EVEN in grade school, Robby Alugar was always where the action was, rising up to any challenge his teachers threw at the class, volunteering even if he did not quite know what to do. He was there, learning, doing, at the same time already exhibiting resourcefulness, making sandwiches to sell to his classmates even if, at that time, he did not really have to earn money.
When hard times fell and he and his siblings had to be sent to Camiguin to be cared for by an aunt while his father looked for a sustainable job, the prospect did not faze him. He cheerfully woke up at daybreak to prepare food for his aunt’s livestock before biking to school, enjoying the sun and the scenery of the countryside.
Better times came to his family and Robby was back once more in Cebu, this time taking up Mass Communications at the University of San Jose-Recoletos, where his can-do attitude and his sunny disposition earned him a good number of friends.
He finished his college studies in October 1999. He then worked briefly as a research associate for a marketing firm. Then he had a series of jobs—as senior marketing consultant with Maria Luisa Estate Properties, as financial planner for John Hancock Life Insurance Corp., as card sales consultant for HSBC Credit Card, and Diners Club International of Cardlink Sales which all allowed him to perform marketing strategies, schemes and innovations. In May of 2004, he found himself as project staff for Cebu Business Month hosted by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI). Robby was then hired as external affairs officer for Media and Public Relations. In CCCI, he was exposed to the business world which broadened his understanding of business and gave him the opportunity to meet the men of business and industry in Cebu.
After five years with CCCI, he entered into the field of logistics when he was hired as the overseas relations manager of Global Carrier Phils. Inc. (GCPI). It is an international freight forwarding and customs brokerage firm where Robby coordinates with forwarding agents worldwide while handling shipping requirements for the firm’s local and international clients. It has given him opportunities to meet and deal with members of the Philippine Shippers Bureau and the Philippine International Sea Freight Forwarders Association. It also gave him the opportunity to travel abroad to meet with the company’s international affiliations, an opportunity, he thinks, he would never have had in another field.
He learned a lot from his boss, the late Carmel de Pio Salvador, who permitted him to do PR projects despite his being a full-time employee of her company. She wanted him to start his own PR company.
Robby reminisces that in all the years of doing different things, he was always true to his first calling. His stints in industry trained him how to deal with people and inculcated in him the value of seeking out what people needed. He also found himself in the position of knowing the best people in Cebu, people he befriended, people with stories to tell as Cebu itself is unfolding its story.
Finally, with the blessing and permission of GCPI, he established in February 2019 RMA Public Relations and Marketing Services, handling media relations projects for various companies. Its strength lies in Robby’s experience in commerce and industry that he has gained through the years and his ability to go with the flow, to adapt to the ever-changing world of multimedia and public relations. It helps also, that his years with CCCI gave him the opportunity to establish relationships with Cebu Tri-Media and digital content creators like bloggers and vloggers.
This year, Robby set up his own RMA News Agency Services because he felt the need for the growing number of stories to be told to as many people as possible. Going with the flow of the digital world, Robby now has RMANews.Net as a venue to showcase more news and events in the digital world, now fast becoming the source of information for the world.
After years of going with the flow, Robby Alugar, a Talento Cebuano 2019 awardee, is finally at home in his true calling—media relations.