SOAR Phoenix Rising - Phoenix Petroleum Philippines

NEWS
Phoenix wins Asia responsible
entrepreneurship Award
Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. was recognized for our “outstanding
and exemplary achievements in social and responsible entrepreneurship”
at the prestigious Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards (AREA), the
first time the awards included Philippine companies.
AREA recognizes and honors
Asian businesses for championing
sustainable and responsible
entrepreneurship. It is given
annually by Enterprise Asia, the
region’s leading non-governmental
organization for entrepreneurship.
The judging panel was made up of
regionally recognized icons from a
diverse field of industry sectors and
disciplines.
Phoenix Petroleum won in the
Social Empowerment category
for its “Phoenix for Education”
program that benefits public
schools, teachers, and students
in Davao City. Enterprise Asia
recognized Phoenix for promoting
empowerment of communities
through its CSR programs, and for
embodying innovation, solutionoriented
approach, results,
sustainability, and integration.
The awarding was held at the
4 / SOAR PHOENIX April-June 2011
Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on
June 10, 2011 and was attended by
hundreds of entrepreneurs from
Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia,
Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Various winners were recognized
for their contributions to social
empowerment, investment in
people, promotion of health, and
protection of the environment.
Phoenix for Education is
comprised of three programs:
Adopt-a-School, Alternative
Learning System, and book
donations. In partnership with the
Department of Education, Phoenix
has adopted two pre-schools in
Davao City. It directly benefits
teachers, whose salary Phoenix
shoulders, and students who
avail of free education and have
access to new books. Since 2008
when Phoenix began supporting
pre-school education, a total of 390
Enterprise Asia President William
Ng with BBC Asia Senior Vice
President Sunita Rajan award
Phoenix Petroleum Philippines
as one of the winners of the
prestigious 2011 Asia Responsible
Entrepreneurship Awards, Social
Empowerment category. Receiving
it on behalf of Phoenix Petroleum
President Dennis Uy is Corporate
Communications Officer Debbie Uy
at the awarding on June 10, 2011
at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
relentless preparation Continued from previous page
the case. Just as important, it gives him a huge
confidence boost. A lawyer who is prepared
and organized will appear confident and
professional to the judge and even to his client.
Prior to joining Phoenix Petroleum, I did trial
work for five years. In those years, I learned and
appreciated the value of coming to court (or any
meeting) well-prepared – with well-researched
arguments, effectively and efficiently organized
trial folder and trial brief, carefully selected and
prepared witnesses and documentary evidence
– lest I embarrass myself, my Firm and our client
and ultimately lose the case.
When I joined the Company and the
corporate world in June 2008, I knew that
relentless preparation would still be a key to
meeting this new challenge.
As Corporate Counsel, it is my primary
duty to monitor and ensure that the Company
is operating within the bounds of law at all
times. It is my responsibility to guide and
keep management in the right direction by
promoting and implementing legal compliance
within the Company.
I am also expected to have business acumen
and a good grasp of the complexities of the
Company’s operations and of the petroleum
industry. Thus I have to maintain open
communication with other business units and
be familiar with their operation.
Indeed, in a fast growing, dynamic and
a publicly-listed company like Phoenix, the
huge challenge is to ensure that the Company
complies with all rules and regulations and all its
transactions are above-board, without hindering
or restricting its growth.
I believe that the key to meeting this
challenge is relentless preparation – to be
prepared for and be able to anticipate the next
steps so that the Company can plan ahead
and evaluate workable options. As former New
York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said in his book
young students and three teachers
have benefited. A Phoenix Library
has been built at the first adopted
school.
The Alternative Learning
System benefits out-of-school
youth, unemployed, and working
students by providing free high
school weekend classes and
free vocational courses such as
welding, electricity, electronics,
and cosmetology. Since 2009, 69
livelihood students and 33 high
school students have graduated.
Most of them have become
employed and productive.
Aside from education, the
other core programs of Phoenix
Foundation are environment,
health, and outreach.
It is often said that being a
great litigation lawyer is 10%
skill in the courtroom and
90% drudgery in the office
preparing for the case.
“Leadership,” “If you prepare for those challenges
that you can predict, you will be better equipped
to handle all problems, even the unexpected
ones.”
So what happened to the case I nearly lost
because of my blunder? The next hearing, I came
prepared and ready to do battle. I presented
another real estate appraiser as my witness –
whose expertise in his field was acknowledged
not only by his peers but by the courts as he had
been presented as an expert witness in other
cases. Needless to say, he passed the Real Estate
Appraiser Licensure Examination provided by
the Department of Trade and Industry, with
flying colors – and I won my case!