At its annual general membership meeting held yesterday, May 14 at the UP ISSI conference hall, the members of SERDEF elected six members of the Board of Trustees, in addition to six incumbent members.
Those elected were: Editha A. Reyes, Fortunato T. dela Pena, Celia R. Pascual, Jerry T. Clavesillas, Benigno T. Ricafort, and Melito S. Salazar, Jr.
Elected to the Board for the first time are Clavesillas, director of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development (BSMED); and Ricafort, president of Kapampangan Development Foundation and long-time business leader.
The new Board then elected the same set of officers that held office the year before, namely: Francisco R. Floro, Chairman; Paterno V. Viloria, President; Paz H. Diaz, Secretary; Editha A. Reyes, Treasurer; and Serenidad F. Lavador, Trustee-Representative to the Executive Committee.
UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries Director Nestor Raneses is the ex-oficio executive director of SERDEF, while UP President Federico Pascual and UP Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan are ex-oficio members of the Board of Trustees.
The meeting began with a guest speech by Victoria Gaetos, Co-Chair of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) SME Development Committee, where she apprised the SERDEF membership of what the PCCI is doing to address the challenges of inclusive and sustainable growth, notably its Proudly Philippine-Made Program for developing competitive local industries and quality Filipino products.
The highlight of the meeting was the President’s Report which synthesized the SERDEF’s activities in 2013 towards the promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises and the building of a more enterprising Philippine society.
President Viloria underscored the Foundation’s accomplishments in terms of research and advocacy, entrepreneurship education, training and capability building, mass media activities, networking, and internal streamlining.
Citing the “double whammies” of natural and man-made disasters that jolted the economy last year, Viloria expounded on the need for the Foundation to intensify its mSME promotion work as well as to explore pockets of opportunity to help in the rehabilitation task facing the calamity-ravaged country.
SERDEF Treasurer Editha Reyes, for her part, summarized the Foundation’s financial status by the year ended December 31,2013.
Other features of the meeting were the presentation of the “Most Distinguished Service” award to Trustee Herminia R. Fajardo and the oath-taking of new SERDEF members Gloria Canela, Sonia de Leon, and Angelita Resurreccion.
During the meeting, the members were given “Tree of Enterprise” trophies to serve as reminder of SERDEF’s overriding mission of cultivating entrepreneurial values among the larger society.
Chairman Francisco R. Floro presided over the proceedings.
