The most outstanding CSR projects of the auto industry

LAST Tuesday, January 17 a group of distinguished, well respected and accomplished leaders in their own fields of endeavor and expertise gathered at the Palms Country Club in Alabang to decide among themselves which are the most effective, wellsustained and most meaningful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects being undertaken presently by the players in the local automotive industry. They dutifully took time out from their ultra busy schedules to lend credence and support to the SPMJ ‘Driven to Serve’ CSR Awards by gracefully agreeing to judge which among the many country-building efforts of the motoring sector are the best among the best.

Below in alphabetical order, the prominent personalities with their attributes listed in the most limited way yet.

Ms. Millie F. Dizon, is currently the Senior Vice President of the Marketing Communications Group of SM-Retail. Her professional profile is closely linked with SM, having joined the company as a PR Coordinator in 1981. And since have been promoted consistently to Publicity Manager to Assistant Group Head to Assistant Vice President, to Vice President to Vice President and to Senior Vice President. As Senior Vice President, Ms. Dizon handles media relations, image building, and crisis management functions for its retail and shopping centers group. She also assists the company’s top management in their corporate communications and community relations efforts. Mr. Rodrigo E. Franco is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation, (MPTC), the toll road development and operation arm of the Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC). He is at the helm of the Group’s tollroad companies including Manila North Tollways Corporation ( MNTC), Tollways Management Corporation ( TMC), Cavitex Infrastructure Corporation ( CIC), and MPCala Holdings, Inc. MPTC also has investments in toll road companies in Thailand and Vietnam. Apart from being CEO of MPTC, Mr. Franco concurrently sits as President and CEO of MNTC, the developer and operator of the NLEX. Before joining MNTC in April 2003, Mr. Franco spent 20 years with JP Morgan Chase Bank.

Mr. Franco is a graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in Management Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration. He is also an alumnus of the Philippine Science High School. Mr. Edgardo Gapuz Lacson is the President of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, in addition to his many business affiliations. Mentioning a few, Mr. Lacson is the President of MIS Maritime Corporation, Safe Seas Shipping Agency, and Marine Industrial Supply Corporation—businesses related to the shipping industry. He is also President of EML Realty, as well as Chairman of the Board for Metrostore Corporation, MIL Export Philippines, and Beacon Environmental Management Services. He is Managing Director of Link Edge, a management company; and is a Director of the Puregold Price Club. He is also a Director representing other market participants at the Philippine Stock Exchange, and is a Trustee of the Home Development Mutual Fund as well as De La Salle University.

Mr. Lacson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce, major in Accounting, from De La Salle University-Manila. Mr. Sergio Ortiz- Luis, Jr. is the Honorary Chairman and Treasurer of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He also holds a very long list of business affiliations, including President and CEO of the Philippine Exporters Confederations Inc.; Honorary Chairman and Past President of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines; Director and Past President of the Philippine Foundation Inc.; Founding Director of the International Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; and Vice- Chairman of Alliance Global Inc. He is a Director in Waterfront Philippines, Inc.; The Wellex Group; Manila Exposition Complex Inc.; Lasaltech Academy; Philippine Estate Corporation; B.A. Securities; Rural Bank of Baguio; Acesite Hotel Philippines Inc.; Forum Pacific Inc.; Jolliville Holdings Corporation; Calapan Ventures Inc; LikeCash Asia & the Pacific Corporation; and Asia- Pacific Chinese Media Inc., among others.

Mr. Ortiz-Luis is also the Honorary Consul General of the Consulate of Romania in the Philippines. Dr. Cristina D. Padolina is the President and Chief Academic Officer of Centro Escolar University. She has served in various administrative posts in the academe: in UP Los Baños as Director of Instruction and Director of the Institute of Chemistry, and in the UP Open University as its first Chancellor. She also served as Commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education. Upon retirement from the University of Philippines in 2006, she was given the rank of Professor Emeritus.

The formal educational background of Dr. Padolina is in the sciences, with a BS in Chemical Engineering from UP Diliman, MS Chemistry from Ateneo de Manila University, and a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.

Last but not the least, we have a representative from the religious sector, in the person of Msgr. Pedro C. Quitorio, whose list of current assignments also makes him a multitasker and a media man. In 2015 he was appointed as President of Aeropagus Communications, a media organization that aims to provide an alternative perspective by retelling news and feature stories through the eyes of the teachings of the Catholic Church. Concurrently, he is a co-anchor in Veritas Pilipinas; Editor of the CBCP News Service, CBCP Monitor, and Impact Magazine. He is also a Director of the CBCP Media Office and the Diocesan Commission on Mass Media of Borongan; and Manager of Dolores Cable TV Corporation.

Hailing from Dolores, Eastern Samar, Msgr. Quitorio attended the Seminario de Jesus Nazareno in Borongan Eastern Samar, then finished his Philosophy studies at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Palo, Leyte, and finally earning his degree in Theology at the University of Santo Tomas here in Manila.

The selection process took a big chunk of the judges’ day with entries being presented through a uniform 5- minute AVP (audio-visual presentation), which were afterwards defended by their representatives through a 10- minute Q&A with the judges. As always in most exercises similar to this, all things being equal or assuming that all entries are worthy of praise, the key to getting the judges’ nod is to have an AVP that can best describe the project and a very capable representative that can most effectively defend it.

SPMJ or the Society of Philippine Motoring Journalists is an organization of editors, columnists, broadcast and online journalists covering the motoring and automotive industry beat. It has envisioned itself as a productive and pro-active segment of the auto industry. The group has embarked on advocacies specific to motoring but relevant to the Filipino populace such as safe and responsible road use. In its first foray SPMJ, through the funding of the local auto industry had a teaching module produced by the University of the Philippines’ NCTS or National Center for Transportation Studies to be used in road safety seminars it conducted free among teachers and students alike.

Lately, as many automotive companies have been doing their share in nation building most especially in uplifting the lives of marginalized Filipinos, the group decided that it was about time that such laudable efforts be rewarded by, at the very least, being recognized. The ultimate goal is to encourage all, except none in the auto industry to follow suit and to inspire those who are already engaged to do better. Most especially at this time when some clueless quarters, in their desperate move to look for solutions or people to blame for the existing daily traffic nightmare are beginning to point at the auto industry as the main culprit by selling too many vehicles. Thus the 1st SPMJ ‘Driven to Serve’ CSR Awards project was born. The results of the judging would be announced in a fitting, ‘black tie’ intimate, exclusive to the industry Awards Night scheduled in February. Happy Motoring!!! For comments and inquiries email