Nation-building CEOs take a bow

Phinma CEO Ramon V. Del Rosario Jr. poses beside a portrait of his father, Ramon Sr., considered one of the fathers of Philippine industry.

The late Ramon V. Del Rosario Sr. founded holding company Philippine Investment Management Inc. on the belief that Filipino managers have the world-class abilities and fiery competitive spirit needed to ably manage large corporations.

This may seem like a foregone conclusion today, with Filipino managers at the helm of some of the largest conglomerates not just in the Philippines but also in Asia. But it was a radical proposition in 1956, when Del Rosario founded Phinma with fellow businessmen Filemon C. Rodriguez and Ernesto O. Escaler.

Phinma CEO Ramon del Rosario Jr. told the Inquirer that at the time Phinma was founded, just a decade after the end of American colonial rule, foreigners were more likely to head large companies in the Philippines, not Filipinos.

Thus, Phinma, which built a conglomerate starting from an investment in a cement company, sought to showcase that the Filipino was “as good as anybody else in the world.”

The elder Del Rosario, however, took the concept of Filipino management a step further.

For Del Rosario, considered one of the founding fathers of Philippine industry and a founding trustee of the Management Association of the Philippines and the Asian Institute of Management, Filipino excellence in management should be harnessed for nation-building, not just making a profit.

It is these chief executives who are nation builders, too, whom JCI Philippines and AIM seek to recognize through the Ramon V. Del Rosario Sr. Award for Nation Building.

The first winners in 2010 were Senen Bacani, founder of La Frutera Inc., the first large-scale banana plantation in Muslim Mindanao, and Jesus Tambunting, founder of Plantersbank, which caters to small and medium-scale enterprises.

Succeeding winners were Oscar Lopez, chair of the Lopez group of companies; Washington SyCip, founder of auditing firm SGV and Co., and Vicente Paterno of Philippine Seven Corp., a former senior government official and a respected figure in the private sector.

This year’s awardee is Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chair and CEO of Ayala Corp., the country’s oldest conglomerate and also one of the largest.

Del Rosario said Zobel would be recognized during the awarding ceremony today for having steered the Ayala group into new areas such as infrastructure, education and energy “with the best interest of the nation” in mind.

Del Rosario said it was important to recognize these “role models” to get rid of the stereotype that the private sector is composed mainly of people who are greedy and care for nothing more than just earning a profit.

“If you have people who do care and have businesses that reflect that, then they are worth recognizing,” said Del Rosario said in an interview.

He added that through the RVR Award for Nation Building, JCI and AIM, the Del Rosario family hopes to show that there does not have to be a trade-off between doing good and doing well.

CEOs who care about their company and country can actually do both.