Keeping faith in the Filipino manager
Many voices aiming to contribute to nation-building have graced the pages of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), making it undeniably the country’s newspaper of record.
Among these are prominent business leaders whose experience and insights prove to be valuable.
This newspaper has a longstanding partnership with the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), an organization that seeks to “promote management excellence for nation building.”
This alliance provides a platform for its members, who are some of the country’s top-level executives and business leaders, to weigh in on pressing issues.
Aside from the weekly “MAPping the Future” column in Board Talk, the paper has also featured recipients of MAP’s prestigious “Management Person of the Year” award.
Deemed the top award for management excellence, the award is conferred “on individuals in business or government, whether a member of the MAP or not, who have attained unquestioned distinction in the practice of management, and have made valuable contributions to the progress of the country and in reshaping national values.”
Awardees are deemed “exemplary models who deserve to be emulated by their peers and by the younger leaders and managers.”
Recipients of the award have shared quite a history with PDI.
For a time, the Management Person of the Year awardee was the only business leader that the newspaper honored every year.
A parade of who’s who in the business world would descend on Chino Roces Avenue to toast the honoree.
More importantly, the newspaper has consistently published the remarks of the year’s awardee on “MAPping the Future.”
Aside from fulfilling the newspaper’s responsibility to report the news, turning the awardees’ words into ink cements the recipient’s legacy and is a fount of inspiration for aspiring business leaders.
The most recent recipient is SM Prime chair Hans Sy, being honored for his “personal contributions to shaping national values and inspiring others through his unwavering integrity, exceptional managerial competence and visionary leadership.”
SM Prime has become a “benchmark for sustainable and resilient urban development” as Sy presided over an unprecedented expansion, which championed diversity, inclusivity and employee welfare.
In his acceptance speech, the fourth-eldest scion of the Sy family said that despite seemingly nonstop problems, the Philippines is “worth the struggle.”
Recounting how his father powered through SM’s expansion despite the capital flight in the 1970s, Sy reaffirmed their commitment to do the same amid the tumult the country currently finds itself in.
“Like everyone here, I am affected by what is happening. It is painful to see our country suffer because of the faults of a few,” Sy said, alluding to corruption scandals rocking the nation.
“But when the road gets rough, you do not stop and turn back. You keep your hands on the wheel and stay the course.”
Sy’s speech was full of stories rich with leadership lessons. Notable among them was the importance of making decisions a leader could live with, such as waiving P23 billion in rental fees for SM mall tenants at the height of the pandemic or cutting down trees near SM Baguio to protect the nearby University of the Cordilleras from soil erosion.
“We have been tested by political unrest, economic challenges and natural disasters. A pandemic even closed our malls. After each test, we came out stronger. Not because we were spared, but because we learned, adapted and dreamt bigger,” Sy noted.
In the future, Sy said that they will build upon their achievements in education, resilience and disaster preparedness and community rebuilding.
“We will keep investing in developments that reflect what Filipinos truly deserve: smart cities, sustainable communities, modern infrastructure and green spaces that promote progress, inclusivity and well-being,” Sy added.
Other recent awardees include former Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson in 2024.
He was recognized for an “unblemished track record of integrity, managerial competence and professional leadership” during his time in both public and private sectors.
More relevantly, the award was also for his good governance and anticorruption initiatives at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) under former President Benigno Aquino III.
During his awarding in December 2024, Singson said: “I wish and hope that some of my experiences and principles in good governance and anticorruption measures based on hard work, political will, transparency, accountability and citizens’ or stakeholders’ participation will inspire our next-gen and Gen Z future leaders for a better future for all Filipinos.”
His stature after his time at the DPWH was cited behind President Marcos’ decision to appoint him as a member of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, formed earlier this year to investigate anomalous flood control projects.
Meanwhile, Jollibee Food Corp. chief executive Ernesto Tanmantiong was honored in 2023 for steering the local fast-food giant into greater success. In 2022, Jollibee opened 542 new stores across the globe and posted record-breaking business results year after year.
Jollibee arrived on the global scene as it shook off the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, not only heightening feelings of national pride but also proving that “Filipino companies can compete successfully alongside big, global brands.”
“The company has evolved from a small, family-run business into a professional and global organization. I consider myself blessed to have had my own leadership journey alongside the growth of the company,” narrated Tanmantiong, who rose through the ranks from starting as a part-time store crew member, in his acceptance speech in late 2023.
“It is important to always dream big with passion and commitment. From that year we set up shop 45 years ago, it was our big ‘crazy’ dream that brought us to where we are now.”
These exemplary business leaders featured in PDI’s pages are only a small subset of the Management Person of the Year winners. First awarded to Washington SyCip in 1967, it is a legendary list spanning multiple generations and representing different industries and backgrounds.
What brings them together, however, is a continuing promise to empower the Filipino people through responsible and impactful business leadership.
“I am 70 years old now. And I still hold only one passport, a Philippine passport. That is both a fact and a statement of faith,” Sy said during his awarding ceremony a few weeks back
“Despite the risks, the noise and the many uncertainties, I have never doubted our country’s promise or the strength of the Filipino spirit.”
Other awardees include: Washington Z. SyCip+, founder of accounting firm EY SGV (Sycip Gorres Velayo) and Company and co-founder of the Asian Institute of Management or AIM (1967); Geronimo Z. Velasco+, former minister of Energy and CEO of the Philippine National Oil Company (1977); Henry A. Brimo+, co-founder of the Philex Mining Corp. (1978); Jose M. Soriano, businessman (1979); Cesar E.A. Virata, former Philippine prime minister and finance minister (1981); Jaime V. Ongpin+, former minister of finance, and Vicente T. Paterno+, former minister of industry and minister of public highways (1982); Dante G. Santos+, founder of the Philippine Appliance Corporation and former head of the Philippine Airlines (1983).
Also among the awardees are Cesar A. Buenaventura, first Filipino CEO and chair of Shell Group in the Philippines, and Roberto T. Villanueva+, investment company executive (1985); Jaime Zobel de Ayala, former chair of the Ayala Corporation (1987); Ramon V. del Rosario, Sr.+, co-founder of Phinma and AIM (1988); Jose B. Fernandez, Jr.+, former governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines (1989); Raul T. Concepcion, chair and CEO of the Concepcion-Carrier Air Conditioning Company (1990); Oscar J. Hilado+, former chair emeritus of Phinma (1991); Alfonso T. Yuchengco+, former Philippine ambassador to Japan and founder of the Yuchengco Group of Companies (1992) and Juan B. Santos, former trade and industry secretary and chair of the Social Security System (1994).
David M. Consunji+, former secretary of public works, transportation and communication and chair of the DMCI Holdings, Inc., and Rizalino S. Navarro+, former trade and industry secretary (1996) also received the award, along with Gabriel C. Singson+, first governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (1998); Delfin L. Lazaro, former energy secretary, and Henry Sy, Sr.+ (1999); Oscar M. Lopez+, former president of Benpress Holdings Corporation (2000); Tony Tan Caktiong founder of the Jollibee Foods Corporation (2002); Jesus P. Tambunting, former ambassador to the United Kingdom and chair of the Planters Development Bank (2003); Rafael B. Buenaventura)+, former BSP governor (2004).
Manuel V. Pangilinan, managing director and CEO of First Pacific (2005); George S. K. Ty+, founder of the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, and Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chair and CEO of the Ayala Corporation (2006); Jose L. Cuisia Jr., former Central Bank governor and Philippine ambassador to the United States (2007); Antonino T. Aquino, chair and president of the Makati Property Ventures, Inc., and Jesus P. Estanislao, former finance secretary and director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (2009); Lilia B. de Lima and Ramon R. del Rosario, Jr., chair and CEO of Phinma (2010); Erramon I. Aboitiz, former president and CEO of Aboitiz Equity Ventures (2011); Aurelio R. Montinola III, chair of Far Eastern University and vice chair of the Philippine Business for Education (2012); Edgar O. Chua, CEO of Amber Kinetics (2013); Albert F. del Rosario+, former foreign affairs secretary and Philippine ambassador to the US (2014); Amando M. Tetangco, Jr., former BSP governor (2015); Teresita Sy-Coson, vice chair of the SM Investments Corporation (2016); John L. Gokongwei, Jr.+, founder of JG Summit Holdings (2017); Fernando Zobel de Ayala, vice chair of Ayala Corporation (2018); Nestor V. Tan of BDO (2019); Federico R. Lopez, chair and CEO of First Philippine Holdings Corporation (2020); Carlos Chan, head of the Liwayway group, maker of Oishi snacks (2021); Isidro A. Consunji, president and CEO of DMCI Holdings, Inc. (2022) complete the list.
MAP is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of top level managers, educators and non-government officials that promotes management excellence for nation-building.
Founded in 1950, it serves as a platform for sharing management best practices, networking and influencing policy to improve the country’s competitiveness, social well-being and economic prosperity.
