PANASONIC Manufacturing Philippines Corp. (PMPC) has awarded scholarship grants to 20 nominated undergraduate and vocational students from the Dualtech Training Center Foundation Inc., Don Bosco, Bulacan State University, University of Rizal System, and Pamantasan ng Cabuyao.
Masatoshi Sasaki, PMPC president and Panasonic Scholarship (Philippines) chairman, said this year is significant not only as the first joint awarding event for the program but also the start of another five-year commitment to offer Panasonic scholarships in the country in appreciation to the Philippine society which has continuously supported Panasonic’s operation for more than 52 years.
As one of the panelists this year, Sasaki also said selecting the most deserving individuals proved to be difficult as all the candidates who have reached the final selection process were deserving of the opportunity.
By way of valuing the scholars’ intellectual ability, personality, and humanity, Sasaki believes that they are truly the most deserving individuals who can help the company in realizing its commitment to the improvement of people’s lives and to the further progress of society.
Sasaki urged the recipients to make the best of their education not only for their personal gains but also to serve the society in general.
He also reminded them not to forget to smile and become well-rounded individuals by nurturing their sense of social responsibility, multi-cultural understanding, intellect, leadership, and excellence.
For his part, Haruhisa Okuda, leader of the Corporate Social Responsibility and Citizenship Department at the Groupwide Brand Communications Division of Panasonic Corp. (Japan), shared the story of The Panasonic Scholarship Program, which was established in 1998 in commemoration of the company’s 80th anniversary.
Okuda said its aim was to provide scholarship opportunities to privately financed students from eight Asian countries who wish to pursue a master’s course of science or engineering fields in Japan. In 18 years, 370 students have been nominated.
The current scholarship program started from fiscal year 2014 has been operated by seven local offices in designated countries and areas such as Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, and Thailand.
“Four hundred thirty-five students have been nominated until last year,” Okuda said, adding that 102 of them were from the Philippines.
He said the Panasonic Scholarship Asia where the scholars have all qualified is one of the company’s efforts to support “developing human resources” — that is, a support of learning.
“It was created to support all of you who say, ‘I want to study further’,” he noted, with the aim of cultivating human resources to support the continuing development of the Philippines and the world.
