Creating The Forum For Constructive Ideas
Cesar A. Buenaventura
Vice Chairman, Makati Business Club

The year was 1981. Many of you may recall that "Martial Law" had just been lifted but Marcos retained sweeping decree-making powers. He had just conducted a Presidential election, by nationwide referendum, which extended his term of office, now officially his third. Large sectors of the economy were in the hands of Marcos cronies. Media was likewise under effective government or crony control with the attendant ability to shape public opinion. The financial sector was heading for disaster with government-owned financial institutions granting behest loans beyond prudent practice to a chosen few. Poverty incidence was rising. The Communist movement and the NPA were growing. The Muslim problem was getting worse. The country had become, in the words of the Catholic Church, a "social volcano".

It was against this backdrop that Enrique Zobel, known to many as "E.Z." gatheredtogether a few business friends and associates to a discussion which would have far-reaching implications on the Philippine business community. He felt that the business community should speak out as a single solid voice, not to lobby for its own corporate or sectoral interest, but to support or oppose policies which affected national life.

But unlike the habit of the day, it simply was not enough to sit back and complain. It was felt that to be relevant, we should be constructive in our criticism.

Thus was born the Makati Business Club as a Forum for Constructive Ideas. In creating this forum, it was decided that we had to address public policy issues that went beyond business. While we focused on issues such as agribusiness, trade and investment, banking and finance, energy and power, and regional development, we also had to touch on such delicate topics as governance, politics and media control.

An Executive Board was constituted with Enrique Zobel as Chairman, Rogelio Pantaleon, Bernardo Villegas and Joe Romero as members. Then we formed a Board of Advisers consisting of James Collins (Citibank), Jaime Ongpin (Benguet Consolidated), Antonio Ozaeta (PCIB), Washington Sycip (SGV) and Jaime Zobel de Ayala (Ayala Corp.), with myself as Chairman. We then invited the top 1000 corporations to join the Club and to our surprise, many of them, including multinationals, responded favorably. MORE>>

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