Gina LopezThe Lopez Achievement Awards (LAA) Winners’ Summit marked a milestone of its own as its fifth edition was held at the Rockwell Business Center on January 26, 2018.

The Winners’ Summit is a gathering among passionate, committed and excellent teams and individuals who are interested to join in the sharing and learning from the best practices of the “best of the best” of the Lopez Group in the hope that they will get replicated across the different companies.

The welcome remarks of LAA program director Benjamin K. Liboro were delivered on his behalf by LAA program manager Ross Hamo Jr.
“There is much to learn from what our winners will share with us. But what I hope you’ll take away with you… is an appreciation of the passion, commitment and joy that always seem to characterize the winning endeavors. LAA winners always demonstrate superior results, exceptionality and the core Lopez Values,” Liboro stressed.
Not about money
Keynote speaker Gina Lopez congratulated the winners, saying that the values upheld by the LAA are similar to the values needed for spiritual and personal growth.
“These values which you’re putting up and applauding and highlighting and encouraging in a corporate culture are very resonant with what you need to live and grow by. And that’s so good for your personal growth,” she noted.
She also emphasized the need to put love into everything that one does.
“At the end of the day, it is about love, not the money,” she said.
The founder of ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation Inc. (ALKFI) and former Environment Secretary also unveiled her latest projects— iLOVE or Investments in Loving Organizations for Village Economies and the second season of “GDiaries” on ABS-CBN , among others.
Winners’ sharing

Dr. Louis Jison, director of EyeScan, began the session with a brief history of Asian Eye Institute and how it pioneered the EyeScan service in the country.
EyeScan, which can be transported anywhere, scans and takes photos of the eyes to detect risks or signs of eye diseases, including cataracts, glaucoma, retinal problems and corneal diseases, within 10 to 15 minutes.
Asian Eye established partnerships with local healthcare providers. Beyond the initial plan to launch locally, it has successfully secured a contract with Indonesia’s Jakarta Eye Center.
The EyeScan team won in the Customer Focus category with “Preventing Sight Threatening Diseases through EyeScan: The First Tele-Ophthalmology in the Philippines and Among the First Three Movers in the World.”
Meanwhile, Catalina Tinamisan said that while BayaniJuan has reached the end of the project and left the Southville 7 community in Calauan, Laguna, they were able to “transfer technologies” to the community members. This ensured that the residents were capable of running the projects that the BayaniJuan team initiated by themselves.
Southville 7 is home to some 5,659 families that benefited from the $1.5-million grant from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), channeled through Asian Development Bank (ADB). It showcases the innovative and replicable model of multistakeholder partnerships for improving access of the poor to basic services.
The BayaniJuan sa Calauan team’s winning entry, also in the Customer Focus category, was titled “Project Implementation of ADB-JFPR Grant Benefiting Resettlement Families in Southville 7, Calauan, Laguna.”
The deputy project manager of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) School Rebuilding project shared how EDC worked with seven internal partners—Rockwell Land Corp., First Balfour Inc., First Gen Corp., First Philippine Industrial Park, First Philec Inc., ThermaPrime Drilling Corp. and ALKFI— and two external partners to build calamity-resilient classroom buildings.
Rin Colmenares-Cabrillos emphasized the importance of planning (“start right the first time”), partnerships, safety and benchmarking (“what can we learn from each other?”) given that construction was ongoing in several areas at the same time, and involved a number of stakeholders.
The project to date has turned over 150 classrooms since it started in 2014, benefiting some 9,000 students annually.
Cluster head Mikhail Dizon discussed Bantay Kalikasan’s work in the restoration of Buhatan River in Sorsogon and their learning in the course of almost three years in the area. He also underscored how the residents “multiplied tenfold” financial and other resources that were given by the foundation.
EDC’s “Synergy at Work: Rebuilding the Lives of Children Through the Donated Classrooms” and the Buhatan River Eco-Adventure-Bantay Kalikasan team’s “DagosTabi!: Buhatan River as a Blooming Ecotourism Site” won in the Public Responsibility category.
The afternoon’s last presenter was Dave Azurin, project manager of Save the La Mesa Watershed project.

Azurin, a forester, took the attendees through the team’s achievements in La Mesa. The project components include nursery management; forest protection; plantation establishment, maintenance and development; access road maintenance; and nature tourism. Volunteers have also helped plant more than 100,000 trees in the once-nearly denuded forest.
rest. The Save the La Mesa Watershed Project team’s  “The La Mesa Watershed Project: Saving the Lifeblood of Metro Manila” won in the Operations Management category.
Team Ang Probinsyano from ABS-CBN Corporation won in the Business Management category with “FPJ’sAngProbinsyano—Teleserye Beyond Entertainment.”
“FPJ’sAngProbinsyano” is a breakthrough in Philippine TV. It has evolved into a longrunning action-drama series and remains the undisputed number one program with ratings averaging 40% nationwide.
No one from the“FPJ’sAngProbinsyano” team, however, made it to the Winners’ Summit.
Unsung Hero

Bantay Bata 163 medical officer Loreta Ann Trinidad thanked her nominator, her colleagues at Bantay Bata and the LAA program management team for the recognition as the 2017 cycle’s lone Unsung Hero. A registered nurse, Trinidad has worked in Bantay Bata for the past 16 years, a testament to her selfless service to Filipino children.
Hamo bared the team’s plans for the upcoming cycle of the program. These include putting up a dedicated LAA website and conducting more road shows and nomination writing clinics to encourage employees to submit more entries in the main LAA as well as the Unsung Heroes awards. Hamo also announced the return of FPH VP Bunny Gerochi to the team as co-program director of the LAA. 
Liboro, who later made it to the event straight from the airport, was in Isabela to fulfill a promise made by Lopez Group chairman emeritus Oscar M. Lopez nine years ago.
He advised the attendees to be patient if they don’t win an LAA on their first few tries and to take inspiration from hearing the stories of recent winners. He cited the case of the 19-year-old La Mesa Watershed Project, which tabbed its first win last year. 

“To win, somebody has to nominate you… Please nominate. You’ve got nothing to lose,” Liboro said.L-R Dr. Louis Jison Catherine Cabrillos Loreta Ann Trinidad

 L-R David Azurin Catalina Tinamisan Mikhail DizonRoss Hamo