mindset change that has to come.” (R. Dinesh, TVS Supply Chain Solutions Limited, India)

It seems that transformative change may well be in the shoulders of the Nextgens who are known to be digitally strong, and with the right heart and empathy to make an ESG- focused business model work.

But as an agent of change and successor, 36-year-old Nina Østergaard Borris of USTC, Denmark has this gem of wisdom: “My father is good at listening and asking the critical questions. As a NextGen, you have to be mindful not to throw out the good things because you are focused on something new.”

* * *

Alexander B. Cabrera is the chairman and senior partner of Isla Lipana & Co./PwC Philippines. He is the chairman of the Integrity Initiative, Inc. (II, Inc.), a non-profit organization that promotes common ethical and acceptable integrity standards. Email your comments and questions to [email protected]. This content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors.

MAP Videos on Facebook

https://web.facebook.com/map.org.ph/videos

1. February 24, 2021 MAP Webinar on "Actions and Solutions to Safely Reopen the Economy"

2. January 20, 2021 MAP Webinar on “Upgrading the NAIA to World Standard”

3. January 12, 2021 72nd MAP Inaugural Meeting and Induction of 2021 MAP Board of Governors

4. Adeste Fideles Christmas Concert at the PICC Plenary Hall streamed on December 22, 2020

5. December 21, 2020 MAP Online Panel Discussion on “A YEAR OF COVID: Gloom or Boom?”

6. Adeste Fideles Christmas Concert at Santuario de San Antonio streamed on December 16, 2020

7. A Flavor of Vienna Concert, a first-ever tribute to 50 years of “MAP Management Man of the Year” awards, reprised on November 26, 2020 as MAP’s Thanksgiving Day offering.

8. November 20, 2020 First MAP NextGen Web Conference

9. September 15, 2020 MAP International CEO Web Conference on “A WHOLE NEW WORLD: Reigniting the Stalled Global Economy”

10. November 23, 2020 (Monday) MAP Online Annual General Membership Meeting and “MAP Management Man of the Year 2020” Awarding Ceremony

11. October 13, 2020 (Tuesday) MAP Online General Membership Meeting on “ESG and its Linkage to Long-term Value Creation”

12. September 8, 2020 (Tuesday) MAP-PMAP Joint Online General Membership Meeting (GMM) on “Deepening the Bench for Future Business Leaders”

13. July 14, 2020 MAP 5th Online GMM on “Landscape and Control Mechanisms for Business Crimes and Fraud” with Mr. ALEX TAN, Partner for Consulting of PwC Malaysia

14. June 9, 2020 MAP 4th Online GMM on “MAYORS ENVISION A POST-COVID FUTURE”

15. June 26, 2020 MAP Webinar on “DIVERSITY & INCLUSION AGENDA: Does it Matter during the Pandemic?”

16. June 24, 2020 MAP 2nd Webinar on the Anti-Terrorism Bill with Senator PANFILO “Ping” M. LACSON, Chair of Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation

MAP Talks on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMAPph

Festival of Concerts

1. Adeste Fideles Christmas Concert at the PICC Plenary Hall streamed on December 22, 2020

2. Adeste Fideles Christmas Concert at Santuario de San Antonio streamed on December 16, 2020

3. A Flavor of Vienna Concert, a first-ever tribute to 50 years of “MAP Management Man of the Year” awards, reprised on November 26, 2020 as MAP’s Thanksgiving Day offering.

Video Recordings of MAP GMMs

4. January 12, 2021 72nd MAP Inaugural Meeting and Induction of 2021 MAP Board of Governors

5. December 21, 2020 (Monday) MAP Online Panel Discussion on “A YEAR OF COVID: Gloom or Boom?”

6. November 23, 2020 (Monday) MAP Online Annual General Membership Meeting and Awarding Ceremony for “MAP Management Man of the Year 2020”

7. October 13, 2020 (Tuesday) MAP Online General Membership Meeting on “ESG and its Linkage to Long-term Value Creation”

8. September 8, 2020 (Tuesday) MAP-PMAP Joint Online General Membership Meeting on “Deepening the Bench for Future Business Leaders”

9. August 18, 2020 MAP 6th Online General Membership Meeting on “The Urgent Need for a Future-Ready Board” with Ms. ALIZA KNOX, Mr. REY LUGTU and Dr. JUSTO “Tito” A. ORTIZ

10. July 14, 2020 MAP 5th Online General Membership Meeting on “Landscape and Control Mechanisms for Business Crimes and Fraud” with Mr. ALEX TAN, Partner for Consulting of PwC Malaysia

11. June 9, 2020 MAP 4th Online General Membership Meeting (GMM) on “MAYORS ENVISION A POST-COVID FUTURE”

12. May 20, 2020 MAP 3rd Online GMM on “Leveling the Playing Field amid the COVID-19 Pandemic” with PCC Chairman ARSENIO M. BALISACAN

13. April 14, 2020 MAP 2nd Online GMM on "Leading Through COVID-19"

Video Recordings of MAP Webinars

14. September 25, 2020 MAP Sustainable Development Committee Webinar on “MOVING FORWARD WITH OUR MANA TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE BLUE ECONOMY” to Celebrate September as MANA Mo (Maritime & Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month)

15. June 26, 2020 MAP Webinar on “DIVERSITY & INCLUSION AGENDA: Does it Matter during the Pandemic?”

17. June 17, 2020 MAP 1st Webinar on the Anti-Terrorism Bill with former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice ANTONIO “Tony” T. CARPIO

18. May 8, 2020 MAP Webinar on “Helping the MSMEs Survive the Pandemic”

19. April 24, 2020 MAP Webinar on "Developing Health Protocols for Workforce Re-Entry"

20. April 17, 2020 MAP Webinar on "Managing the Workforce Today and Preparing them for the New Normal"

21. April 2, 2020 MAP Webinar on “Responding to COVID-19”

MAP Legacy Series 2019 on ANC featuring the following:

22. MMY 1996, Mr. DAVID M. CONSUNJI

23. MY 1998, Gov. GABRIEL C. SINGSON

24. MMY 1999, Mr. HENRY SY, SR.

25. MMY 1967, Mr. WASHINGTON Z. SYCIP

26. MMY 2006, Dr. GEORGE S.K. TY

27. MMY 1992, Amb. ALFONSO T. YUCHENGCO

The MAP Lifestyle Masters on Living Well and Aging Well

Happy Birthday to the following MAP Members who are celebrating their birthdays within March 1 to 31, 2021

March 1 1. Arch. BENJAMIN “Bing” S. AVILA, Principal Architect, Avila Architect 2. Atty. RAYMUND JOSEPH IAN “Raji” O. MENDOZA, Managing Partner, Mendoza Calnea Mangundayao and Associates 3. Atty. EDUARDO “Ed” M. PANGAN, Partner, Mendoza and Pangan Law Offices 4. Mr. PHILIP SOLIVEN

March 2 5. Mr. EDMUN H. LIU, Group CFO, LH Paragon Group 6. Mr. FAUSTO R. PREYSLER JR., President and Chair, Smith Bell Corporation 7. Mr. SIMPLICIO “Jun” P. UMALI JR., President and General Manager, Gardenia Bakeries (Phils.), Inc.

March 3 8. Ms. MELESA “Elsie” D. CHUA, President and CEO, CDC Quadrillion 9. Mr. JUAN CARLOS “Carlos” G. DEL ROSARIO, Chair Emeritus, Amalgamated Investment Bancorporation 10. Mr. ENRIQUE “Ricky” K. RAZON JR., Chair and President, ICTSI (International Container Terminal Services, Inc.)

March 4 11. Mr. WILLIAM N. CHUA CO KIONG, President, Wills International Sales and Corporation 12. Ms. GENEROSA “Gigi” PIO DE RODA, President and CEO, FPG Insurance Co., Inc. 13. Dr. HAZEL P. ZUELLIG, President, Z Healthcare Asia Holdings Corporation

March 5 14. Ms. JOANNA THERESE “So-bee” CUYEGKENG DUENAS CHOA, General Manager, Mary Kay Philippines 15. Mr. TEOFILO “Pilo or Theo” S. EUGENIO, Former President, Asia Pacific Chartering Phil., Inc. 16. Mr. CONRADO “Conrad” G. MARTY, Vice Chair, Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. 17. Mr. EDWIN “Ed” V. MATULIN, SVP and Board Director, Synchrony Global Services Philippines, Inc.

March 6 18. Mr. ALOYSIUS “Nonoy” B. COLAYCO, Country Chair, Jardine Matheson Group of Companies - Philippines 19. Mr. ALFREDO “Al” S. PANLILIO, President and CEO – Smart Communications, Inc. and Chief Revenue Officer - PLDT Group, SMART Communications, Inc. and PLDT Group 20. Mr. JAIME AUGUSTO “Jaime” ZOBEL DE AYALA II, Chair and CEO, Ayala Corporation

March 7 21. Mr. REYNALDO “Rey” C. CENTENO, President and CEO, General Life Assurance Philippines, Inc. 22. Cong. FELICITO “Tong” C. PAYUMO, Chair, University of Nueva Caceres

March 8 23. Mr. VITALIANO “Lanny” N. NAÑAGAS II, President, Organizational Systems, Inc.

March 9 24. Ms. MARIE KIMBERLY “Kim” S. BENEDICTO, COO, CLB Engineering and Supply, Inc. 25. Ms. CORAZON “Cora” S. DE LA PAZ BERNARDO, Honorary President (former President - 2004 to 2010), International Social Security Association 26. Atty. ARNEL PACIANO “Arnel” D. CASANOVA, Country Representative, AECOM Philippines, Inc. 27. Engr. WILFREDO “Will” L. DECENA, CEO, Will Decena & Associates, Inc. 28. Amb. KOJI HANEDA, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan, Embassy of Japan 29. Mr. DANIEL GLENN “Glenn” C. SAN LUIS, Executive Director - Inquirer Academy, Linq Academy Education Services Inc. 30. Mr. JEFFREY “Jeff” O. TARAYAO, President, One Meralco Foundation

March 10 31. Mr. AFTAB AHMED, CEO, Citibank, N.A. 32. Ms. HAIDEE C. ENRIQUEZ, Chief People Officer, Sitel Philippines Corporation

March 11 33. Atty. ARNEL JOSE “Arnel” S. BAÑAS, Deputy Secretary for Administration and Financial Services, Senate of the Philippines 34. Mr. RAINERIO “Bong” M. BORJA, President, Alorica 35. Mr. EDUARDO “Ed” V. FRANCISCO, President and CEO, BDO Capital & Investment Corporation 36. Dr. CIELITO “Cielo” L. GARRIDO, CEO, San Dionisio Credit Cooperative 37. Mr. DEXTER CHUA LEE, Chief Strategy and Planning Officer, Philippine Airlines (PAL)

March 12 38. Mr. RENE D. ALMENDRAS, President and CEO, Manila Water Co., Inc. 39. Mr. DANTE FRANCIS “Klink” M. ANG II, Executive Editor, President and CEO, The Manila Times 48

40. Mr. RODRIGO “Rod” E. FRANCO, President and CEO, Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation 41. Mr. FRANCISCO “Kaiku” H. LICUANAN III, Chair, Geostate Development Corporation

March 13 42. Mr. ROLANDO “Rolly” S. NARCISO, Director/ Consultant/ Advocate

March 14 43. Dr. CYNTHIA R. MAMON, COO, Enchanted Kingdom, Inc. 44. Mr. JOSE “Joe” R. SOBERANO III, President and CEO, Cebu Landmasters, Inc. 45. Mr. FERNANDO ZOBEL DE AYALA, President and COO, Ayala Corporation

March 15 46. Ms. ANNA JERMAINE “Jermaine” V. BOMBASI, Managing Director, Empire Centre for Regenerative Medicine 47. Mr. ROLAND ENRIC “Roland” L. DELA CRUZ, Chair, Alternative Network Resources Unlimited (ANR Unlimited MPC) 48. Mr. ROLANDO “Rolly” A. JAURIGUE, ButterflyHouse at KM 89 Garden

March 16 49. Arch. FELINO “Jun” A. PALAFOX JR., Principal Architect - Urban Planner, PALAFOX

March 17 50. Ms. COSETTE V. CANILAO, COO, Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc. 51. Dr. CORAZON “Cora” PB. CLAUDIO, Vice Chair, The Technical Institute of St. Rita & St. Jude, Inc. 52. Mr. RENATO “Rene” A. FLORENCIO, Chair, GolconDIA Jewelry and TechnoMarine 53. Dr. NICETO “Nick” S. POBLADOR, Retired Professor of Economics and Management, and currently Professorial Lecturer, University of the Philippines (UP)

March 18 54. Mr. DAVID “Dave” F. DRILON, Country Head, Digitas PH 55. Dr. ESTER ALBANO GARCIA, President, University of the East (UE) 56. Mr. LEANDRO “Lean” L. LEVISTE, Founder and President, Solar Philippines 57. Hon. FIDEL “Eddie” V. RAMOS, Chair, Ramos Peace and Development Foundation

March 19 58. Mr. ARTHUR “Art” N. AGUILAR, President, Negros Island Biomass Holdings, Inc. 59. Mr. JOSE “Joe” P. BANTILING, CEO, Trends and Concepts Total Interior Solutions, Inc. 60. Mr. RAUL JOSEPH “Jojo” A. CONCEPCION, President and CEO, Concepcion-Carrier Air Conditioning Company 61. Consul Gen. M. ISSAM “Sam” ELDEBS, Consul, Consulate of the Syrian Arab Republic 62. Mr. MUTSUHIRO “Mutsu” OSHIKIRI, President and CEO, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) 63. Mr. RENATO “Rene” C. VALENCIA, Chair, OMNIPAY, INC.

March 20 64. Mr. ALEXANDER “Alex” M. GENIL, President and CEO, ZMG Ward Howell 65. Mr. JOSE MARCEL “Jocel” E. PANLILIO, Chair and CEO, Boulevard Holdings 66. Sr. ZETA “Sr. Zeta” R. RIVERO, SPC, CEO, Perpetual Succour Hospital of Cebu, Inc. 67. Mr. FREDRICK “Rick” M. SANTOS, Chair and CEO, Santos Knight Frank Inc. 68. Mr. MICHAEL “Mike” G. TAN, COO, Asia Brewery Incorporated 69. Dr. REYNALDO “Rey” B. VEA, President and CEO, Mapua University

March 21 70. Atty. WALTER L. ABELA, JR., Partner and Head, Tax and Corporate Services, Navarro Amper & Co./Deloitte 71. Mr. LEOPOLDO “Leo” P. DE GUZMAN, Chair and CEO, Marigold Estate Ventures Company, Inc. 72. Mr. WILLIAM CARLOS UY, Chair and President, Parity Values, Inc.

March 22 73. Mr. MARK DAVID “Mark” C. ALVAREZ, Managing Director, InSites Consulting (Philippines) 74. Mr. CARL LESTER “Carl” SY ANG, EVP, Multi-Rich Home Decors, Inc. 75. Mr. WILSON “Wilson” TAN LEI YEE, President, Segway Moving Philippines, inc.

March 24 76. Mr. EUGENE “Eug” S. ACEVEDO, President and CEO, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) 77. Ms. MA. LUNA “Luna” E. CACANANDO, President and CEO, Small Business Corporation (SBCorp) 78. Dr. VICTOR “Vic” SIMPAO LIMLINGAN, Chair, Regina Capital Development Corporation

March 25 79. Ms. MARLETH S. CALANOG, Executive Director, Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School of Business Center for Continuing Education 80. Mrs. VICTORIA “Vicky” P. GARCHITORENA-ARPON, Consultant, Family Philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility 81. Dean SIEGFRED “Fred” C. JAVELOSA, Dean, School of Management and Information Technology, De La Salle - College of St. Benilde 82. Mr. JONATHAN JUAN “JJ” DC. MORENO, Chief Strategy and Governance Officer, Metro Retail Stores Group, Inc. (MRSGI) 83. Mr. JESUS “Boboy” C. ROMERO, COO, Converge ICT Solutions Inc.

March 27 84. Mr. RODRIGO SEGURA, Partner and Senior Consultant, CMC Business Solutions, Inc.

March 28 85. Atty. J. ANDRES “Andy” D. BAUTISTA 86. Mr. MENELEO “Ito” J. CARLOS JR., President, RI Chemical Corporation 87. Sec. HERMINIO “Sonny” B. COLOMA JR., EVP, Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation 88. Mr. WOLFGANG KURT “Wolfgang” HARLE, Managing Director, Harle Philippines, Inc. 89. Mr. RAMON “Mon” S. MONZON, President and CEO, The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) 90. Mr. JOSE ARNULFO “Wick” A. VELOSO, President and CEO, Philippine National Bank (PNB)

March 29 91. Mr. JOHN D. FORBES, Senior Adviser, AMCHAM Philippines

March 30 92. Mr. JAIME “Jimmy” F. SINGSON, President, USA BPO, Inc. 93. Mr. VICTOR JOSE “Vic” TANCINCO, President and CEO, St. Peter Life Plan, Inc.

March 31 94. Gov. BENJAMIN “Ben” E. DIOKNO, Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)

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