Last Sunday, July 16, was World PR Day. Nine days earlier, on July 7, the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) announced the holding of the 30th National PR Congress on September 14 and 15 at the Fairmont Makati. I wish I could attend. I recently went home during the Eid Al Adha holidays so there’s no urgency to go home in September.
In 2019, I attended the 26th National PR Congress conducted on September 24 and 25, at the SMX Convention. I was fortunate to be a moderator in one of the Breakout Sessions on Social Impact Communication with panellists Chito Sobrepeña, President of Metrobank Foundation, and Monique Castro, Senior Corporate Affairs and Communications Manager of Pepsi Cola Philippines, on the second day.
Thank you to congress chair Ana Pista of Ardent Communications for the opportunity and to PRSP president Andy Saracho of Philippine Veterans Bank for the warm welcome. I would like to mention, too, board directors Norman Agatep of Grupo Agatep and Jude Galford of Insular Life, and ex-officio director Ritzi Villarico-Ronquillo, a PR and Business Communications Consultant.
“Be part of the biggest gathering of public relations and communications professionals, reputation leaders, storytellers, and key opinion leaders with the aim to elevate industry practices in the Philippines,” announced Lady Ochel Espinosa , chair of the 30th congress. Lady is the Regional Insights Director for Emerging Markets-Southeast Asia of Isentia and is the VP-External of PRSP.
The late PR professor and practitioner Bong Osorio wrote: “September is public relations month in the Philippines by virtue of Proclamation No. 1357 signed on August 13, 2007, by then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. As such the Public Relations Society of the Philippines is tasked to hold a public relations congress every September of every year, with PR practitioners from the public and private sectors in attendance.”
Back to 2019, I encouraged the participants to check and support any of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and to be courageous in recommending action plans to top management. I told them to speak up whenever they are invited to a senior management meeting.
Case study: In early May 2000, Unilab President and COO Do Ejercito called for a high-level meeting with all marketing and distribution heads. The meeting was facilitated by the Strategic Marketing Group, and we were invited as Corporate Affairs and Communications Group. The issue: Unilab will announce a price reduction on some OTC and ethical medicines. through double spread colored ads in all major newspapers. This was recommended by the ad agency the group was working with. Well, for obvious reasons the agency will get commissions per insertion. I objected and said that it was not politically correct to convey the good news through double spread colored ads. It doesn’t look good that we are paying hundreds of thousands to announce a price reduction. It shows that the original prices are very high that we can afford to place the expensive ads.
I countered that it is best to explain through a press release that the lowering of prices was a result of the two-year re-engineering efforts of Mr. Ejercito, who became President and COO in 1998. There were significant savings generated out of the organizational changes and the company is passing on the savings to the general public by way of price reduction of several medicines. I was triumphant. Mr. Ejercito agreed with my recommendation. The ads were still placed but only after the press release. Check this link on news by Philippine Star – https://www.philstar.com/business/2000/05/12/99000/unilab-reduce-prices-65-essential-drugs
In February 2021, Ana was so kind to invite me for free to attend the 27th National PR Congress which was virtually conducted from February 17 to 19. For obvious reasons, it was difficult to hold it in September 2020 when the pandemic was at its peak in the Philippines. The last day of the congress was a Friday, which was a still a weekend in the UAE, and I listened to the talks while in my pajamas.
In 2022, the congress was held on September 1 and 2. It was the first time PRSP had a joint hybrid event with the 29th National PR Congress and the 28th Student PR Congress at The Manila Peninsula. I told congress chair Cathy Yan of PLDT and Smart that I really wanted to attend since I was already in the Philippines on holiday, but the dates were also my last days. You know there are so many last-minute things and errands to do on the last days whenever we, overseas-based Filipinos, visit the homeland.
Here in the UAE, our company, Tristar Group, is a corporate member of the Middle East Public Relations Association or MEPRA since July 2021. I am the representative of Tristar in all events and activities of the association. The last event I attended was on March 16 at the Media Skill and Crisis Communication session presented by International journalist and media trainer, Nick Walshe. On July 26, I will be attending the workshop on ‘Transdisciplinary and Multidimensional: The Rising Role of Strategic Communication Practitioners in the New World.’