Consunji, Gotianun recognized by UPAA

MANILA, Philippines — Tycoon Isidro Consunji is the sole recipient of this year’s University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA) Most Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Consunji, chairman of DMCI Holdings and Semirara Mining and Power Corp., has been recognized for his strategic and outstanding leadership of a business conglomerate that has generated countless job opportunities and addressed critical needs in housing, water services and power.

The award also reflects his role as a pillar of the UP College of Engineering, embodying the university’s core values of honor and excellence.

The UPAA Most Distinguished Alumnus Award is given to individuals who not only excel in their respective fields but also stand out significantly among the year’s Distinguished Alumni Awardees.

Further, the recipient must have attained national and potentially international prestige, bringing honor and distinction to both the university and the country.

Aside from Consunji, SMPC president, COO and chief sustainability officer Maria Cristina Gotianun also received the 2024 Distinguished Alumna Award for Corporate Management Excellence.

The award highlights her commitment to gender fairness, social equity and environmental restoration in the industry of mining and power generation.

The UPAA Distinguished Alumni Awards are conferred on alumni who have demonstrated exceptional achievements and outstanding contributions in their chosen field of endeavor that bring about substantial benefits to society and distinct honor to the university.

David Consunji, the patriarch of the Consunji family, was conferred the Most Distinguished Alumnus by the UPAA in 2016.

Regarded as the father of modern construction in the Philippines, he is the founding chairman and president of D.M. Consunji Inc., a premier construction firm recognized for its landmark projects, iconic structures and large-scale infrastructure developments across the country.

Consunji led this year’s roster of UPAA Awardees which includes Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara, former health secretary Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan, former ambassador Jesus Yabes (UPAA Lifetime Distinguished Achievement Awardees); Manila Electric Co. senior vice president and chief finance officer Betty Siy-Yap, (Distinguished Alumni Awardee for Public service); One News PH’s Jose Roberto Alampay (Distinguished Alumni Awardee for Journalism) and The STAR Business editor and columnist Iris Gonzales (Multigenerational Family Awardee).