[1] Address delivered by retired Chief Justice ARTEMIO V. PANGANIBAN – in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Judges of the RVR Awards for Nation Building – during the RVR Awards Ceremony in honor of the sole awardee, Ambassador Howard Q. Dee, sponsored by the Asian Institute of Management Center for Corporate Responsibility, the Junior Chamber International (Jaycees) of Manila, and the Phinma Group of Companies held on August 20, 2024 at The Fifth, Rockwell, Makati.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
From Heaven, the late Ambassador Ramon V. Del Rosario Sr. must be smiling during our Awards Ceremony tonight because our awardee, former Ambassador to the Holy See and Malta Howard Q. Dee, personifies to the hilt the twin beacons that the late Ambassador Del Rosario stood for – matchless excellence in business and extraordinary devotion to the less privileged.
Brilliant Executive
Ambassador Dee has a brilliant record as President and CEO of United Laboratories, Inc. or Unilab, the largest manufacturer of health products in the Philippines that competes favorably with multinational giants like Roche, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and Merck.
During and throughout his incumbency as a top business executive, our honoree considered himself as God’s servant first and foremost. He believes in and upholds the credo (to which I have – in my various writings and speeches – also humbly but passionately adhere) that though it is important to have the things that money can buy like food on the table, clothes on our back, a home for the family and even a car, it is far more important to have the things that money cannot buy like integrity, honor, candor, truth, trustworthiness and an enduring love for, and abiding faith, in our God.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Significantly, he pioneered the concept of corporate social responsibility, that is, business must not merely enrich the rich but must, in equal measure, be responsible for the welfare of the employees, and of the poor and the underprivileged in general. Together with former Ambassador Bienvenido A. Tan Jr., he invited the top 50 tycoons at the time, including Andres and Jose Soriano of San Miguel, Eugenio Lopez Sr. of Meralco, Sixto Roxas of Bancom, and Washington SyCip of SGV to form the core of the Philippine Business for Social Progress or PBSP. Members of the PBSP commit themselves to social development and poverty reduction by setting aside one percent of their net income before taxes to fund PBSP and support its socio-economic development programs. This concept of corporate social responsibility bloomed and was adopted by almost all major corporations in the country. The conglos became not merely members of PBSP; they also established their own corporate foundations with similar corporate social responsibility goals. Today, PBSP’s more than 230 corporate members are led by its current president, mega tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, who also serves as an esteemed member of our RVR Awards Board of Judges.
After our awardee’s retirement from Unilab in 1972, he founded, funded and chaired, and up to now still chairs, the Assisi Development Foundation, named after St. Francis of Assisi for its quiet but stubborn devotion to empower, serve and love the poor, just as our Lord Jesus Christ did, without any condition or expectation of reward or recognition. Apart from the Assisi Development Foundation, he also joined, promoted and assisted organizations similarly dedicated to the alleviation of the poor, like the Tabang Mindanao, Pondo ng Pinoy, and Bahay Maria, Inc.
Relentlessly pursuing his love for the underprivileged, our honoree was inevitably involved in the promotion of peace and became chair of the government’s panel for the peace talks with CPP-NPA-NDF from 1993-1999. He was also the lead convenor of the National Peace Council in 1990 and of the Social Reform Council in 1992.
Ambassador to the Holy See and Malta
Recognizing his outstanding contributions to philanthropy, his work for the Church and his unblemished patriotism, former President Cory Aquino named him Ambassador to the Holy See and Malta from 1986 to 1990.
After “having been there, and done that” in successfully heading and managing the largest drug company in the Philippines, and after having capably represented the country as a diplomat, Ambassador Dee continued to heed the command of our Lord Jesus Christ to “tend His sheep,” to take care of our fellow pilgrims on earth who could not make both ends meet without the help of our fellow pilgrims who had been favored by the Lord with better access to talent and treasures. That he succeeded mightily in helping those who cannot help themselves is a fitting tribute to his vision, mission, care, and dedication.
But more than the idea he envisioned is the success he demonstrated that the Filipino can be trusted, that even without guarantors and sometimes without collaterals, the less-privileged Filipinos are honorable, they always fulfilled their obligations, and faithfully paid their debts.
ASA Philippines Foundation
Indeed, Ambassador Dee has an enviable record as a diplomat, peace advocate and philanthropist, but what impressed and attracted the Board of Judges was his founding and chairmanship of the ASA (Association for Social Advancement) Philippines Foundation which he built in collaboration with Kamrul H. Tarafder and the late banker Eduardo Go. In July 1994, with donations from his own Assisi Development Foundation, the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation, and the PLDT/Smart Foundation (that joined in 2007), he formed and chaired the ASA Philippines Foundation to engage in lending to the poor and the underprivileged. Normally, the banking industry avoids lending to micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs because of the historical difficulty in evaluating their credit worthiness, and in collecting small loans from them.
In contrast, in his 2022 Chairman’s Message, Ambassador Dee reported that the ASA Philippines Foundation earned an amazing P5.9 billion, served over two million clients nationwide, had 1,683 branches all over the Philippines, and employed11,401 souls!
As an aside, may I say that the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity or FLP is embarking on a program we call “Prosperity Fund” to invest in the equity of, and assist in managing, MSMEs to help the poor help themselves more systematically through private entrepreneurship. In this way, they could become credit-worthy and growth worthy.
Attending tonight’s Awards Ceremony at my invitation are the two co-chairs of the FLPs “Prosperity Fund” project, namely, former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. and recently retired Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe (please take a bow) to learn from our awardee the secret of loaning and collecting from underprivileged customers with a manageable repayment rate of 93.97 percent.
Ladies and gentlemen: For his extraordinary success in showing that the Filipino is trustworthy, credit worthy and Christ worthy, Ambassador Dee fully deserves the RVR Award for Nation Building. This honor is carefully bestowed to only one Filipino on any given year. Joining me in acclaiming Ambassador Dee are my fellow members of the Board of Judges, namely, in alphabetical order, former Agriculture Secretary Senen C. Bacani, former BSP Governor Jose L. Cuisia Jr., JCI Manila President Charles E. Gosingtian, AIM President and Dean Jikyeong Kang, mega-tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, Phinma Chairman Ramon R. del Rosario, Jr., PhilCement Chairman Victor J. Del Rosario and former Ambassador Jesus P. Tambunting. Mabuhay po kayo Ambassador Howard Q. Dee. To God be the glory!
The Personal Website of Retired Chief Justice Panganiban 