I was Vice President of the Philippine Council of Management (Philcoman), Inc. before but I just couldn’t make it to the meetings which were mostly held on Saturdays– noon till late afternoon in Makati. I stopped getting involved in their projects.
I wanted to show my support to Philcoman’s annual major event, the National Management Congress, so I headed to Manila Hotel today and attended half of the congress.
Half only because I had to leave at 1 pm to make it to Ford Edsa’s Thanksgiving Celebration.
I was lucky that traffic was light from our house to Manila Hotel. I reached the venue in 45 minutes. Nung araw, pag inabot ka ng kalahating oras, or 45 minutes or one hour, you complain to the heavens “Nay ko naman Lord, grabe inabot ako ng isang oras”. Ngayon, pag isang oras lang ang byahe puno tayo ng pasasalamat “Ay thank you Lord, ang bilis ko, isang oras lang.”
Manla Hotel grand lobby
I arrived at the Centennial Hall about half an hour before they started.
The sound system failed so we all sang the National Anthem acapela.
(Tall guy on the left is Carlos Melen, owner of Good Coffee Farms, the other guy is Architect Jun Palafox. Both gentlemen were guest speakers.
Carlos Melen was born in Guatemala but he moved to Japan when he was 18. In 2017, he began an innovative and sustainable system of coffee production in Guatemala using Japanese concepts and an eco-wet mill without the use of water, electricity or fuel. He used bicycles instead of industrial equipment for the process of removing the husk of coffee cherries.
I was at Table Number 5 during the morning session up until lunchtime. Then at around 12:30 noon, we were asked to vacate table number 5 because someone donated P100,000 and he and his group would occupy the table. I gladly cooperated of course. I moved to Table Number 3. I left at 1 pm but I gave my raffle ticket to Dr. Ped Salvador. (Fast forward, at 4 pm he messaged me saying that my ticket won in the raffle but presence required. I didn’t ask what the prize was. Could be a round trip ticket for two to somewhere.)
Dr. Ben Santos, Dr. Cecil Aurillo, Dr. Nerza, Dr. Ped Salvador
Prof. Noli Santos has always been very nice to me. I truly appreciate the high respect he accords to me as a person and entrepreneur. He is like that to everyone. I wish him many more years of good health.
I brought a gift for Prof. Noli which I bought from Echostore. He was embarrassed kasi wala daw syang pang-exchange gift. He left the ballroom and when he came back, he already has a gift for me. What a gentleman.
Salamat po.
The highlight of the congress was the awarding of the Management Man of the Year Award which for this year went to no less than the most popular mayor nowadays, Isko Moreno.
I couldn’t wait for his arrival because I had to go to Ford EDSA. Congratulations to Mayor Isko Moreno and to Philcoman. More power.
