Indonesia Hosts International PR Conference in Feb. 2010

Indonesia takes center stage in international public relations early next year when it hosts an IPRA (International Public Relations Association) International Conference Feb. 2-4, in Jakarta.

Theme will be Global Reach International Leadership.

What will make the Jakarta Conference doubly significant for Indonesia is that it will coincide with the assumption into office of one of her own, Dr. Elizabeth Goenawan Ananto, a prominent academician and active IPRA leader for many years, as President of IPRA for 2010.

The conference will look into how PR can help restore trust in institutions and its strategic importance in helping governments and the private sector in overcoming the global economic crisis.

PR practitioners in Asia have a unique perspective in relating to this challenge, faced as their Clients and their environments have been with threats to economic stability, posed by global and domestic conditions, and weakening trust in many established institutions.

Another topic that should be of particular interest to Filipino PR practitioners is Corporate Social Responsibility: Global Application.

Among speakers will be the international PR gurus and scholars, Dr. James E. Grunig and Dr. Larissa Grunig; Robert W. Grupp, 2008 President, IPRA; Richard Linning, 2011 President, IPRA; Paul Holmes, Chairman, Holmes PR Report; Ahmad Fuad Afhdai, IPRA National Chair, Indonesia; Prema Sagar, Founder-President, Genesis Burson Marsteller, India, and IPRA Past Presidents Loula Zaklama (Egypt) and Roger Hayes (U.K.).

Dr. Elizabeth is particularly eager to have her fellow practitioners from Asia, including the Philippines, to come to Jakarta for this Conference.

Following Jakarta will be IPRA's XIX World Public Relations Congress, to be held in Lima, Peru, June 1-3 2010.

Lessons of Ondoy

Ondoy killed, destroyed and left us dazed. It made us realize: in the face of angry nature, we are helpless, we can be snuffed out at any moment. Ondoy showed us how brave, kind, generous and all-giving we can be.

Only in 1986 perhaps did we see our people as united and as selfless in giving themselves to others. The impact of Ondoy has made us more reflective, and humbler.

It is obvious that we have not been all that good in putting systems, structures and training, perhaps budgets also, that might have made Ondoy not all that destructive. In the first hours of Ondoy, my family were frantically making calls to authorities, and got no answer. And they were not, perhaps could not be, around. Ondoy put us all together, helplessly engulfed.

Without absolving government, I would not spend too much time reminding it how it goofed on this one. Instead we would be better off telling it that it must shape up for the next Ondoy, because we will hold it accountable, and if need be to our courts.

We must honor those who perished, and lost property and opportunities in Ondoy. One way to do this is making ourselves smarter, more organized and more amply funded in the matter of disaster prevention, control and impact mitigation.

Another way is documenting and retelling the stories of men and women, young and old, famous and unknown, who risked their lives, and up to now are giving their time and money and to help the victims of Ondoy.

Figures and Statistics As a Basic Need of PR Industry

One of the first questions that investors ask when they size up an industry or a prospective investment site is--how large is your market? How big is its potential rate of growth, who are the key players?

Same thing with PR. In the Philippines, this has been a problem from the very beginning. We do not know how large, or small, the PR industry is, because there are no figures and statistics that anyone can refer to. Nobody seems to know how much the many corporations, PR agencies and other private-sector organizations, and even government agencies who practice PR, actually, all together, do spend annually on their PR projects.

Oh, a PR Agency may know how much it does, as may a number of big corporations, but not many others. Or, if a respectable number do, their figures are not made available to any central organization, like an industry association, where they may be verified, collated and analyzed for

the benefit, first, of PR practitioners themselves, and second, of prospective Clients or investors from here and abroad.

PR expenditures take several forms: actual project costs, fees earned as retainer or as part of project costs, or commissions from suppliers. Taxes are paid on these, and part of income is invested in business development and expansion. PR has its own economics and practitioners develop their own business models.

All together, these constitute factors that determine how large, or small, or progressive or retrogressive, the PR industry in our country is, or will be.

But first, let there be reliable figures on revenues, incomes and expenditures from which PR practitioners derive these. These figures and statistics will help us plan our growth intelligently.

And enable prospective investors to look with greater interest on the PR market in the Philippines.

Cory Aquino: Let Her Light Shine On

Former President Cory Aquino, who passed away early this morning, was exemplary as a leader, because she led by example and she put the lessons we learned from her example right where they mattered: in the hearts of her people.

In her people's hearts, her vision, her rectitude, her moral leadership and the grace of her character, will stay. There these cannot be stolen.

We have a stronger hold on the freedom that she restored in our country, because she dared not relent when its enemies tried to snatch it away.

Cory insisted on governing on the basis of what was right and wrong, and to hell with the consequences.

Our eyes are clear in the face of the craven, the corrupt and the opportunists, because Cory showed it was possible to lead, and to live, by sticking to what we know to be right and just.

A lot of inconvenience there, of course, but she showed us it can be done.

We will miss her clarity and simplicity, and the quality of her devotion to her country. When it was time to go, she did, without fuss.

I liked the grace of Cory Aquino, her utter lack of need to cower or grovel, the quietness she radiated, and the power that comes from a strong sense of self and commitment to the Lord's commandments.

A light has gone out of our lives. Even if only in our hearts, let her light shine on.

Two Books on Philippine Radio

I have just bought two highly welcome books, both on the history of Philippine radio. One is "Appropriation of Colonial Broadcasting", A History of Early Radio in the Philippines, 1922-1946, (2008), by Elizabeth L. Enriquez, and the other is Stay Tuned, The Golden Years of Philippine Radio, by Ben Aniceto and Friends (2007).

Dr. Betsy Enriquez was a radio and TV broadcaster and a professor of broadcasting and media studies at U.P. for many years. Mr. Aniceto was a broadcast stalwart who ran AB S-CBN's Channel 2 until the declaration of martial law in 1972.

These two books should gladden not only students of broadcast media but also those who have been entertained and instructed by radio all these years. Dr. Betsy gives radio's development in the country a historical perspective. Commercial radio started and flourished here during the American regime and can, therefore, be viewed as an instrument of American colonial policy.

Mr. Aniceto discusses landmark developments as well, and provides personality profiles of the scores of managers, announcers and entertainment personalities who have figured in the history of Philippine radio.

Radio has been a dominant provider of news, opinion, entertainment and mass information in the country for almost 80 years. Before the advent of TV in the 1950s radio was the most far-reaching and maybe most influential medium of information and opinion hereabouts.

Dr. Enriquez asks a couple of intriguing questions in her book. "Does our more recent colonial past adequately and simply explain why Philippine broadcasting sounds and looks like American broadcasting? What may be the impact of this situation on the consciousness and sense of identity of Filipinos?

Mr. Aniceto puts together here articles by other broadcasters and features and vignettes on the numerous personalities and programs that dot the history of radio in the Philippines. Everybody seems to be here. Whether or not that makes for an exciting coherent history, or story, is another question.

But blessed is Ben for having told in his own, active- participant's, way his take on the story of this vital thing called Philippine radio.

Why PR Is Upbeat

Public Relations people are basically optimistic, gifted with a positive outlook. When I ask my fellows about their prospects in our PR business, hardly any one says things are down, or will be worse.

In fact, in spite of numerous challenges in our business, they are hopeful. We are never deterred, let alone feel vanquished. If there is one thing that I have learned in this business, it is that the opportunities for doing better often outweigh the problems.

One explanation may be that PR, precisely is largely designed for creating new and better opportunities for business, helping solve and create strategies for growth, through building and enhancing positive relation ships with customers and other sectors. Even when sales are down, business will have need for creative strategies, which are increasingly the province of PR.

Instead of being downcast PR practitioners these days are hopeful, because they are busy. New fields are developing that offer fresh opportunities, including, for instance, medical tourism, and the heightened demand for PR in the use of digital media.

IT and health care PR, higher demand for which we predicted more than 10 years ago, continue to be top-level services. PR, more than ever, is used in helping sustain and enhance brands, in restore trust in business and political and institutions and strengthen CSR as strategy and commitment. And, of course, marketing communications and issues and crisis management continue to be availed and grow in sophistication and influence.

I am speaking here of PR in Philippines. Though PR practitioners generally work in the background, I know that they do significant, though often unheralded work. Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP Group CEO, spoke late last year (Institute of Public Relations) of the "remarkable renaissance " of PR. PR companies have had much to do with this.

Sir Martin said, "PR companies have learned their lessons. They are more professionally managed and spend more time on staff retention and incentivisation. Clients' satisfaction is valued. Quality and financial controls are firmly in place."

I am proud of working in a PR agency.

CSR in PR

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a natural in the Philippine setting. Helping out inheres in the Filipino character. Every one looks out not only for himself and his family, but for his community as well.

This defining feature of the Filipino psyche and of community life is expressed in the spirit of the bayanihan, depicted in a painting, or photo, of a group of men carrying on their very shoulders a whole house, maybe not more than a bahay-kubo, as it is moved from one location to another.

The Filipino spirit says-- when the community needs my help, I will be there, even if all I can give is part of the weight of your house on my bare shoulders.

Not that the Filipino has had to need much calling.

As life is poor, there is always need to pitch in . Natural calamities, poverty, the challenges to a society trying to transition to higher levels of growth, the diaspora of breadwinners, problems of peace and security, and the inability of government and society to answer to urgent needs of an expanding population, have increased the demand on all sectors--including business--to help society.

At first, business in the Philippines decided that CSR was something it had to get into, because corporations existed not only to make profits. Which was, and still is, correct. But in the first stages of CSR in the Philippines, in the 1960s and early 1970s, the need was not as pressing and all-encompassing as it is now.

Now business has to accelerate and expand its involvement, make it more real, more relevant and appreciable. This means it has had to devote more knowhow, or science, if you will, aside from genuine compassion, to make CSR more truly meaningful in the country.

CSR organizations and NGOs are called on to be more focused, and accountable.

Fortunately, Public Relations has been part of the development of CSR in the Philippines. The late PR practitioners Jose Carpio and Oscar S. Villadolid, both of San Miguel Corporation, played key roles in the organization (1970) and promotion of the vision and work of the Philippine Business for Social Progress.

Hardly any serious PR program is approved without a CSR component. In many cases, entire PR programs are CSR programs. What used to be called do-gooding is still that, except that now ever bigger resources, more energy and organizational knowhow and stronger focus on service delivery are expended and applied in CSR work by more individuals and organizations annually.

Public Relations practitioners, not only of big and established corporations, but even of small ones, are committed to CSR as a corporate way of life. They regard CSR not only as something that they must do, but that they hugely enjoy doing. It is after all, part of their make-up as individuals, as people of business and as citizens.

(N.B. Painting above is by Jun Virtusio).

Dear Oscar

Another pillar of Philippine PR has passed away. Oscar S. Villadolid (seated, left, in photo) died last week at the age of 79. His friends knew that for Oscar, who had been ailing, it was just a matter of time.

 His friends and admirers in PR, journalism, and public  service mourn his passing. For Oscar was a gentleman, a  journalist, a writer, and PR practitioner of far- reaching accomplishments. Oscar was a prime mover in Philippine PR's pioneering role in the promotion of corporate social responsibility.

Oscar was the only one among  PR practitioners in the country who got as far as serving as Ambassador, to the Holy See at that. He was also among the earliest TOYM (Ten Outstanding Young Men) awardees (for Journalism, 1963). 

He reached a career pinnacle in Philippine PR practice, Senior Vice President of PR, of San Miguel Corporation, which he served  for many years. He was President of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines  (PRSP) and gave it flair and distinction.  He was a successful man of  abiding humility and complete lack of airs. He was always willing to help.

I liked Oscar  as a writer, and thoroughly enjoyed reading his book on World War II, about how he and his family survived it. As a columnist, he was tops as a commentator on foreign affairs.

Oscar's beautiful summa cum laude wife, Alice, and their family, are now bereaved of the love and care of this kind compassionate man.  As we, his colleagues in PR, also are.  We looked up to him, and learned from him that a PR person can rise so high and  accomplish big things but stay true and humble, faithful to his role as a family man and a leader in his chosen profession. 

PR "Prescriptions" for Would- Be Presidents

Candidates for President in the 2010 elections in the Philippine will find it harder this time. I mean, harder than just   presenting  their lonesome selves, and waiting for the votes to come in. Voters will be be more demanding of their candidates, and dismissive of those who will offer not much more than their names.

For those who will market and promote Candidates, including PR managers, the following may be helpful.

1. Popularity still does count, but will not be enough. Easy recall and recognizability may  push the Candidate up front, but that is just the beginning. Candidates will have to traverse a lot of ground before they  get the vote.

2. A great number of voters are young, and many of them disdain popularity and lack of depth, and popularity and glibness, for they  suspect here weakness of principles.

3. Issues are fine, but what issues are really important, and which ones will connect to the voter,  and to which voter? How strongly will your Candidate "connect" with the issues? Often those who insist on "issues" themselves sidestep issues because they really would rather go on with it fast, depending on their high-recall names.

4. Spending a lot of money, or pretending that you have a lot of it to burn, can be counterproductive.  Old and new voters get the impression that profligate candidates themselves believe  that voters can be bought, and these are not be trusted.

5.  Candidates are not products, but people. Candidates  must be able to think, reason out, express and defend  what they believe in and explain to the voters how will they preserve and enhance the republic, serve our people and help keep their freedom and win their prosperity.

6. Voters expect  top-calibre Candidates to choose from, those with high intelligence, proven leadership,  commitment to the public good, and willingness to sacrifice. The day of the buffoons, I fear, is over. Voters know that in spite of the setbacks  that  the country  have had to go through, it is intact, and is in many ways  better and stronger than it used to.  And its next President had better keep it being that.

7.  Candidates are for our people, but it would be nice if we had a President who can with vision, presence and accomplishments be speaking to the rest of the world as well, and gain more respect for our country.

Let us do away wit buffoons and types that we would wish we did not have anything to do about.

8.  Voters will demand from Candidates  respect and due consideration for their intelligence, and the fact that they, our Voters,  work hard for what they believe will be best for their country.

9. Show us how you see our country and what you plan, with our help, to make of  it. Be open, be communicative,  and be truthful. If, in doing so, you blunder or feel you have made a fool of yourself, admit it, explain and go on. Voters have more intelligence and sophistication than you may credit them with.

10. Show us who you really are, because whether you do or don't we will see, anyway. If you do that, and you fail to make it, that wouldn't be so bad, for there are other ways of serving our country than being President.

San Juan, San Juan!

It took just one wedding, but of two of the country's most popular showbiz celebs,  for my father's hometown to land on the front pages, and on prime time news on TV. 

Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo got married recently in the San Juan Nepomuceno Church, town of San Juan, in Batangas, and that's all it took. The town is not yet quite Taal, or Batangas City, in terms of popularity, but people at least have taken notice. Where Juday and Ryan could choose to get married must have something about it.

And does San Juan have it. It has Laiya, that beautiful coast of scores of beach resorts, of white sands, a marine life sanctuary, facilities for boating,  diving and snorkeling,  and excursions and family outings. Laiya is not one barrio, but several, that  promise to develop into a full fledged tourism complex. Investors have been coming in, attracted by a new road that leads out of the town hall through villages, rice fields and coconut plantations, and a host of economic development projects recently launched by the national government. 

Its biggest school, Batangas Eastern Academy, which everybody affectionately calls BEA, was founded by the late

And unbeknownst to many are the splendid old mansions of San Juan. I don't know if these are as numerous as those in Taal or Vigan, or as old, but they are to be seen, and reflected on. They are stately and beautiful, and locked up. They are not tourist attractions open to the public. A friend was so kind to accompany us on a visit to one of them, and it was true to its promise: old law books, for the owner was a distinguished lawyer, antique furniture, old jars,  and wide, hard-wood floors, wide windows and a great sala which hosted grand parties in the old glorious times.

At the outskirts of town is a place where they sell earthen pots (palayok),  vases, and jars, which families around have been making for generations. And they still make lambanog (fermented coconut juice).  All around are farms and orchards. The big families that made the town still have property in San Juan, but no longer live there. An institution that has stayed and grown is the 70-year old Batangas Eastern Academy, founded by the late Mercedes S. de Villa.

San Juan used to be part of what used to be the bigger town  of Rosario. Now San Juan is the second largest town of Batangas, a first-class municipality that hopes to be a city some day. It has some way to go (it has one Mercury Drug Store, but no McDonalds nor Jollibee), but it will get there.

(Photo above of San Juan de Nepomuceno Church is from Recoletos Communications, Inc.)

Pacquiao Packs It In: PR for His Country

Manny Pacquiao, the world's best boxer today, this morning sent Ricky  Hatton ridiculously flat on his back, in the second round of their bout in Las Vegas, after their flooring him  twice right in the first round.  

He has done for the Philippines something no one else is doing: making his people, all of them who have seen or watched or read of him, extremely proud of being Filipinos. 

Manny makes  people stir up, shout, jump and declare to the rest of the world: hey, we Filipinos are good, we are here, and we have what  it takes. In this hall where my son and I watched the live broadcast of  the fight this morning,  hundreds cheered up and hooted and screamed and congratulated each other:  this was a victory of our people and our country. People said to each other: "panalo tayo!, our country has won!"

We will remember for a long time that final lethal left hook that caught Hatton on the jaw: clean, clear, and utterly convincing. And when the referee ruled the fight over, for Hatton was entirely, piteously motionless for a few minutes, Pacquiao rushes to a corner, falls on his knees and says his prayer of thanks. The same thing that he does each time he fights--pray.

Another thing Manny  always does is say that he fights for the honor of his country, and dedicate his victories to his people. In all his fights, he thrills his people with his speed, power, poise, and laser- like focus. He prepares for his fights with months of concentrated and disciplined training, and with the best in his business.  He is a consummate professional.

Manny speaks English now. And he does so with complete refreshing confidence, never hesitates  responding to queries from the world's press, never mind the mishaps that await those who are not to the language born. 

He wins for his country mileage and I hope respectful notice from the rest of the world. A country that produces a champion like Manny Pacquiao cannot be  that much of a loser.  Maybe foreigners will look at our country more closely,  and  regard our people with greater understanding.

Maybe more of them will come to visit or try out investment opportunities?

Manny Pacquiao is the Philippines' best PR agency these days. 

PR Agencies Seem Unperturbed

Many of us in the PR Agency business were in tenterhooks at the beginning of this year. Would the recession in the U.S., whose impact was going to be felt in the Philippines,  send Clients bidding goodbye, especially when many of them had announced they were letting people go and expected  lower sales and revenues.

Well, it may still be early days, and dire events can still happen. But the fact that they have not reminds us that things often do not turn out to be as bad as they are foretold. 

Clients press on with their projects, and we continue to receive expressions of interest, some from other countries. Other PR agencies seem unperturbed as well, busy as they are: we see them quite often in bids for new accounts.

The PR Agency business is one particularly gifted to ride out rough patches. We have a large array of services that do not require large media buys. Our budgets are closely monitored by Clients and are, therefore,  more easily aligned to their needs and resources. The outcomes of our campaigns are accounted for,  and measured against budgets.

The way to deal with a troubled economy is  not to be deterred by it. During these times, we try to update our organization's skills and create more cohesive and hard-hitting profit centers. We rationalize our costs and create efficiencies and, always, improve Oh, let us make ourselves more widely known,  market ourselves a bit. Make prospects appreciate the fact that PR provides immediate service but also long-term value.

A crisis is not a time to wail and gnash teeth. It is when we get ourselves readier and tougher for the long hard race.

Blooming Bukidnon

I am one of those funny benighted guys, who early on chose to see more of the outside world than my own. For this,  I have been trying to make up. Over the past Holy Week, we saw a bit of the lovely province of Bukidnon, specifically, of its capital city, Malaybalay. I had suggested Bukidnon, because when I was in grade school, we would sing a song that had in it a line about the beautiful mountains of Bukidnon.

Bukidnon is deep in fecund  Northern Mindanao. From  the airport in Cagayan de Oro,   a car drove us up to the Benedictine Monastery of the Transfiguration, in  Barangay San Juan Jose, Malaybalay. We joined a spiritual retreat up to Easter Sunday. The Monastery, cradled in a crib of green beautiful mountains and  undulating hills,  is bewitching: quiet, gorgeous and uplifting. I came for the mountains as well, and I had them and listened to them.

Bukidnon is one Mindanao's most lushly endowed provinces, in mineral  resources,  and fertile soil that yields pineapples, rice, corn,  bananas, vegetables, coffee and many other bountiful crops. The Benedictine monks plant rice and corn and coffee, which help support their mission and their good works. Bukidnon is one of the greenest places I have ever been to. 

A pity that Bukidnon is a largely unknown place,  even amongst us Filipinos. It does not even have a significant  airport of its own. Being more widely known should put it on the radar screens of potential domestic and potential investors, say, in hotels or bed-and-breakfasts and tourist facilities.

The monks spoke to us of little Easters in our lives, how and why we must find and keep them. 

My family and I got  quite a few of them, up in the glorious mountains of Bukidnon.

 

Thinking Holy Week

I have never read it, but all this past half century, since a professor of mine, who had completed a short course at Oxford and became, and still is, a Carmelite nun, mentioned  the Gerald Vann lecture on The Two Trees, I have been captivated by the image. Gerald Vann,  a Benedictine priest, was a celebrated British  theologian. 

In 1948, he delivered a series of  broadcast lectures entitled The Two Trees. There are two trees in our lives: the first  in the Garden of Eden,  from which we fell from grace, and the other, the tree on Calvary, where Christ met his martyrdom.  

We struggle through life, with our imperfections and sins, allured by the glow of the first tree.  Its green boughs and refreshing shade entice us and we reap unearned riches, lose our honor us human beings, and "die in a ditch like a dog" (Pasternak). 

Or, with faith and grace, we win the salvation of the second tree. We suffer for our sins, but we are given the means  and the power to renew ourselves. 

The beautiful thing about the Passion of Christ and the joy of  Easter is that they are ours to garner and be enriched with. 

We do not have to  be saints or heroes; we just have to be our humble, believing and paying-our-dues selves. We have to be giving and forgiving folks, generous with our belief in the goodness of others and contrite when we make fools of ourselves, which is most of the time.

I was a boy when I first  heard of the Two Trees. The two trees stand tall, each with its promise, and a beautiful picture of the sadness, and also, and finally, the glory of the life and passion of Christ. Happy Easter!

IS PR Worth Doing?

The only way we can answer this question is by actually showing that what we do is effective and has made a difference.  Has  the program or project that we embarked on yielded positive, or negative results, in terms of numbers that will show, for instance, changes in our targets' attitudes,  or perceptions and other forms of response? Or, as they say,  has the needle begun to move?

Measurement and evaluation, quite a growing concern in PR practice,  gains added importance these days. When the chips are down, as in when budgets are lower than they have ever been,  PR practitioners must even more clearly prove that their programs are garnering the  desired results. 

Dr. Walter K. Lindemann wrote and updated a few years ago a paper (published by the Institute of Public Relations) setting guidelines  for  measuring the  effectiveness of PR programs and activities. Dr. Lindenmann  promptly clears up what measurement and evaluation  aims at: "to improve and enhance the relationships that organizations maintain with key constituents."

It is a learned enlightening paper that I feel is even more relevant today. Dr. Lindenmann writes, for instance: "There is no one, simple, all-encompassing research tool,  technique or methodology that can be relied on to measure and evaluate PR effectiveness... Be wary of attempts to compare PR effectiveness to advertising effectiveness... The PR measurement and evaluation process should never be carried in isolation, by focusing only on the PR components. Wherever and whenever possible, it is always important to link what is planned, and what is accomplished through PR, to the overall goals, objectives, strategies and tactics of the organization as a whole."

Time was when we were able to keep Clients largely or solely on the strength of the media presence that we generated for them.  That time is past: now we are called upon to deliver a more rigorous discipline to the process of deciding on whether what we do in PR really makes sense and gets positive results. This is just fair. 

PR for Our Hometowns

I have sent letters to the mayor of the hometown of my late father, where I have a mango farm and a house, offering PR services to the town, pro bono. Before this, during the term of a previous mayor, I had called on the tourism officer, again offering my help in organizing visits to the town. I never got any reply. It's a pity, because the town, I believe, has a lot of things it can and should be proud of. This is the land of my father and forebears.

This is an area where PR can play a role. Our towns, cities and provinces, and their people, are what make our country. They are where native initiative and ingenuity are put into play. These are where our natural resources and the bulk of our manpower reside. They are the sources and enhancers of our culture. They are where our growth as an economy should be nurtured and developed.

And yet what and how much do we know of them?

PR should help our towns put across to the rest of the country the initiatives they are taking to further economic growth, and how they develop their resources and industries. PR can help enhance in our towns and provinces pride in their history and the accomplishments of their people. How many towns in our country have their own museums, or public libraries? Why do we allow old houses and buildings to fall into decay? How many of us PR practitioners have given of our time and resources to the towns of our fathers?

PR folks will need to provide their services for free, especially to their little towns for these will have no funds for the kind of thing that we do. The push that PR can make in our towns and provinces could, however, well be the impetus that would stir so many of them from drowsy anonymity.

My father's hometown? I think I will do PR for it, in any case.

The Engaged CEO

What a world the CEO has to operate in today! Whereas the bulk of his job in the past required not much more than assuring that his or her company operated at a profit and stayed out of trouble,  now he has these,  and  infinitely a lot more. The CEO of today has to be a conscious leader, not only of his company,  but also of the community and the society that he lives in. 

The CEO of today has to be a deeply engaged man. He must be guardian and enhancer of the values and vision of his company, apart from being insurer that it makes money for its stake holders. 

The engaged CEO must lead in mapping out long-term plans, but also, especially during difficult times, in the day-to-day, to a certain extent. On the CEO rests the responsibility that the corporation survives and thrives. He must, therefore, be the one to marshall all the creative forces in the organization. 

Above all, he must insure that these are made to work according to its basic values and vision. The engaged CEO must be in many places, not the least of which is his community and society.

He is not a selfish top-performing potentate, but a sharer in a society of many others like him. He is ideally thoughtful and studious, committed and totally given to the task at hand as well as the future. He is of the likes of Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala and Manuel V. Pangilinan, who are deeply engaged CEOs, excellent in their turf, and fully giving of themselves to the society that they are a part of.

Building Alliances in PR

The signs of unwellness are coming in droves---bailouts of big international corporations,  layoffs, lower growth rates, lower spending and   reduced incomes. We should view this with great concern, and as  a warning that in our business of PR, we cannot be sure  of how long  we will be insulated. 

When our Clients are themselves feeling the pinch, how long can  we stay secure? Some of our brethren in the advertising agency business have announced that they will let go of managers and staff.

One lesson I have learned through the years which has helped see us through hard times is keeping and strengthening alliances. Clients are our first allies, and they prove of huge value when the chips are down. When we serve them right, they give us more business, because it is in their interest to do so. Why would they  look over the fence when you are here, ready and able to help?

We also go out of the country to seek allies, and luckily we have found them--individual clients, organizations that can refer us to prospects,  and other PR and other advertising agencies. Even old Clients from decades ago, or old schoolmates, and relatives and friends, have helped us find and develop business. They write about us, or tell their friends about us. 

A PR Agency can thrive only with an excellent track record.  A  network of alliances, both in and outside our home territory is part of its corporate asset that will keep enhancing that record. 

Again, Rebuilding Trust...

It could not have been coincidence. This week, in the U.S., two eminences who appeared before the U.S. Congress to answer questions by legislators on the Obama stimulus package,   pointed out the need for rebuilding Trust.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the U.S. Senate: "The American people have lost faith in the leaders of our financial institutions and are skeptical that their government has, to this point, used taxpayers' money in ways that will benefit them."

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs Group, said in the House of Representatives, on Feb. 12: "We have to regain the public's trust and do everything we can  to help mend our financial system to restore stability and vitality." (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 12 2009).

We could very well be saying the same things in the Philippines. While we, as individuals, may be resolved to stay strong and keep on enhancing our performance, say,  in business and the professions,  we still  need our institutions to hold us together. We will always need leaders to look up to. We will always  need to believe that those we see as blundering, faltering  and going about motivated by  greed and dishonesty are far outnumbered by those who are good and will stay true to their oath as public officials and  their commitment as leaders of business, community and society.

We earn trust by what we do, and not by what we claim. PR can help rebuild  trust in our leaders by laying out to them the power of  corporate governance and of genuine public service. Authentic leadership means those in whom we have invested Trust must serve us, and not themselves. It means curbing greed and self-aggrandizement, and keeping in mind, quite up high there, what will be good for our employees, stakeholders, and our community. And what is according to law and to regulations.

Better, the difference between right and wrong.

It will be difficult to tell our leaders, in government and business, who could well be our Clients, that they must toe the line and help restore trust in our institutions. We in PR, must, nevertheless, try. The price for not doing so may be unbearably high. The biggest,  most imaginative economic recovery plan  any one can put together may be of not much use if those who will be tasked to deliver it  will not have what it will take. Our Trust.

The PR Job This Year:Hunkering Down

This year, we in the PR Agency  business really have to hunker down, and work like we never did before.  Just a few weeks ago, I thought I had it all figured out--use the old formulas that worked before, and hope for the best. But...how can we resist facts? 

Hardly a  day has passed since the beginning of the year without  one or more companies announcing layoffs, losses, lower profits or reduction of work shifts. That  old reliable of the Philippine economy, the remittances of our OFWs, is said to be bound to be lower in coming years. People have begun to lose jobs. When Intel announced in January  it was closing up its plant in Cavite,  after several other big firms had laid off  employees or declared redundancies, I said, we really must brace up. Who's going to be next?

I would say let us hold hands, and look deep into ourselves, into how we do things, and see how we can keep improving our work. In the PR Agency business, we are what we deliver,  and the value that we add to Clients' business.  Clients will try to stay with us, as long as they themselves are viable and need us. The critical point is proving that not only are our counsel and services needed, but that they are indispensable. 

Keep strengthening the hopes of our personnel, especially the young ones. Let us hold on to them, even if ourselves, the owners and managers, have to give up some of what we have. 

Jack and Suzy Welch wrote in October last year something about connecting with our people. "We're not talking about walking the hallways saying 'hi.' We are talking about building visceral relationships by hanging out where the work gets done, talking and listening, eye-to-eye."

Let us show our people  how to expand on some of what we learned through our early struggles---that Clients are kept and sustained by the strength, relevance and value of the programs and initiatives that we present them. Clients need timely ideas that work and help them realize value, enhance their reputation, and  win in the marketplace. 

And to deliver these, we need  to keep people,  who will help us  think with quality and work with commitment and idealism.

Trust--Better Than Money in the Bank, But When You Lose It....

Trust--pagtitiwala-- is better than money in the bank. You can re-earn money, when you have what  it takes, foremost of which is trust. But one of the most difficult things to retrieve in life is trust.

I have been thinking  lately of the likes of Mr. B. Ramalinga Raju, founder of Satyam Computer Services of Hyderabad. He is under detention and undergoing investigation for many counts of fraud, including creating fictitious bank balances to make it appear that the company was doing well, and siphoning off corporate funds to companies owned by his family. We are not saying he is guilty. Mr. Raju's case is now known worldwide. In business, which is a complex of human relationships,   trust is the first casualty of being so publicly charged.

Will Satyam, or any other organization similarly situated,  survive this erosion  of public trust in its top leader? Is Mr. Raju to be held solely accountable for his supposed misdeeds? What about his board of directors?

In a great many of the most celebrated corporate scandals of recent years, trust was betrayed by those at the very top, who were supposed to safeguard it in the first place. Trust was betrayed as well by systems that were weak and porous. CEOs were put up on pedestals, adored by investors and managements who allowed them incredibly huge salaries, fees and stock options. Normal constraints of accountability and openness did not fetter CEOs who delivered sterling financial results and public adulation.

It is high time that business protected itself from leaders, and boards of directors, who would trifle with the trust of its stake holders. Media have been faithfully recording the sins of corporate leaders, but this has not seemed strong enough to deter betrayal.

In the Philippines, the Institute of Corporate Leaders (ICD) has been promoting transparency, responsibility and accountability among corporations, with particular emphasis on preventing corruption.

Public Relations can help by strengthening the concept and practice of corporate governance. Relatively few CEOs in the Philippine business have been found with their hand in the till. This is good. But let us not wait for the time when betrayal of trust will be commonplace. Trust is what honors business, and holds it together.

Three More Who Have Gone On

Three PR practitioners I knew have just gone on-- Jose "Joe" Orosa, Enrique  "Iking"  Santos and Benedicto "Ben" Figueroa.  

Strictly speaking, Joe was not a PR person: PR was not his business, but he was what a PR person ought to be, bright, rigorous, honest, upright,  and committed to others. He died a few days  ago. He owned and ran a big carpet manufacturing company, and later a rattan furniture business. He was a Client of mine, who became  a friend. Joe was quite simply one of the finest human beings I have ever met. He was utterly devoted to his children. When he spoke it was all to be sure you and your family were okay, and when you spoke, it was as if your words were going to be some of the most important he would ever hear.  He and his beautiful  first wife,  Ciel, would invite us to their lovely home. Rich people, the good ones, work ever so hard, and radiate inner beauty with their simple ways. 

I wrote about Mang Iking a few months ago. My estimation of him never wavered: he was a PR person whose contributions to PR practice, particularly in  airline PR and crisis management, still have to be examined by scholars. As a journalist, he was hailed as a craftsman and as a mentor.

I met Ben Figueroa in the early 60s, when we were starting out at Ace-Compton  (Advertising). He was very bright, often discussing existentialism with Triccie Cepeda. Years later we found ourselves at JWT, and counterparts on the Pepsi Cola account, he in advertising and I in PR. Ben was the brainy type;  you would think he was bland, but he  was really a gentle nice person. He headed Lexington International Public Relations,  Inc. years after I left it. A few years ago, he migrated to the U.S., and died  earlier this month in New York.

I remember  these three kind men with esteem and affection.

Betting on the Philippines

As the year begins, there is one thing I would like to say: I will   bet once again on my country, the Philippines. We have been through all manner of crises before, and we  have always pulled through. True, this current global economic crisis indicates that it may be more overwhelming and far- ranging that any we have had before and that our economy still has inherent frailties. In spite of these, I would rather  keep faith in my country, than unearth reasons why it will not survive this crisis.

PR, which is my trade, is a business that, while it sticks to fact and reality, thrives on hope. We are trained to provide solutions to problems and chart long-term programs designed to putting clients on a strong footing. Our chief instrument as professional consultants is command of facts and creativity in creating programs that build consensus and understanding, as well as promote free enterprise and economic production. 

The Philippines has  a number of things going for itself. Its manpower, including those working overseas, is strong and on the overall suitable to the needs of employers in  the domestic and foreign market. Domestic peace and security has been relatively stable for a while, and this will provide the impetus for domestic tourism, for instance.  Foreign reserves are healthy. There is a quite strong will to entrepreneurship and innovative production. Our policy makers and leaders are  focused  on pushing on with accelerating productive enterprise, reviving exports, promoting our service industries and enhancing national competitiveness. Our people, for their part, it seems, would rather stick to their work and help keep the economy going.

In PR, we keep receiving from overseas indications of interest in the Philippine market. Foreign companies do still want to promote products and services in the country. 

Have we got problems? We have them, aplenty. Fears engendered by corruption, for one. Cost of business perceived to be intolerably high,  because of corruption. Layoffs that have begun in the OCW sector. Anxieties over investments crawling to a stop, as a direct result of the global crisis. 

I still bet on my country, because it makes sense to do so. The Philippines is a  going concern, and opportunities abound in it.