HER PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE

Bold and spirited, Rosanna

Tuason-Fores pushes the limits of her personal passions for a pithy purpose

Davao’s Hijo Plantation, acquired by Jose “Boy” Tuason in 1968, was formerly a banana business that has now branched out to other industries—property development, leisure and tourism, agri-business, and port and logistics. The strategic diversification rooted from Jose’s vision of nation and capacity building, Filipino empowerment, and the conscientious stewardship of the country’s natural resources is a noble cause his daughter Rosanna Tuason-Fores continues to live by.

“Hijo and Mindanao is a promise for me. It’s a promise to transform, to give simple happiness.

The Filipino is very resilient. They’re happy people,” Rosanna says. Built on the foundations of her father’s FELICE (based on the Spanish word feliz, which means happiness) principles, she kindly explains to us that their meaning of happiness lies in each letter of the word: food, education, livelihood, identity, clothing/cottage, cottage (referring to shelter), and equity. “Every Filipino should have that, that’s their God-given right. So he wanted at that point to transform in his way to effect that happiness for every Filipino,” she says proudly.