Artists to hold fund raising concert for Aquino

September 16, 2009 16:17:00
Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – A group of artists and politicians is set to launch a concert to help fund the campaign of Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who recently announced his plans to run for president in 2010.

The group, led by the group the Apo Hiking Society, is set to hold a concert on September 21, also the anniversary of the signing of Presidential Decree 1081 that placed the country under martial law in 1972 under then president Ferdinand Marcos.

Dubbed “Etonapotalaga!” the concert seeks to revive the “creativity and recklessness” that characterized Philippine society prior to the People Power Revolution, which brought the late president Corazon Aquino – Noynoy’s mother – to power, said Jim Paredes, one of the members of the Apo Hiking Society.

“’Etonapotalaga!’ will connect the forces during Aquino’s time,” he added during a press conference in Makati City.

The concert will feature performances from the Apo Hiking Society, The Dawn, Aiza Seguerra, Bayang Barrios, Drae Ybañez, Juana Change, Leah Navarro, and Noel Cabangon, among others.
The concert will be held at the University of the Philippines Theater in Quezon City at 7 p.m. and will be free of charge. However, patrons are requested to pay “ambag-ambag” (contributions) or whatever amount they can.

According to the group PiNOY Power (Pilipinas Para Kay Noynoy), proceeds of the event will help fund the campaign of Aquino.

At the same time, the group will be recruiting volunteers for Aquino’s campaign during the concert.

Meanwhile, Senator Francis Pangilinan said the concert will symbolize “the conviction of Filipinos for genuine change.”

Paredes said that the concert will be on a first-come-first-served basis, and the theatre can accommodate up to 2,100 guests. LCD screens will be set up outside the venue for those who won’t be able to enter the theater.

888


For more details of an amazing movement rising right now in the country, please click here.

You may also follow me on twitter, click here.

I know I've been quiet for some time, but this is not the time to be indifferent and taciturn. So, to all my friendsters, fellow bloggers, fellow Bicolanos, fellow ADNU scholars/Xavier dormers/GABAY scholars, fellow Media Studies alumni/students, fellow Ayala Young Leaders, beloved visitors/readers of this blog, family, and friends, join US!



Ituloy natin ang LABAN ni NINOY at ni CORY!

We can make a difference. Patriotism is the new cool!

(You may also get to know Sen. Noynoy Aquino more by following him on twitter. Yes, it's really him! Join twitter now and follow @noynoyaquino. Madya na! Tara na!)



Lastly, Happy Penafrancia Fiesta to all! Viva La Virgen!

Latest Official Statement of Ayala Land on G2 Blast

Jan. 10: ALI Official Press Statement on G2 Blast

The PNP has released their findings indicating that the tragic event last October 19 at the Glorietta 2 Mall was caused by a gas explosion resulting from negligence. We view this with deep concern. Our own assessment shows due diligence and care was exercised in the maintenance of the basement where the explosion appears to have occurred. Moreover, we believe that conditions in the basement could not have resulted in the build up of methane and diesel vapor required for such a powerful blast.

We requested the PNP to be open to investigating all other possibilities. It will be recalled that the PNP has said that it would welcome cooperation from all sectors. Within this spirit of cooperation, we have shared lab results from foreign forensic experts we had consulted that indicate that traces of explosives were present at the site. While we acknowledge the authority of the PNP and the multi-agency task force as the official investigating body, we are disappointed that the evidence we have shared appears not to have been considered.

At this point we await the turn-over of the site to us, so we can complete our own assessment of what happened on October 19. Ayala Land will submit its forensic evidence before the proper forum. It will be the courts that will be the final arbiter on the admissibility of such evidence and whether or not negligence led to the tragic events of October 19.

Ayala Land has always adhered to strong core values of corporate responsibility and integrity. We believe that we have always done what is right for our customers and business partners.

The tragic incident at Glorietta 2 has caused us deep sadness and we will continue to extend care and assistance to the victims and their families, as well as to our affected merchant partners. We want to express our appreciation and gratitude to all those who have extended their help and support, and to the many people from various sectors who have expressed their solidarity and sympathy with us during this difficult time.

For any inquiries or schedules with our official spokesman Alfie Reyes, please contact :

ALI MEDIA CENTER
c/o Zarah Gulapa
Email: ali.mediacenter@yahoo.com; gulapa.zarah@ayalaland.com.p

First for the Philippines

Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, the father of the Ayala Young Leaders Congress gets the very prestigious Alumni Achievement Award from the Harvard Business School, thus becoming the first Filipino to ever receive the said honor. During our congress, I had a rare privilege to chat with him for a few minutes during a break and know what, at one point, we even stood side by side peeing inside the washroom, thus discovering that JAZA, now the chairman of the oldest, largest, and most respected business conglomerate in the country, has mortal qualities after all. Chuckles.

Anyway, my congratulations to you sir JAZA!

Hereunder is the complete news:

A first for the Philippines: Zobel gets highest alumni award from Harvard
Author: Inquirer 10/1/2007

Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chair and chief executive of Ayala Corp., has become the first Filipino to receive the highest achievement award for a graduate of Harvard Business School.

Zobel is also the youngest alumnus to receive the Alumni Achievement Award from Harvard Business School, which gives the award annually to "distinguished graduates who have contributed significantly to their companies and communities while upholding the highest standards and values."

According to the award-giving council, "the outstanding men and women who receive this most important honor represent the best in the alumni body and inspire all those who aspire to have an impact on business and society.

Zobel received a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School in 1987. He had graduated from Harvard College in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in Economics, cum laude.

In between those years, he worked overseas before joining the Ayala group of companies, where he held several line positions.

Today, together with his younger brother Fernando, who serves as president and chief operating officer of Ayala Corp., Zobel is credited for the Ayala group's successes in telecommunications and water distribution as well as its continued successes in real estate development and financial services.

Recipients

The first to receive the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award was Robert McNamara, in 1968, when he was president of the World Bank. Other outstanding recipients since then have included Daniel Burke, chair and CEO emeritus of Johnson & Johnson; Dr. Daniel Vasella, chair and CEO of Novartis AG; Ratan Tata, chair of India's Tata group; Louis Gerstners Jr., former chair and chief executive of IBM; Phillip Yeo, chair of Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research; and Minoru Makihara, former chair of Mitsubishi Corp.

To Zobel and this year's four other recipients, the awards were presented at Harvard on Sept. 27 in a ceremony hosted by Prof. Jay O. Light, dean of Harvard Business School.

The other recipients were Donna Dubinsky of Numenta, an intelligent-computing software firm; A. M. Mixon III of Invacare Corp., the world's leading manufacturer and distributor of home healthcare products; Sir Martin Sorrell of global advertising company WPP Group PLC; and Hansjoerg Wyss of Synthes Inc., manufacturer and distributor of orthopedic implants and instruments.

Ideal candidate

To Zobel, Professor Light said: "The impact you have had through Ayala Corp. makes you an ideal candidate. This award is a symbol of Harvard's appreciation of the standard you have set."

That standard has deep roots in the Ayala group--in the values and principles it stands for, as much as in its history and track record.

It is reflected in a remark Zobel made when he accepted the Management Man of the Year award: "Success is not measured by quick and one-time gains but by enduring beliefs and created by a disciplined approach to creating value. Second, success also entails combining profitability with a broader contribution to society."

The business successes of the 173-year-old Ayala group are well known, as are its wide-ranging contributions to social development. But not always seen are the ways it has affected countless Filipino lives and many communities.

While Ayala has always chosen to engage itself actively in the national development process, it continues to take this step further by finding solutions to various socioeconomic challenges. Many enterprising Filipinos--from merchants and service providers at the Ayala malls, to microfinance institutions through Bank of the Philippine Islands, and to small entrepreneurs that rely on Globe Telecom Inc. and Manila Water Co. Inc. for their livelihood--are able to nurture their dreams through the Ayala group.

Similarly far-reaching are the group's sustained actions to promote education in training student leaders, providing elementary education and spearheading the multisector initiative called Gearing up Internet Literacy and Access for Students, or Gilas, which helps to provide Internet access and basic computer literacy programs for students in all Philippine public high schools.

For certain, these social development contributions wouldn't be possible without the business successes, but the correlation between the two is deliberate, and has been rooted in the Ayala group's nearly two-century Philippine heritage.

Zobel calls Ayala's social development work "promoting the public good through the benefits of excellent professional management."

That is a well-appreciated statement of underlying characteristics that exhibit the conglomerate's long-term vision and commitment to national development.

The public's trust

The corporate professionalism and the social commitment have given Ayala a most solid reputation for integrity, and over many decades earned the public's trust for the Ayala brand.

"Building on trust has enabled us to mobilize talent and to bring together the best people to cater to an increasingly diverse array of customer needs," Zobel says.

It has also enabled Ayala to build capital and bring in some of the world's most respected corporations--including Mitsubishi Corp., Singapore Telecom and Development Bank of Singapore, among others--as strategic partners.

With its "human capital"--a highly empowered organization--and strong, global partners, the Ayala group today includes four listed corporations (Ayala Land, Bank of Philippine Islands, Globe Telecom and Manila Water) and accounts for about one-third of the Philippine Stock Exchange index.

For the corporate and other triumphs, Zobel pays tribute, first, to his father, Jaime Zobel de Ayala--who was voted Management Man of the Year in 1987--for decentralizing the group management structure in the 1980s and building the management foundations of present-day Ayala.

Second, he cites the leadership sharing he has with his brother, Fernando--"in an arrangement that it not very common in public, private or family institutions...The Ayala of today would not be where it is without the leadership Fernando has provided on myriad fronts and for his equal participation in decisions I have made."

And he acknowledges the group's organization--and the macro context in which it functions.

"Leadership," he says, "depends on the corporate context, economic history and organizational capability of any institution."

"Beneath the bright surface of performance of any business leader is the solid substance built by a longer history of a larger community of talented, motivated and disciplined executives that made such performance possible," he adds.

The Ayala group "collective wisdom, drive and vision shape and constantly refresh my own," Zobel says. "At the most senior level, we take pride in working as colleagues and partners, whether one works at the holding company or at the operating level.

"We like to encourage a spirit of collegiality, sharing and constructive criticism. The best ideas that flow out are certainly not always mine and the many backgrounds and experiences of our executive rank are too valuable to be kept limited in specific roles."

Ayala's evolution

The Ayala group itself has changed in character over the years, Zobel observes. In the past century, what had started as an agriculture- and trading-based group grew into a major Philippine manufacturing and services concern.

The Ayala group started investing in sectors that have become its core businesses well before Zobel joined it in 1981. It pioneered in real estate development in 1960 and modern banking in 1970. It went into telecommunications in 1974 and electronics manufacture in 1988. As its platform for social development contribution, it established in 1961 what has become Ayala Foundation.

And then, "the world changed on us," Zobel recalls. "Competition in real estate exploded. The banking and telecom sectors were liberalized and new markets were created by the resurgence of new technologies. Globalization altered most of the landscape ... And corporate social responsibility moved into the center of business concerns."

"History is not destiny," Zobel says. "The challenge for a company with a long history is how to keep fresh the energies on which it was founded while retaining the enduring values that define it. For the Ayala group, the challenge has been how to keep succeeding in changing times by building on the fundamental strengths with which we began."

Today the Ayala group focuses on three major businesses--real estate, financial services and telecom--plus emergent businesses in electronics manufacturing, technology investments, water distribution, automotive dealerships, international real estate markets and business processing outsourcing.

Zobel is also chair of Globe Telecom, Bank of the Philippine Islands and Integrated Microelectronics Inc.; vice chair of Ayala Land Inc.; and co-vice chair of Ayala Foundation. He is a member of the JP Morgan International Council, Mitsubishi Corp. International Advisory Committee, Toshiba International Advisory Group, Asia Business Council, Harvard University Asia Center Advisory Committee and the board of trustees of the Asian Institute of Management.

He also serves on the national council of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-US), and chairs WWF Philippines.

The involvement in the environmental movement is one of the ways Zobel demonstrates his personal profound concern for the planet and future generations. And among underprivileged children in the Philippines, is perhaps the most recognizable face of Children's Hour, of which he is a trustee.

In all likelihood, it is a concern that the Harvard Business School award-giving council shares.

AYLC nears Interview Phase; Ayala bigwigs to make final the TOP 70 studes out of 150 interviewees

This post is for Missy and all those who are interested about the result of the Ayala Young Leaders Congress 2008 screening. I first blogged about the said search here. Anyway, I am taking the liberty to copy-and-paste a related email (Italics mine) of Mr. Ralph Reuben Morales, batchmate of mine and now, alumni relations officer of AYLC division at the Ayala Foundation Inc. (AFI), for everybody's information and guidance.

Dear everyone,

Announcing the schedule for the Interview Phase for the 2008 AYLC, as the Secretariat approaches the final stretch of the paper screening to select the top 150 applicants who will be shortlisted from a record-high of 592.

We are inviting everyone to be part of the volunteer pool to serve as interview assistants for at least 2 half days from November 21-23, 2007. Please advise us of your availability on these dates by filling up and sending back the attached confirmation form on or before 5:00 PM of November 5, 2007.

We will then announce to confirmed alumni the details of the orientation dinner for interview volunteers.

Thanks!

Ralph Reuben C. Morales
Youth Leadership Development

Apart from the congress itself, the interview phase is one of the most challenging, exciting and unforgettable experiences to look forward to in AYLC. The top 150 applicants will be interviewed by no less than a panel of topnotch executives coming from the Ayala companies, usually with the rank of Vice President, Director and up. In fact, one should even expect to be interviewed by the Ayala brothers (Jaime Augusto and Fernando) themselves and even, Ayala chairman emeritus Don Jaime Zobel de Ayala!

Now that Mr. Guillermo "Bill" Luz, the boyish-looking, media-savvy former executive director of the powerful Makati Business Club and CEO of NAMFREL, is already with the Ayala Foundation as Executive Vice President (and possible successor of AFI President Ms. Vicky Garchitorena who is soon to retire already as I was told by someone from AFI), applicants can also anticipate meeting him in person. He was one of our speakers during our time. So, goodluck to all applicants!

Ayala Young Leaders Congress unfolds 2007 search

I am an alumnus of this congress (2004), and I believe AYLC is one of the greatest corporate initiatives there is right now in the country courtesy of my favorite Filipino business house, Ayala Group of Companies. AYLC has transformed so many young lives, mine included, and many communities around the country through the works of these alumni who now belong to its network, the Ayala Young Leaders Alliance (AYLA). I am posting this to be of help to the Ayala Foundation and the rest of the Ayala Group in their search for the new batch of promising young people who are already ripe to respond to the call for value-based and dynamic leadership that our country badly needs these days. This is an email from Marie Sol T. Delantar, Youth Leadership Development Manager, Center for Social Development of Ayala Foundation.


Call for Nominations - 10th National Ayala Young Leader

Sorry for cross-posting. .. We need more good leaders for this country.
Having said that, I hope you can do me a little favor and help us
forward this to all young leaders who are just waiting to be
discovered, honed and empowered.

Also, please forward to family and friends in their penultimate year in
college -- who you think might qualify. (Note: His or her school
should be (at least level II) accredited by CHED, FAAP, AACCUP.)
Please visit www.ayalayoungleade rs.org.ph to download the Student
Application set and for more information on AYLC 2008. Deadline for
School Nominations will be on August 24, 2007. Please read write up
below.

What is AYLC?

The Ayala Young Leaders Congress (AYLC) is an annual
summit that brings together 70 of the most promising student leaders
from colleges and universities from all over the country. The Congress
is part of the Ayala Group's youth leadership development program
called "Shaping Tomorrow's Leaders", which was launched in December of
1998. The Congress, now on its 10th year, is a three and a half-day
event involving workshops, lectures, outdoor activities, plenary
sessions and group discussions designed to hone the students'
leadership skills and potential.

How can I be part of AYLC?

AYLC looks for well-rounded students with effective leadership, academic excellence and a strong love for their
country and their people. If you are a critical thinker, emotionally
mature and independent, and if you can communicate well and are
recognized as an outstanding student leader in your school or
community, then AYLC is for you.

Only student leaders graduating in school year 2008-2009 may apply for
the congress. This will allow the student leaders selected for the
Congress to return and serve their schools for another year with the
new skills and renewed motivation they received from the congress.