Well done, OML!

I lost my last boss over the weekend. Oscar M. Lopez passed away quietly four days after his 93rd birthday. I suspect he died of a broken heart, missing his wife of 65 years, Connie Rufino Lopez, who passed away over a year ago. OML, a devoted family man, had a strong loving bond with the mother of his eight children. They seem to be always together. They are again.

OML started in the print journalism side of the Lopez media group. Fresh from Harvard, his father, Don Eugenio, assigned him to the defunct Manila Chronicle. He was given a management position, but he insisted on learning the business from the ground up.

So, OML became a cub reporter working under the supervision of Sonny Belmonte. Yes, THE Sonny Belmonte who became House Speaker. Sonny was a working student while he was a reporter covering the police and labor beats.

After EDSA, OML had the seemingly impossible mission of reviving what used to be the Meralco Securities Corporation, the holding company that owned Meralco. It had been taken over by Imelda’s brother, Benjamin “Kokoy” Romualdez, and was renamed First Philippine Holdings. Unfortunately, the Romualdez executives managed to run the company to the ground.

OML did not start from scratch. OML started below sea level, so to speak. That’s thanks to a combination of bad business management by the Kokoy boys and the overall economic crisis that left it heavily in debt and bleeding with losses. Two of its major subsidiaries were bankrupt and most of its performing assets had to be sold to meet obligations.

It took a while and a lot of work, but OML successfully turned First Holdings around. It decided to stick to its core competence of running power plants and today owns First Gas that runs natural gas-fired power plants in Batangas. It won the bidding when the government privatized PNOC Energy Development Corporation, which develops and runs geothermal power plants in Albay and Leyte. They also run the Pantabangan hydroelectric power plant and a wind energy project in Ilocos.

OML relinquished the leadership of First Holdings to his son Federico or Piki over 10 years ago. OML had the pleasure of seeing his son successfully transform First Holdings into the groundbreaking energy company that pioneered a shift to clean energy sources.

OML was very concerned about climate change. His lifelong love for nature, science, and the environment led him to become a pioneer advocate in addressing climate change.

OML and his son Piki established the Oscar M. Lopez Center for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management Foundation in 2012. It was envisioned to support the development of new generation science and technology needed to build disaster-resilient Philippine communities.

The Center is built on the belief that no Filipino should face climate challenges unprepared. In arming people with up-to-date science and technology, OML believed that the adverse effects of climate change can be dealt with. The Center has a well-trained staff of researchers and works well with academics at UP.

OML’s love for nature was heightened by his personal physical fitness program. When he was in his early 60s, he was diagnosed with a heart condition that his doctors said required a heart bypass operation. He didn’t feel right about the recommended treatment and so he researched heavily on the subject.

From what I recall from his telling it, he found sufficient evidence that he may not need radical surgery. He figured that a proper diet and a strict physical fitness regimen should delay a heart bypass or even make it unnecessary. True enough, his doctors eventually found out that tributary blood vessels grew to augment the partially blocked main one.

That’s because OML started regular exercises under supervision of a trainer and decided he would climb daily the stairs to his 6th floor office at the old Benpres building. He encouraged employees to do the same. To make stair climbing enjoyable, he had the stairs carpeted and classical music piped in. Employees in all First Holdings subsidiaries also staged at least one monthly walkathon at the La Mesa Dam, the Lopez Center in Antipolo, the industrial park in Batangas, and elsewhere.

OML also started mountain climbing. In his late 60s and early 70s, he organized climbs to Mt. Pulag, the highest peak in Luzon, Mt. Apo in Davao, Mt. Arayat, Mt. Pinatubo and Mt. Kanlaon. Then he went up Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak in Southeast Asia in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Those were not easy climbs. For Kinabalu, they prepared for months. And from the stories and video they brought back, some of the peaks are not exactly hospitable.

His love of climbing mountains made him a major supporter of Philippine efforts to climb Mt. Everest. I am sure if he were younger, he would have climbed himself. But he was happy to provide the financial backing for the Filipino climbers who made history by reaching the summit of Mt. Everest.

OML was fearless on matters of principle. He confronted his autocratic father to tell him what he thought about his extravagant ruby wedding anniversary party in the late ‘60s. The party was picketed by protesting social activists.

The extravagance had caused OML discomfort beyond his usual aversion to such pageantry. In the face of prevailing poverty, he thought some restraint was called for. Don Eugenio didn’t expect his son would have the nerve to question him. It strained their relationship for a while.

Here is how Piki explained it: “Knowing how greatly he admired his father, I knew their estrangement must have hurt him immeasurably. But for me, the story closed so many unconnected dots in my mind about Dad. It exemplified his conviction that wealth can empower to do great things, but it also carried great responsibilities. He never believed our happiness should ever have to revolve around its ephemeral trappings.”

OML was once awarded Management Man of the Year. For his employees, he will be remembered as the boss who considered everyone part of his extended family. No doubt, when he met his creator, he must have been told, “well done, good and faithful servant. Welcome and enjoy your rewards.”

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco