The country’s business movers

Business & Leisure, the television show is now on its 24th year, and the producers thought it prudent to introduce some changes in its content. The segment on Captains of Industry, introduced over a decade ago, is now back on the show under a new name: Business Movers.

Having a business cum leisure show has its many perks, among them meeting many of our country’s business leaders in a more personal way. Most of them are the show’s “suki”, having been our most valued resource persons for several important business issues, and through this column we sincerely thank them for always being there through the years, for never declining to share their inputs on any given issue, unflinching in their principles. By delving into their persona, we hope to show the different aspects of The Man that should serve to inspire our future business leaders.

For the reformatted show, the man of the hour for the segment Business Movers was Mr. Sergio Ortiz-Luis, whom we addressed as the ‘Father of Philippine Export’. This was aired last Tuesday, Feb. 3, and for those of you who missed it, it was good viewing and should make interesting reading herein.

Sergio Ortiz-Luis, or Sol as he is fondly called, was the middle child among four siblings and was a provincial boy at heart, and to this day he carries traces of this. He was born in Nueva Ecija and grew up there, moving only to Letran to finish his Grade 7 and to De la Salle for his high school and college years. No, push that further to his masteral years. Summer vacation would have him pining for the bucolic life in Nueva Ecija where they would make their own wooden swords and other toys, sneak out to swim in the river, and snitch mangoes and other fruits from other people’s backyards. He laments that his own two sons never had a taste of the simple life when toys were not bought, just made and chiseled meticulously by hand.

His role model was his father who was a lawyer/businessman, and he looked up to his mother who was a Nutrition graduate from the Philippine Women’s University. He wanted to take up Law like his father, but somehow found himself inclined towards business school.

After graduation from college (Liberal Arts in 1964 and Business in 1965) and getting his MBA soon after, he got married and he found himself working for an uncle’s vast business enterprise in Palawan—he operated an electric plant in Puerto Princesa, went into logging and even road construction, and then managed his uncle’s hacienda with 3,000 people working under him.  He considered these experiences as his acid test, but his stint in the hacienda landed him in a hospital in Manila, on his back for nine months and afflicted with nephritis due to the insect bites that he got.

The indefatigable Sol or Jun, as some close associates would address him, was soon back on his feet, and this time around, he ventured into pipe making. Though his educational background was more inclined towards business, Sol found it intriguing that most of his job experiences involved a lot of engineering. Soon after, he joined his sisters’ thriving food export business. Together with four colleagues, they formed Foodex, which today still mounts huge food expos. At around the same time, they were also involved with agricultural machineries and put up the Agricultural Machineries Manufacturers Association.

Back then, there were only two major export associations, and these were the Confederation of Philippine Exporters and Philexport.  These two big associations were always competing for foreign funding, which inevitably came mostly from the World Bank and USAID. With pressure from these two entities, the Department of Trade & Industry virtually squeezed the two associations to merge. “The Confederation couldn’t get along with DTI”, recalls Sol with a chuckle.

Philexport now stands strong as THE export association to deal with when it comes to Philippine exports which Sol knows like the back of his hand. Sol was instrumental in having the Export Development Act of 1994 passed during the term of President Fidel V. Ramos, who Sol credits for recognizing the potentials of export in our economy. It was during FVR’s term that Sol went on extensive travels to sell the country. Before the heyday of the electronics industry, he visited Silicon Valley so many times to attract investments.

“It took a while before we broke the $10 billion mark, but during FVR’s time, the country experienced the biggest growth in exports in Asia, though this wasn’t enough to make ours a tiger economy.  There was a time in the 90s that export accounted for 50 percent of the country’s GDP,” he recalled.

But our export industry declined soon after, though by 2014, it recovered enough to approximate our 2010 standing. Even Vietnam, Sol laments, has overtaken us three years ago. Export was no longer a sunshine industry after FVR’s term, and DTI under which exports fall, has one of the smallest budgets in the cabinet at a little over P3 billion, of which only P100 million net is allocated for export. With our exports now reaching P3 trillion, the serious imbalance is lamentable.

Sol is the Honorary Chairman and Treasurer of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PCCI). He is also a commissioner of the Social Security System, Vice Chairman of the Export Development Council of the Philippines and the Philippine Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Foundation, the largest association of employers in the Philippines, among others.  He has also been appointed Honorary Consul of the Consulate of Romania in the Philippines.

At home, life is easy for Sol, his lovely wife, Margarita or ‘Margs’, his two sons and his slew of beloved dogs. One of the walls in the spacious living room is filled with valuable art works (his one great passion), while on one wall, dozens of plaques of recognition and awards crowd each other for space.

Though he has traveled everywhere, he claims he is “not a tourist at heart”. He plays golf as an exercise, but has learned to enjoy the game.

His advice to would be exporters is this:  “Kung ako sa inyo, mag-supplier muna ako ng exporter, mag-member ka ng association..Matuto ka, mag-supply ka sa mga members doon..pag medyo kabisado mo na, doon ka mag-venture into it.”

And last but not least, as with most successful people, he would like to leave a legacy to be remembered by: “I want to be remembered as the one who babied the Export Development Act.”

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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