The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) is the business engine of Cebu. I organized and chaired a series of CCCI Tourism Congress, Grand Chamber Awards, business tours in Singapore, India etc. I chaired the Cebu Business Month and Grand Chamber Awards for many years.
I organized the CCCI Tourism Congress during the Cebu Business Month started by then-president Jun Muntuerto, then Francis Monera, Joe Ng, Carlos Co, Edward Gaisano, Prudge Gestas, Tess Chan and Melanie Ng.
The American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) focused on the Filipino-American cultural, academic and community ties. I co-chaired with Consul John Domingo, Alice Woolbright, Michael Go, Cherrypie Callelero, the July 4th Filipino-American Friendship event.
I was part of the education and community committees with Jake Marquez, Vince Colina, Danny Deen, Wilson Ng, which worked on scholarships, cultural ties, leadership and learning linkages with the Department of Education and Commision on Higher Education 7, Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa, Cebu City Marriott Hotel, Radisson Blu Cebu etc.
The Amcham became close to my heart, maybe because of my long-time experiences with the Maryknoll sisters, US International Visitors and Fulbright programs.
The Jaycees are leadership-driven and I worked with Jorge Alcordo in many seminars. Our contemporaries were Raul and Melanie del Mar, Martin and Aida Uy, Tony and Telly Lee, Vic and Leny Dumon, among others. The Lions gave me the chance to work with Nestor Chua, Ben Yapjoco etc.
I only mentioned the groups where I had some participation. (Next issue: Cebu’s foundations and civic clubs).