Philab names Berberabe its new president-CEO
Philab Holdings Corporation, a local health sciences enabling company, recently announced the appointment of lawyer Darlene Marie B. Berberabe as its new president and chief executive officer (CEO).
Berberabe has been CEO of the state-run Home Mutual Development Fund (Pag-IBIG) since 2010 before joining Philab and was recognized as the “Asia CEO of the Year Award for Public Sector Leadership” and awarded as one of “The Outstanding Women in Nation’s Service for Government Service” by the TOWNS Foundation both in 2013.
Known for her integrity and excellence in public service, she hopes to continue in her public service, this time, in the private sector.
“Philab’s mission of making healthcare a priority – viable and affordable to everyone regardless of their wealth or lack of and stature in life, appealed to me, and I thought, I want to be part of this,” Philab president Darlene Berberabe said.
Berberabe graduated summa cum laude from UP Diliman (BA Philosophy, 1989) and salutatorian of the class 1999 of the College of Law in the University of the Philippines where she also taught from 1988 until 2008. Prior to pursuing law, she secured a Master of Arts Degree in Philosophy in 1995 in the same institution. In 1989, she finished her undergraduate course (Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy).
Philab former president and CEO Tom Navasero now sits as the Chairman of the Board.
“Philab has always been committed towards pioneering life sciences and healthcare. I am confident that this new leadership will continue what my father had envisioned and that Philab will continue to grow and contribute to the healthcare industry in the Philippines,” said Navasero.
Aside from Berberabe, the company’s new board includes Jun Tsusaka, managing partner, chief investment officer of Nippon Sangyo Suishin Kiko Ltd. and former head of TPG Capital and Goldman Sachs Mergers and Acquisitions; Edgardo Faylona, a global oncologist and pathologist based in Nevada USA; Exequiel Villa Corta Jr., a director of BDO Leasing and Finance, Inc. and Premium Leisure Corp.; Wai Leong Chan, an Eric Salmon & Partners consultant and cofounder of DTCA Private Limited; and Sylvia A. Navasero, a Philab director since 1971.
Philab was established by Hector Navasero in the 1950s and has been actively engaged in the life sciences tools and services industry providing for both public and private institutions before it ventured into supplying In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) test kits.
“My father’s legacy started with building and supplying laboratories and equipment and then we began to discover the potential of genomics and established the Genomics Institute of Asia (GINA). We will always expand and find an efficient way to modernize healthcare especially with the entry of Berberabe and our team of experts,” he added.
The company funded GINA in 2012 and successfully tested the full genome of the country’s black heirloom rice. It also started testing Breast Cancer Gene 1 and 2 (BRCA1 and 2) in 2013 which are the inspiration for the first Filipino-based genomic databank and genomics hub in the Philippines.
The listed company recently changed its ticker sign from ALT to DNA in a step to accurately reflect the company’s primary business within the health and sciences industry. The company is slated to introducea series of self-testing kits in the country starting with the “Dengue self-testing kit” this year.