Silent Initiative: Pedro's Commitment to the Hearing Impaired

Our De La Salle University,   Master of Business Administration,  BUS560M-2017 Case Group  under the class  of Ms. Pia Manalastas, analyzed and presented the case of  the Silent Initiative: Pedro’s Commitment to the Hearing Impaired by Ms. Maria Cristina I. Alarilla. 

I salute Mr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro,  CEO and President of Lamoiyan Corporation for his  magnanimous heart for the hearing impaired. He is an exceptional leader  in the Philippine business world because he has shared not only his resources for the upliftment of the lives of the hearing impaired but also made them realized their true worth as a human being.

Cecilio Kwok Pedro, CEO of Lamoiyan Corporation (Photo credit: http://www.lamoiyan.com)

Mr. Pedro,  born in 1953 to a  Filipino Chinese family, has learned from his father  the value of discipline and entrepreneurial spirit.  After graduating from Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in  B. S. Management in 1975, he went into the hardware store business together with his classmate but did not succeed. He then went to Japan with his friends and was able to buy  an equipment with the P50,000.00 that he borrowed  from his father.

In 1978 he set up the Aluminum Container, Inc. (ACI) which became an accredited supplier of aluminum tubes for Colgate Palmolive Philippines (manufacturer of  Colgate) and Unilever (maker of Close-Up) for ten years. He also became a member of the United Evangelical Church in 1983, joined the Deaf Evangelical Alliance Foundation (DEAF)  in the same year, then became DEAF’s Chairman in 1993.

However, the above mentioned  client companies shifted  to laminated plastic tubes, which resulted to the closing of ACI in 1986 and the layoff of his 200  employees. Since he had the machinery for the production of aluminum tubes, it was Sun Star, Japan’s  biggest toothbrush manufacturer which trained and provided him with the  technology and training  in toothpaste production.

Thus, Lamoiyan Corporation was  born,  with Hapee as its primary product. He priced Hapee  30% cheaper than the  other  two toothpaste giants which  enabled him to capture 20% of the market share. As part of Lamoiyan's strategic move  to improve on their brand awareness, Mr. Pedro  sponsored the 1988 Philippine Olympic Team  and this resulted to making Hapee the number three toothpaste brand in the Philippines. In 2004, Mr. Pedro invested P100 million and another round of P150 million in 2006 to 2007 as part of his vision  to be a major player in the manufacturing  industry.

Hapee Classic White (Photo credit: http://www.lamoiyan.com/?page_id=263)

Mr. Pedro's principle of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be seen  in the following statements which he always shared with his fellow businessmen: " Corporations should not only focus on making profits but should also contribute to the environment, the community and especially the  persons with disabilities (PWD's)" ; "We are held accountable to our creator. When we die, it doesn't matter how much our money is, what matters is how much we have done for the community." ; " My primary intention is to encourage more businessmen to be socially responsible - to help people and to give back to the community."

The  Equal Employment Program for the hearing impaired  was started by Mr. Pedro at ACI in 1978, which he also  implemented when he established Lamoiyan Corporation in 1988 and  integrated this in the company operations.   At Lamoiyan,  the hearing impaired employees  enjoyed the same benefits and privileges as the regular employees and they are treated equally in all aspects. The company  provided sign language training to hearing employees to enable them to interact and communicate effectively with the hearing impaired.

However, Mr. Pedro's personal  mission  of propagating the hiring of the hearing impaired  was threatened with the new innovations in machines,  current trends in outsourcing  services and hiring of contractual employees in the manufacturing industry.

Thus, in our group's analysis of this case, we chose the  position and point of view of Lamoiyan Corporation and  the best alternative course of action that we chose was:  Lamoiyan Corporation will establish strong partnership with various  professional business associations and foundations in the country to buy-in to the idea of establishing a Training Academy that would produce competent hearing impaired  workforce which can be employed by the different companies or associations in the country.

We highly recommend the above mentioned alternative course of action because this has a multiplier effect. Meaning, if we get the buy-in of a big number of member companies of the various associations, organizations and foundations in the country, such as the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industries (PCCI)  with 400 active members,  the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP) with 105 chapters nationwide and the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF)  with a membership of more than 80 of the Philippines'  biggest grant making corporate foundations and corporations,  then Mr. Pedro will be able to help the hearing impaired which he considers the poorest of the poor because they are PWDs and they are having a hard time finding work.

Through the  strategic partnership with these organizations, the personal mission of Mr. Pedro will bear much fruit and the magnitude of impact that this endeavor will bring to the hearing impaired people at large will be very significant in terms of giving back to the community.  Based on research, he found out that there are close to half a million people who are hearing impaired and from these, only 10 to 15 percent have work.

We have totaled the number of member companies of the above organizations and it totaled 585 companies, corporate foundations and chapter organizations. Thus, if each entity hires at a minimum of 30 hearing impaired employees, then there will be an initial group of 17, 550 who  will have decent jobs and this will just be the start of great things to come for the advocacy with a heart of Mr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro. May God continue to shower him with blessings.