Kiong Hee Huat Tsai and Happy Valentine's Day, Kapamilya!
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LopezlinkKiong Hee Huat Tsai! Welcome to our first issue in the Year of the Metal Rabbit! We hit the ground running when January rolled around. Most of what keeps us busy are related to the Lopez Credo, which is front and center among our many initiatives this year.In his State of the Union message last month, US President Obama expressed his view that the challenge the American people face can be described as this generation’s Sputnik moment. He made reference to that time in American history when they were playing catch-up to the Russians in the space age. America’s response, he said, is to unleash a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs. We in the Lopez Group are also facing our Sputnik moment. We have just gone through a decade of crisis and now we are ready to move ahead with no less than chairman emeritus Oscar M. Lopez (OML) leading the way.
This being the first full year of our full-blast dissemination and institutionalization of the Lopez values as enumerated in the Credo, OML has gotten on the social media wagon in order to personally deliver his message. He is now on the “blogospere” via his Oscar’s Summit (www.oscarmlopez.com) blog launched early this year, and he also regularly communicates with employees through email. Want to talk to OML about the Lopez Credo and its impact on your life (or about anything, for that matter)? Email him now—you might even win a new laptop while you’re at it!
During the annual budget conference in December, Lopez Group chairman Manuel M. Lopez (MML) stressed the need to determine “what the Lopez Group stands for.” At the same time, there needs to be awareness of “what comes to the mind of various publics when someone is recognized as a member of the Group.” Being seen as a brand or a collective, MML said, is something that may used to our advantage.
For his part, ABS-CBN chairman Eugenio Lopez III (EL3) touched on the concept known as ikegai. It is important to know why you get out of bed in the morning, for this is your “reason for living,” the secret to long life. The Lopez Group’s ikegai is a standard higher than others and thus being part of the Group is a calling, EL3 said. Transitions were on the mind of Federico R. Lopez (FRL) when he addressed the First Holdings Group for the first time as its chairman during the Christmas party at the SMX Convention Center on December 17 last year. He shared a few insights on successions, noting that the grace with which OML passed the torch “masks many of the heroic and selfless decisions a leader must take on a professional and personal level….”
“Knowing the immense fondness my dad has for the FPHC group of companies and all the people who work here, I can only imagine the powerful emotions he feels each day just with the thought of leaving it behind,” FRL said.
Also in this issue, we revisit ABS-CBN Foundation Inc. (AFI) and Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig, the newly minted holders of a Guinness World Records certification for the world’s largest footrace for 10.10.10: Run for the Pasig River. AFI chief Gina Lopez and her team wasted no time in getting down and dirty to clean up Estero de Paco and also rehabilitate the landmark Paco Market in the process.
This P70-million undertaking will then segue into an even more daunting task—cleaning up the five esteros in the environs of Malacañang that have a collective length of about five kilometers, more than double Estero de Paco’s two-plus kilometers. Find out what’s been done by the indefatigable group so far and how you can do your share. Every little bit helps!
Meanwhile, sit back, relax and find out what this year will be like for you as forecast by Zenaida Seva (well, we hope knowing your fortune—good, bad or mixed—will be relaxing). Also, Power Plant Mall is all gussied up and ready for one of the biggest celebrations there is, so do drop by for some Valentine’s Day gift and date options. Happy Valentine’s Day!