Pasko na naman sa Pilipinas, Kapamilya! It’s that time of the year again to be thankful for the year that was and look to the future with renewed hope, inspiration and passion.
There’s a revolution happening in the world today with many powerful vectors converging to change the energy industry as we know it. I’m quite excited by it because if we’re able to seize them and ride the wave, we have a golden opportunity to leapfrog and build a power industry that’s truly for the 21st century. That power industry must not only address inclusive economic development but exponential technological advances and climate change as well.
As I write this, we’re down to the final days of 2023 recounting our own stories of self-discovery, finding joys, exploring opportunities, overcoming challenges and celebrating triumphs that made this year memorable. We also remember all the people who have been with us through this journey—our family, friends and colleagues. The one significant presence I am deeply missing is that of my Dad, our late chairman emeritus Oscar M. Lopez, who passed on April 22 just after celebrating his 93rd birthday. But I know he’s now happily reunited with my Mom and the rest of his siblings—including Tito Manolo who passed away in January—and his parents in Heaven. The passing of OML and MML marks the passage of a generation in our family and the Lopez Group.
Another year comes to a close. And with it, the lessons and gifts as well as the changes and the challenges. As always, we pause during this blessed season to take stock of all we have accomplished and all that still lies ahead.
The holiday season is upon us once again, Kapamilyas, which means it’s time to be thankful for the year that was and welcome another year with renewed hope, passion and grit.
This year, more than one years, was a blur that just flew by. It was like a tornado of events hat sucked us all in then spat us out the other end, dazed and bewildered.
As we wind down 2022 and usher in a new year, I’m glad to see the COVID pandemic finally easing as we’ve managed to live with it and move forward with our lives and our businesses. Still, we shouldn’t throw all caution to the wind as the virus remains infectious, and the many Christmas celebrations and family gatherings only heighten our risk of exposure and may cause another surge as we experienced at the start of 2022.
In Roman mythology, the god Janus is usually depicted as having two faces since he looks to the future as well as to the past.
The challenges experienced globally in the year 2022 are expected to continue into 2023. These include the tightness in the global supply of natural gas and other commodities stemming from a prolonged war between Ukraine and Russia.
The year 2017 gave us a great reason to pause and reflect on life as we know it.
As we slowly emerge from the pandemic and look to 2023 with much hope and positivity, we feel gratitude that whatever stage of life we are at, there are blessings to be thankful for.
FPH Group companies. Midyear, at the annual shareholders’ meeting of FPH, we made public our group’s stance that we will no longer consider building, developing or investing in coal-fired power plants. We’ve since then made it our mission to help the country navigate the challenging shift toward a cleaner decarbonized future.
2016 has been a year with many notable milestones for the FPH Group. It opened with the move to our new corporate headquarters at Rockwell Business Center, allowing us more opportunities for collaboration across the2021 was the year we all looked forward to, hoping to leave 2020 and all its tragedies behind. It was meant to be the year of new hope, rebuilding and healing.
If there is a phrase which for me characterizes 2016, it is this—momentous and stunning change.
Close to two years today and we’re still living through a global pandemic that has severely impacted our daily lives and all the world’s economies. The effects were both instant and devastating, and highlighted our interconnectedness in ways that means we all sink or swim as one human race.
Mga kapamilya,
For some of us, the year 2016 cannot end soon enough. Those of us who felt sorrow and heartache, underwent health challenges or suffered personal loss are hoping for a much better year in 2017.
It seems that our country has joined the rest of the world in recovering ground lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy is cautiously restarting, as evidenced by increased electricity demand and, of course, the return of traffic jams in Metro Manila.
As the year draws to a close, we look back and find that so much has changed in a span of 12 months. In our country, we have a new President determined to solve the drug and terrorist problems that have plagued our country for years.
The holiday season is often the time we set aside for reunions, vacation time, possibly some travel, and a host of traditions we have become accustomed to over the years.
At 86 years of age, I have seen many more Christmases than most of you, my kapamilya, in the Lopez Group.
The year 2020 is definitely a year that most of us would remember as the year Murphy’s Law took effect and took over the world. Our lives became unrecognizable as we tried to navigate a globe that sat on its head.
Some of us are still reeling from the toll of the pandemic, licking our wounds from the shutdown of businesses, including our beloved ABS-CBN, and smarting from the tragedy of one disaster after another.
It was easy to accept defeat and declare 2020 as the year that we all lost. However, with each unfortunate event, heroes appeared from nowhere. Doctors, nurses and health workers braved the dangers of COVID-19, trying to save as many lives as they could.
During the lockdown, farmers, factory and store workers and delivery personnel stepped up to ensure that we all had essential supplies in our homes. With each calamity that struck, many rescuers, relief workers, volunteers and donors reached the farthest and most challenging areas, if only to lift another person.
And during ABS-CBN’s darkest hours, we found allies and supporters who had the courage to allow their voices to be heard alongside ours.
The legendary Richard Redwood Deupree, the first non-‐family head of Procter & Gamble who led the company through the turbulent period encompassing the Great Depression and World War II, liked to say this about the company he led:
“If you leave P&G’s money, its buildings, its brands, but take away its people, the business will be in real jeopardy. But if you take away the money, the buildings, the brands, but leave the people, it will build a comparable business in as little as a decade.”
Twenty-twenty has been a bizarre year for all of us. These last few months made what was unthinkable, tangible and real. We now live in a world that’s not merely complicated but tightly interrelated and complex.
Directors and Officers of SharePhil,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
A very good afternoon to all of you. The Lopez Group of Companies, such as it is today, was first established on June 12, 1928 as a dual proprietorship by my father, Eugenio Lopez, Sr. and his brother, former Philippine Vice President Fernando Lopez. It was called E & F Lopez, Inc. Particularly after the Second World War, my father largely took charge of business affairs while my uncle dedicated his life to public service. All the risks and fruits of their businesses were shared 50-50 between them through the next 47 years, till my father passed away. The Lopez Group of Companies today pertain to the Eugenio Lopez, Sr. side of the family.
Many want to write 2020 off as the year that never happened. Humanity continues to face the challenge of a mutating coronavirus that has infected over 50 million and killed more than a million worldwide.
Christmas is always a great time to pause and look back at the year just passed. In looking back we hope to celebrate our victories and accomplishments, as well as acknowledge and learn from our failures.
The year 2020 has truly been most challenging. However, it does teach us many lessons, among them about stewardship and fidelity.
It is that time when we close the current year and get ready to welcome the new one. As we look to the coming year, one topic invariably dominates all conversations: the 2016 elections.
THIS Christmas, ABS-CBN has one message to all Filipinos around the world: Family is Forever.
Christmas is a most appropriate time to count our blessings. The other time we do this is when we celebrate our birthday.
AS yet another year comes to a close, we take time to reflect on the gains made and challenges overcome. It's shaping up to be another good year for the FPH Group, with our major businesses delivering solid results in 2019. Still, I can’t help but think about the escalating challenges that lie before us amidst a rapidly climatechanged world.
Lopez Group, for the remarkable year we have had.
As we contemplate on the joys and paradoxes of the season, I would like to thank all of you, our kapamilya in theI often ask myself this question—a question that triggers a whole string of other questions.
Christmas approaches and everybody can feel the rush of the longest holiday in the Philippines. After all, our country probably has the longest Christmas season in the world.
WE Filipinos probably have the longest celebration of the Christmas season anywhere in the world. We love this holiday with all our hearts, minds and tummies. We make time for reunions and parties, fundraisers and other charitable events.
Honored Guests, Awardees:
It is my very great pleasure to be here again with all of you for this, the LAA awarding ceremonies. Two years ago, I could not make it because I was out of the country on business. Last year, I failed to make it because, at the last minute, I started feeling unwell. I was determined that nothing should stop me from coming a third consecutive time. So here I am, and I am truly overjoyed to be with all of you once more.
THIS year, Lopez Inc. (LI) is organizing a joint Christmas celebration for its subsidiaries. Except for Lopez Holdings Corporation which is listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange, all the rest of the LI investees are not publicly listed.
I’d like to welcome you all to our 13th Lopez Achievement Awards. The LAA has been running since 2002. Let me just say that for us in the family and top management of the Lopez group, we have used this as an opportunity to show our gratitude to many of you throughout our organizations who continue to exhibit many of the seven values we hold so close to our hearts-‐-‐-‐Pioneering Entrepreneurial Spirit, Business Excellence, Unity, Nationalism, Social Justice, Integrity, Employee Welfare and Wellness. Among the seven, however, one stands out through our past, and without it all of us would not be here together, and that is the Pioneering Entrepreneurial Spirit.
It is both a happy and hopeful time of year for many reasons: we have continued to grow together as an organization, as a team and as a family. There are also many reasons to celebrate, and to give thanks for our blessings, and our accomplishments.
CSR attitudes and philosophy shaped and guided our corporate CSR programs. And so I shall.
A very good afternoon to all of you. I have been asked to share with you my own CSR story, journey and challenges. How myI suspect that, often, an individual’s attitudes toward corporate social responsibility develop from something that he or she is passionate about to begin with, a hobby or interest that then becomes an advocacy. So it was with me, but much of my thinking and awareness was also influenced by what my father did, and by what earlier generations of Lopezes have done in the way of public service.
Christmas is once again around the corner.
The years 2013 and 2014 clearly exposed the vulnerability of our operations to the “new normal” of climate change. The Philippines is ranked globally as among the most susceptible to such extreme weather events, and it’s fundamental that we embark on measures that create a more robust and a more resilient First Gen in the coming years.
It is normal for some of us to allocate some time during the Christmas season to visit the less fortunate and share the joys of the season with them. If this is not yet one of your family customs, I encourage you to start now. The rewards of such an activity are beyond the psychological and emotional.
A favorite writer of mine, Kent Nerburn, in his book “Letters to My Son” talks about brief fleeting moments in our lives when we’re “truly alive to the world around us”. He has a phrase for these instants, which he calls “blue moments”. “You will know them only in memory.” He says: “But you will never forget them. They can be moments of love or even moments of fear.
For many of us, Christmas is all about reunions. We meet up with relatives whom we haven’t seen all year. We have lunch or dinner with friends from our previous occupation, or from college or high school, or from the fraternity or sorority to which we belong.