BAIPHIL presents Pillar Award to Antonio Viray
BAIPHIL stalwart Atty. Antonio V. Viray received the Institute’s very first Pillar Award during the Grand Fellowship and Awards Night on July 1, 2022 at the Dusit Thani Manila. The Pillar Award was initiated by the BAIPHIL Board of Directors for FY 2021-2022 led by president Romel D. Meniado, to recognize its members who have consistently made significant contributions in the delivery of BAIPHIL’s mission, and provided steadfast support to its programs and projects in banking education, service and leadership for at least two decades. “This recognition,” Meniado says, “conveys our gratitude and awe at his resolve to make a difference for the organization in the last 49 years,” Antonio Viray has been an active member of BAIPHIL since 1973, was its President in FY 1984-85, earned the Pearl Service Award in 1977 and the Life Service Award in 2016, has been Chief Adviser for Legal Affairs from 2010 up to the present, and a constant resource for major initiatives and activities, through the years.
He also wrote the lyrics of the BAIPHIL Hymn, to Francis Puzon’s music. The hymn rallies the members to a strong sense of purpose, to this day. Atty. Viray accepted the award with both humility and elation. “This award is a pleasant surprise,” he responded. “Next year, I will have spent 50 years with BAIPHIL. I get my strength from all of you. I will cherish this for the rest of my life.”
A corporate lawyer by training and experience, Atty. Viray was Senior Vice President, Head of Legal Department and Corporate Secretary of Philippine Savings Bank. He also worked as General Counsel of Metro Bank, later to become Senior Vice President, Corporate Secretary and Director. At present, he is Corporate Secretary of GT Capital Holdings, Inc., and of Counsel of Feria, Tantoco, Daos, Law Firm. He has earlier authored the Handbook on Bank Deposits, Casebook on Banking, Checks, and Legal Essays on Banking. Just this year, he wrote a book entitled Close Corporations.