Before anything else, allow me to make an important announcement. As many of you already know, Bill Luz will be leaving the Makati Business Club as Executive Director after decades of service that has seen him become the public face of MBC. Bill has served MBC extremely well. And we will certainly miss him as he moves to the Ayala Foundation. While we are not yet officially bidding Bill farewell tonight, as we will do that at our General Membership Meeting in December, I do wish to take this opportunity to announce that we are most fortunate to have found a most worthy successor. He is a graduate of both Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and is well known both in civil society circles and in business, in particular, in tourism, where he has been a passionate advocate of a liberalized and open airline and tourism industry. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the incoming Executive Director of the Makati Business Club, Mr. Alberto “Bertie” Lim.
Events such as a 25th anniversary are good occasions to pause and reflect on what an organization has managed to accomplish since its inception. Looking back at our first 25 years, so much has happened that we had trouble trying to remember everything. From modest beginnings in October 1981, we have managed to stick closely to our original mission and contribute to establish a tradition of having the business community express its views independently on a wide range of economic, social, and occasionally, political issues. I believe we have been able to reshape the face of Philippine business from that of being exclusively profit-oriented to one of being socially-oriented as well. On this score, we have had more ample opportunities to express our views and make policy recommendations on developmental issues. Indeed, we have, through our members, done more than just express our views and make policy recommendations. Over the past 25 years, 39 of our members have been recruited to serve in government. In 25 years, the MBC has contributed 9 secretaries of finance, 7 secretaries of trade and industry, 3 central bank governors, in each position spanning all four post-Marcos administrations. In addition, 3 MBC members have served as energy secretary, 2 each as agriculture and tourism secretaries, one as foreign affairs secretary, and 8 as ambassadors to 12 different posts. Perhaps in the future, if we have gripes against an administration, we should simply talk more among ourselves.
But for organizations such as ours, events like this also provide an occasion to pause and reflect on what has happened to our country in the last 25 years and to try to draw lessons for the future. We are a nation that has freed itself from the grip of dictatorship, experienced the euphoria of liberation, suffered through the birth pains of a democracy reborn, embarked on a reform program, appeared to have put our economic act together, only to be frustrated by the Asian financial crisis, given an overwhelming mandate to a president who was quickly ousted for being corrupt and inept, replaced him with one who was not long afterwards accused of stealing the presidency and who now remains in power and presides over an economy with the strongest fiscal numbers, stock market and peso we have seen in a decade. We have seen our once vaunted educational system deteriorate to pathetic levels while millions of our countrymen have seen fit to seek their fortunes in other countries, only to find themselves now called our new heroes who serve as the main prop of our economy. Some say we are a nation that is hopelessly divided – between those in power and those who are not, between pro and anti GMA, between pro and anti Erap, between pro and anti charter change, between rich and poor. But we know of course that, contrary to the view of these cynics, we are not hopelessly divided, for once or twice a year, we do set aside our differences and all come together as one totally united nation –behind Manny Pacquiao! It has been 25 years of ups and downs, of feeling like going full circle, and then some.
For this reason, we have decided to mark this 25th anniversary by not only reflecting on the past but by also pondering our future as a nation. Today we establish an annual series of lectures on the Role of Business in Society. In so doing, we hope to set the stage for an interdisciplinary approach to presenting visions and hopes for the future from the perspectives of different individuals. More importantly, we hope that these lectures will inspire people to act on their visions – no matter how modest or grand a scale; whether for their community or for the nation at large. In the final analysis, it is our collective actions—large and small—which will pull us forward in the future.
As a fitting tribute to our Chairman and leader for 19 of these past 25 years, the Board has decided not only to invite Dick Romulo to deliver the first lecture, but also christen this series as the Ricardo J. Romulo Lecture Series on Business and Society. Dick, as we all know, has led the MBC firmly, wisely, and most courageously through some of our nation’s darkest and brightest moments, providing wise counsel, balance, and a worldview which were unparalleled. When he was re-elected a Trustee this year, he immediately announced his determination to retire as chairman, fulfilling his ardent wish to hand off the MBC torch to a somewhat younger generation. This wish he had expressed years earlier and reiterated every year but the Board had always prevailed on him to remain as Chairman … until this year.
It is now my pleasure to invite Cesar Buenaventura, MBC’s first Advisory Board Chairman in 1981, and who with Bernie Villegas has served continuously in the MBC Board for all of our first 25 years, to formally introduce our Guest of Honor this evening.
