Former Colgate exec named DTI undersecretary

The Department of Trade and Industry has tapped a former executive of multinational fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) giant Colgate-Palmolive Co. to help in attracting new investments into the country.

In a statement on Wednesday, the DTI announced the appointment of Ponciano Manalo Jr. as undersecretary to leading the department’s trade and investments promotions group (TIPG).

Manalo, a former global-level executive of Colgate-Palmolive, replaces Cristino L. Panlilio, who resigned from government service on Jan. 15.

“As the new head of TIPG, Manalo will supervise the trade and investment promotions activities of the DTI,” the department said in a statement.

Under his jurisdiction are DTI bureaus, offices and attached agencies, namely the Bureau of Export Trade Promotions (BETP), the promotional posts under the Foreign Trade Service Corps (FTSC), the investment promotion units of the Board of Investments (BOI-Investment Promotions Group and Investment Servicing Group), Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC), Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (Citem) and Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC).

The DTI said Manalo had held global executive level positions for Colgate-Palmolive in Europe and the United States. He was vice-president for marketing operations in Europe, before his promotion to corporate global director of Colgate-Palmolive subsidiary Hill’s Pet Nutrition, which is based in Topeka, Kansas.

Before his overseas assignment, Manalo was in charge of designing, developing and implementing country-wide strategic marketing initiatives for Colgate-Palmolive in the Philippines.

Manalo, who has a management engineering degree from the Ateneo de Manila University, started his marketing career at Proctor & Gamble Philippines.