Matimco: A company built on wood

MANILA, Philippines - At the19th Philippine World Building and Construction Exposition (WORLDBEX) where Matimco exhibited its wood products in its “House of Wood” display, its president and CEO Charlie Liu had a story to tell.

“My father Lim Liu migrated from China when he was five years old and landed in Cagayan de Oro where he stayed with our grandparents to eke out a living. They came at the juncture of a World War and at 12 years old, my father was captured by the Japanese. At this tender age, he was tasked to climb coconut trees and gather coconuts to feed a battalion of Japanese soldiers whose food supply was held from them by an American military contingent. My father knew he was responsible for the survival of these human beings and did his job well.”

It was the kind of work ethic he would adopt in life. At 20 years old, he went to Cebu to look for a job and apprenticed with a saw doctor – a person who sharpened and fixed the blades of a saw mill. While working there, he saw how scraps of wood would go to waste. Having a business foresight, he started assembling these scraps of wood and made them into wooden cases for soft drinks and beer and sold these to soft drink manufacturers.”

Charlie Liu’s story is a testament to his and his family’s passion for wood. Liu is mighty proud of his parents who gave them a good upbringing. All of them are successful and ethical entrepreneurs who quietly do their share of social causes. An older brother who runs a popular clothes shop is a strong supporter of the Children’s Hour.

Wood was their life support as a family, hence, their reverence for wood. “Wood is God’s gift to man and we have the moral obligation to continue to grow trees so that it serves all the needs of mankind – a clean environment, shelter, food and art of appreciation.”

Liu just loves the scent and feel of wood. “Wood is simply beautiful to my eyes,” he says. And he loves remembering what his father did for his family. “He was my “sifu” (mentor when it comes to wood),” he said. The Lius have been in the wood business for the past 50 years. They started a wood shop known as Mandaue Timber Co. in 1964 and have been making all sorts of wood products from the Philippines and from different parts of the world. Liu’s company known as Matimco, is a member of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) which has its thrust towards sustainable forest management. Through FSC, Liu assures his clients that his company does its share in protecting the environment and conserving the world’s forests for sustainable future as Matimco’s wood products are ISO 9001:2008 and FSC-STD-40-004 (V2-1) COC certified. Matimco is the 9th organization in the Philippines to get the FSC COC Certification. FSC, an independent, international and non-profit organization is like a watchdog of the world’s forests. It sees to it that people in the wood business do their share in reforestation and protection of forests.

 â€œWood is the key solution for climate change as it is the only renewable construction material. We should grow trees continually. We cannot plant metals, cement and other construction materials but we can plant trees. We have to continue planting trees. You see, trees as they grow older, absorb less carbon dioxide and at a certain point they can no longer take any. Carbon dioxide if allowed to multiply is hazardous to people’s health. We believe that carbon dioxide emission is the major cause of global warming and the culprit for climate change and therefore, planting more trees and using more sustainable sourced wood increases our carbon sink from the environment,” Liu said.