AROUND this time last year, my good friend Atty. Martin Loon, president and CEO of Cocolife, called my attention to a matter I don’t usually pay attention to.
“Kuya,” he said, “next year is the Year of the Tiger. It’s our year. There will be big things in store for us.”
I have known Martin since he was a pre-law student at Ateneo; in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy, Martin was very active in relief efforts of the AFP and linked up with me (I was still with Coca-Cola) for donations of drinking water and other beverages for far-flung and hard-hit communities. I watched him transition from pre-Law student to a graduate of the UP College of Law, and even hand-carried a few items to him when he was a masteral student at Georgetown.
Before that he also worked on the staff of several senators, including Senators Alan Cayetano and Bongbong Marcos.
Now, he is president and CEO of Cocolife and here he was telling me the Year of the Tiger (2022) had big things in store for both of us, who were both born in the Year of the Tiger (albeit a few decades apart).
What other “big things” did Martin need in his life, I wondered? And what was the big one (or the big ones!) in store for me? I sure needed this far more than Martin did!
Little did I know what was in store. Looking back, Martin was soooo right.
‘For me, the biggest thing that happened in the year that is coming to an end is the journey into sustainability that Nickel Asia Corporation (NAC, the company that I work for) is taking.’
For me, the biggest thing that happened in the year that is coming to an end is the journey into sustainability that Nickel Asia Corporation (NAC, the company that I work for) is taking. With sustainability as the destination, NAC has embraced the principles of ESG (environment, social and governance) as the way to get there.
Imagine what this means for a company whose principal business is nickel mining. It has required — and continues to require — an almost radically new way of looking at how to do things. For obvious reasons, this is not without its challenges — but neither is it not without moments of satisfaction.
What made the NAC journey into sustainability even bigger for me is the fact that I was given the post of Chief Sustainability Officer, reporting to the Board and to the CEO through the board level Sustainability Committee.
In this role, I am blessed to have able support in Edwin Nerva, our incoming AVP for sustainability, and our three colleagues who comprise the Office of the Chief Sustainability Officer: Paolo Alonso, Brenda Aquino and Nikki Sungalon.
As if that wasn’t enough excitement, I had also been thrust into the area of risk management, another critical element of the non-operational side of the business and one clearly linked to and overlapping with sustainability. As Chief Risk Officer, I have the unenviable role of identifying issues early on that may impact the business, and helping chart actions that can best help the business avoid the worst pitfalls. That I will be ably assisted in this role by Wally Panganiban, our AVP for Risk Management, helps me sleep more soundly despite this huge responsibility. That Wally is an “old” colleague of mine from Coca-Cola is an added bonus.
These are new additions to my overall responsibility for regulatory and government affairs, community relations and communications. Again, thanks to colleagues who I believe are perfectly situated, the wide scope of my responsibilities is far more manageable and bearable. Atty. Ryan Jornada provides higher level attention to detail and to organizational matters that I can miss; Lester Pascua is a gem of an admin officer who helps us navigate the intricacies of the budget and the implementation of many programs; Attys. Jun Mata and Miguel Barretto are reliable anchors for matters related to regulatory issues; Bing dela Rosa and Lira Poralan cover the bases for community relations and IEC, while Karl Ocampo is a steal from a broadsheet who is being primed for a bigger role in communications. Apples Dasco and Ryan Linao are super reliable colleagues to whom admin work and other confidential matters can be delegated.
How can I go wrong with such a team?
Of course, I have to mention that in the same year that I turned into a senior citizen I also earned the title of Senior Vice President. Like everything else mentioned above it was unexpected and humbling. As I said in a Facebook post, just as my years are getting shorter, my office title is getting longer.
So yes, Martin, you were right: this Year of the Tiger has turned out to be one with big things in store for me. And they were the big things I am so happy to embrace, as one or two other potential big things weren’t as enticing to me. Thank you for the “warning,” but I am happy that it will take another 11 years before the Year of the Tiger returns. This is enough responsibility and excitement for the rest of my life, but yes, I look forward to the start of the new year and to maximizing my contributions to the company I am so happy to be with at this exciting stage of my life.
As we used to say at the Coca-Cola/Powerade Tigers PBA team: “Once a Tiger, Always a Tiger!” Hear it roar!
