The rise of the Baguio Business Club

(Part 1)

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As I serve as a consultant to the newly established Baguio Business Club, I have felt a certain kind of déjà vu.

I see in those initial 20 members of the club an image of those patriotic young business executives, media personalities, and academics who, almost half a century ago, established the Makati Business Club.

A good number of them have already left this world: Enrique Zobel, Jimmy Ongpin, Joe Romero, Henry Esteban, Jayjay Calero, Rolly Pantaleon and Maning Reyes. Most of them, still in their forties then, responded to the call of business tycoon Enrique Zobel to establish an association of professionals involved in the business world in one way or another that will do their best to promote the common good of society, even at the cost of their respective business vested interests. They were very conscious that they were not establishing another business chamber or industry association that exists to promote the legitimate vested or sectoral interests of their respective businesses or industries.

The business chambers of industry associations are a necessary component of a democratic society in which each stakeholder must articulate what promotes its legitimate vested interest that must be balanced with the interests of other stakeholders, like labor, the government, civil society, the academe, the religious community and others.

In contrast, a business club, as was defined by the founders of the Makati Business Club, must work for the common good of the entire society, even if business has to sacrifice its own vested interest. Examples of such causes are good governance, protecting the physical environment, fighting mass poverty, or achieving food security.