Zobel bags rare citation from Japan

Don Jaime Zobel de Ayala

Japan has conferred the “Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star” – a rare citation reserved by the Emperor for individuals who have made distinguished achievement in strengthening the economic relations between Japan and the Philippines – on tycoon Jaime Zobel de Ayala.

Zobel is the chair emeritus of the country’s oldest conglomerate Ayala Corp. (AC), which has been doing business with Japanese companies for a long time.

In 1990, AC established an industrial park, which helped recover the confidence of investors after incidences of insurgency, and contributed to increase in investments in the Philippines by Japanese companies. The industrial parks in Southern Luzon have been set up in partnership with Mitsubishi Corp. of Japan.

Recently, Ayala-led Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. (IMI) has teamed up with Toppan Printing Co. Ltd., a leading printing company in Japan, to set up a new sensor production facility in Higashiomi, Shiga prefecture. The venture was created through IMI’s German-based subsidiary Via optronics GmbH, a leading supplier of interactive display solutions, with core competence in the area of optical bonding for sunlight readability and robustness as well as high-performing touch-display modules.

AC has also organized several Japanese-related exhibitions, such as Japanese Manga, an exhibition to commemorate the damage of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and the Kusama exhibit in Ayala Museum. Yayoi Kusama is famous Japanese Avant-garde sculptor.

The citation is seen as a recognition of AC’s great contribution to the understanding and promotion of Japanese culture in the Philippines.

Established in 1875, the “Order of the Rising Sun” award has different categories. There are very few individuals from the Philippine private sector who have received the “Gold and Silver” star category.

Other previous Philippine-based private sector recipients of the “Gold and Silver Star” were: the late Washington Sycip, who founded Philippine professional services giant SGV, and tycoon George Ty, founder of Metrobank group and conglomerate GT Capital.