Operation Big Brother Foundation Inc
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The Betan Superman by Mon Mamaril'97 [Special thanks to the contributors: Lloyd Dizon, Jig Reyes, Jason Justo,
Jay Hidalgo (Raffy's
wife), Ron Justo, Rolly Reyes, Pete Danao, Tatang Vergara]
“I don’t want to hear that Beta Sigma died in your generation.” Those were the first words I heard from Rafael Robert C. Hidalgo some 16 years ago, when our batch was serving as neophytes in the UP Beta Sigma Fraternity. Then would come a number of visits from the outspoken master, each giving us a better understanding of the Fraternity and a growing admiration for the man whom we would soon call brother. Who is he? Raffy Hidalgo is a product of UP Elem and UP High and would later take up BS Biology in UP Diliman. He joined the UP Beta Sigma in 1986, a time when a lot of Brods were leaving the campus because of graduation and what not. This, together with several skirmishes with other groups eventually took a toll on our numbers. Thus in 1987, together with Brod Manny Casaclang, they engineered the revival and he became GP a year after. In a few years, that group of seven grew to almost a hundred Beta Sigman residents in the early 90s! In his words, “we gave so much of our lives to the cause.” They went to extremes just to make sure that Beta Sigma will continue to thrive. Because of this, Raffy spent a good 10 years in the University serving the Fraternity day in and day out before starting his professional career. Despite having several important positions in the corporate world, Raffy continued to support Beta Sigma, specially the residents. He is the founding Chairman and President of the Operation Big Brother Foundation (OBBF), which we founded in 2002, and is still the incumbent Chairman. He also served under Brod Dan Lachica in the heydays of the Metro (David Wico) chapter and was also part of the JC SOMA revival batch that trained under Brod Johnny Chiuten. Raffy has worked in senior positions in operations and sales in several industries, including export, pharmaceuticals, publishing and education. He also took his Master in Management Degree from the Asian Institute of Management (MM Class of ’99). In the same year, he joined the SteelAsia Manufacturing Corporation (SAMC), the biggest manufacturer of concrete reinforcing steel bars or rebar consumed by the Philippine construction industry. SteelAsia is the single biggest international buyer of steel billet (raw materials) around USD 50 million a month, in the Asian region and certainly one of the biggest in the world. He joined the company as a Management Trainee and later had responsibility over several functions within the group such as Corporate Communications, Sales and Marketing, Information Technology and Human Resources. He also headed the Sales Department of the Eastern Steel Fabricators Philippines, an offsite fabricator of rebar, for one year. The last position he had prior to this new appointment was Vice President of Corporate Development for SAMC and its affiliates, reporting to the Office of the President. Last August 31 in Mets Bar and Grill Makati, a fellowship night was held in celebration of Raffy’s appointment as the new Chief Operating Officer of the SteelAsia Manufacturing Corporation (SAMC) and its affiliate groups New Carcar Manufacturing, Inc (NCMI), HighStreet SPVAMC, Inc. (HS), and Plaridel Steel, Inc. (PS). Being at the helm of SAMC’s operations, our Brod now also plays a key role in national development, as their company provides more than 80% of the steel bar requirements for land, air, sea, power, and communications infrastructure and is the preferred supplier of the largest contractors and property developers in the Philippines. He will also be spearheading the aggressive USD 270 million expansion project in Davao, Bulacan and Cebu, which will nearly triple their current manufacturing capacity. We wish Raffy more success in this new role. May his leadership further push SteelAsia’s rank in the list of the Philippine’s biggest companies, which today is in the Top 25-30 vicinity. May his tribe increase and may he continue to inspire both residents and alumni to become great Beta Sigmans in the future. Cheers to Raffy, he’s so good!!!
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Dorbs,
The OBBF led by Brods Philip Marfil and Nonoy Tagaro organized a surprise "We Are Proud of Raffy" fellowship at The METS Bar in Makati City.
Congrats to Brod Paeng - UPBSFI Central's Man of Steel!
(to download
album, click the downward arrow at the extreme right corner that reveals
options, then select download album)
SteelAsia is among the TOP TEN
IMPORT TAXPAYERS OFTHE PHILIPPINES RGR66, 8-31-13
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Cheers to Raffy, he's so good, he's so good!!
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