MNCCI’s 18th leadership: Dynamism amidst the pandemic
By Jason B. Neola
A leadership of breakthroughs and innovations.
When Ferdinand “Dondon” Sia ended his 3-year term as president of Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) in 2020, he said that he is leaving the post “feeling happy because I was given the opportunity to serve the chamber with the very best way that I can.”
It was during his term when local farmers were given the opportunity to augment their income by operating their own common service facilities (CSFs) provided under the Omasenso program of the Office of the Vice President. Under Sia’s watch, the chamber partnered with the OVP and the provincial office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the efficient establishment of the CSFs in the rural areas of Naga and in the farming municipalities of Camarines Sur.
More than a handful of persons with disability were hired for work when Sia utilized the Bicol Business Month as a tool not only to showcase Bicolano products, ingenuity, and innovation, but as a facility as well in the conduct of job fairs exclusively for differently abled individuals.
HAPPY FAMILY. Couple Dondon and Jenny along with son Jerren during the celebration of their grandmother Dominga’s 91st birthday. DONDON SIA PHOTO
During the enhanced community quarantine period as a result of the pandemic, he spearheaded the MNCCI Hot Kitchen Project together with the Naga City government in response to the need for daily subsistence of Covid-19 frontliners while on duty. Aside from the city government, services of various organizations and individuals were tapped in this project that dished out more than 43,000 meals in 40 days. Distribution of PPEs to frontliners and personnel of different health facilities was also made possible under the partnership.
The implementation of Naga’s eSalvar, a contact tracing tool, was accorded with utmost support by the business organization by encouraging all the establishments in the city to adopt the app and its members to cooperate, register and secure their own QR Code IDs as requirement for individuals entering and exiting any public or private establishment.
Sia, in whose term the MNCCI was once again awarded as Most Outstanding Business Chamber for South Luzon by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry in October 2020, said its partnership with Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management (A-PAD) has given birth to A-PAD Metro Naga, a strategic alliance that capacitate private and government entities, civil society organizations and stakeholders to consolidate and mobilize to be able to help vulnerable communities that suffered under the onslaught of disasters.
“We established A-PAD Metro Naga to allow us to respond promptly in times of disasters, to enable us to conduct relevant relief operations on time and to mediate for the long-term needs of disaster survivors. We also organized the A-PAD Bicol, which gave us the opportunity to broaden our horizon to be of service to others.
The selfless gesture of local and international business chambers such as the Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston, the Ormoc City Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the La Union Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which came to Naga to benchmark with us has provided us with approaches that will further better our operations and processes, Sia added.