(REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM PEOPLE ASIA MAGAZINE, DEC-JAN 2008 ISSUE)

A common description of Teodorico T. Haresco, Jr. by people who have just met him is that he seems unassuming. He’ll come in a suit, but just as readily show up in a casual outfit. Judge not based on how the man carries himself or his clothes, for “TedH.,” as his emails are so casually signed, means – literally – serious business.

Outside of the business circles that Haresco has made an impact in, not many have heard of him. But if the Philippine Chamber of Commerce Incorporated’s (PCCI) prestigious Businessman of the Year Pearl Award in 2006 is any yardstick, then it must have been a pretty significant contribution or contributions, for Haresco’s business interests and involvements are quite diverse. He is currently the chairman of WinAce Holdings Philippines, Inc., which is the umbrella corporation for varied businesses.

He is also Chairman of Winsource Solutions, Inc., a call center and BPO, Winace Land Development Corp., Inc., Boracay Land Group, Inc., Chaikofi Corp., and an up and coming coffee shop that resembles a foreign franchise. It is in fact entirely Haresco’s and therefore, “proudly Pinoy.” Then there is Winserve Risk Management Consultants, and R.T. Haresco and Associates.

Technostrat Corp. and Eco-Coral Corp., are businesses pointed towards the development of environmentally viable solutions. These allow businesses around the world to sustain the marine environment that their operations potentially destroy. These companies are currently tied up with China Oceanis Company, installing the reef for the main tank of the Manila Ocean Park.

The diversity is misleading, because upon closer inspection, one can observe a unifying thread. All businesses are involved in growth industries, locally and globally. Deliberately, among the first, the immediate beneficiary of these ventures is the Philippines.

In that sense, Ted Haresco is a patriot, and a nationalist: an aquilifer with development as his eagle.

BRIDGES TO DEVELOPMENT

In recent years, it is his significant involvement with the government-sponsored President’s Bridge Program, designed to spur the factors of production and therefore countryside development, that has proven to be the biggest, if not the best, feather in his cap.

Bridges for development? It may seem a bit of a stretch, but it is economic pump-priming by any other name. Illustrating the benefits of but a single bridge elucidates the manifold benefits to the local economy.

In the short term, the construction will entail the creation of jobs, with labor presumably sourced from the local area. The capital influx will trickle down, in a very expedient manner, to a specific segment of the population; it stands to reason that it is also a segment that needs it most, as the bridges are deployed in remote areas.

These are concepts well understood by Haresco, but may require a second look and deeper reflection for people to get to the heart of the matter. To Haresco, who has double degrees in Economics and Accounting, and a masters in International Economics from McGill University in Canada, these are but the pathways to development. “The moment you build a bridge, you free large numbers of Filipinos from the poverty trap,” says Haresco, referring to that decaying orbit of hand-to-mouth existence that characterizes inescapable poverty.

With 1,500 modular steel bridges, Haresco has rightfully earned his place among others listed in the book British Legacy in the Philippines as “one of the Filipinos who have made monumental contributions to national economic growth.” His name is found alongside that of Fidel V. Ramos, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Jose Rizal, no less.

A PERSONAL STAKE

Haresco is sagacious in his knowledge of this bridge-driven development. But if the basis is backed by textbooks and history books, the motivation stems from something more personal. He relates how once, in a remote Aklan town, a man succumbed to a heart attack, leaving behind a family of three children. The man had been suffering the previous day, but since the shortest way to the nearest medical aid was either around a ravine or through it, it was already too late.

The tale may seem apocryphal, and if anything, it illustrates another need that, in the rural setting, the bridges will address. Incidentally, the place is his hometown, and the man, his cousin. It was 1982.

In 1993, he recounts how a succession of storms (the Philippines had a record 32 during that year) wiped out 18 bridges nationwide. In an act that could have only been motivated by compassion, the then-country representative of Tandem Computers and Downey Systems (USA) gave what Haresco describes as an “eight-figure” salary, to commence on a bridge building project. Fourteen years later, he is still at it.

LOOKING IN, REACHING OUT

Haresco’s Winsource Solutions, Inc. is a call center and BPO, and is another of the man’s efforts to bring in foreign investment, while simultaneously marketing the Philippines’ human capital. To assume that he has merely jumped on the bandwagon is a bit of a misstatement, and once again requires closer scrutiny.

In the face of a stronger peso, the Philippine call center labor pool will become more costly for foreign investors, who can just as easily tap cheaper labor pools in Malaysia, India, Indonesia, and of course, China. That we have a good command of English so well may also be losing its luster as the call center’s market has become more refined, and a growing number of target clients are shifting to non-voice inquiry/assistance.

Typically, Haresco is one step ahead. “(Winsource) has no choice but to reconfigure its cost structures, to level up BPOs to try to penetrate other markets in Continental Europe and Australia. We can’t suffer the same dilemma of the (Philippine) garment sector where (it) concentrated on the US market only.”

SURROGATE FATHERHOOD

There’s more. In the same spirit that motivates him to give up something good and provide for the needy, he has gone on to establish a number of charitable foundations. As if helping support national development and progress with bridges isn’t enough, Haresco takes an active hand in alleviating the lives of the marginalized.

There is a nationwide scholarship fund for the children of murdered journalists who, Haresco noticed, no one was taking care of. “They were talking about justice, criticizing government, but they neglected the children.” And 34 or so scholars later, Haresco finds himself a stand-in father for 26 families. “And this number is growing,” he smiles.

Having once experienced the vocare to become a priest, he now cares for the retirees of the Augustinian Recolettos. His analysis, as usual, is astute and spot on: “After serving God all their lives, and then they retire, who takes care of them?”

GIVING BACK

Haresco is far from finished. Perhaps it is his compassion that refuses to let him rest on his laurels. “There is more to do. I did only 1,500 bridges, and our country needs 14,000. Competition is most welcome, especially from donor countries,” he says.

In a world where most businessmen would lament the entry of competition, here is Haresco practically issuing a challenge. But that just shows where the heart of the man lies – in helping his countrymen through development, even potentially, at his own expense. It’s courageous, selfless, and inspiring. Here is a man who, more than willing to give something back, is just as willing to give something up. All for the Filipino.