Former Pag-IBIG chief now Philab’s new prexy

LISTED health sciences firm Philab Holdings Corp. has appointed the former president and chief executive officer of state- run Home Mutual Development Fund ( Pag- IBIG) as its new president, in line with its thrust to provide quality healthcare to as many Filipinos as possible.

Philab announced that its new president and CEO is Darlene Marie B. Berberabe, the former CEO of Pag- IBIG since 2010.

Berberabe received the “Asia CEO of the Year Award for Public Sector Leadership” and was named one of “The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service for Government Service” by the TOWNS Foundation in 2013.

Berberabe said she hopes to continue her service to the public, this time in the private sector through Philab.

“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,” 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.

Philab’s former president and CEO Tom Navasero is now the chairman of the Philab board.

- ship will continue what my father had envisioned and that Philab will continue to grow and contribute to the healthcare industry in the Philippines,” Navasero said.

Philab’s new board include Jun Tsusaka, of Nippon Sangyo Suishin Kiko Ltd.; Edgardo Faylona, a global oncologist and pathologist based in Nevada, USA; Exequiel VillaCorta 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.

Established by Hector Navasero in the 1950s, Philab is 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.

The company funded Genomics Institute of Asia ( GINA) in 2012 and successfully tested the full genome of the country’s black heirloom rice. It is slated to introduce a series of self- testing kits in the country starting with the ‘ Dengue self- testing kit’ this year.

Formerly Alterra Capital Partners Inc., Philab recently debuted on the Philippine Stock Exchange ( PSE) via a backdoor listing, changing its ticker symbol from ALT to DNA.