MESSAGE
by
Atty. Dominador D. Buhain
Chairman & President
(Christmas Party of the REX Group of Companies, REX Roofdeck, December 23, 2011)
Good evening to everyone- our special guests, . . .
First of all, let us give thanks and praise to the Lord Almighty for allowing us to celebrate once again this festivity despite the many misfortunes happening around the world and here in our country; the latest of which is the recent calamity that befell Cagayan de Oro.
With the recent development here in our country, I would say that the theme of our celebration for tonight “PROTECTION OF OUR ENVIRONMENTALLY FRAGILE WORLD AND PRESERVING OUR CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS” which is also reflected in our corporate giveaways is very timely.
We really have to take care of our environment as it is very evident that recent disasters are mostly caused by the failure of mankind to properly treat our environment.
The REX Group of Companies wants to bring across this message to everyone. As a matter of fact, to awaken the consciousness of our associates, we even launched a contest among the REX branches on the greenest and flowery working environment. Although only 8 branches out of 25 participated, this exercise could be an eye opener and might serve as a wake up call among all of us to be conscious of our environment.
We thank the Lord Almighty for the Company’s continuous survival. I would like to acknowledge the leadership of the 3rd generation headed by the COO Don Timothy Buhain– the key for the Company’s recent business stature. Of course, there is the support of the Mancom and other managers and supervisors, everybody else in the Company for performing his/her particular assigned task.
We wish to express thanks to our consultants in providing us with options on which courses of action to follow for the final approval of Top Management and Board Members.
We might had experienced some setbacks also but the unity and cooperation among work units made the struggles manageable.
We were not spared from being confronted with the issue on product quality. Hopefully, with the new leadership in our Publishing Group in the person of Sam Baltazar whose background is related to the growth of Red Ribbon, we maybe able to address the issue on product quality.
This aspiration would only be realized through the indispensable input of our Product Development Manager Danda Garcia.
This year, we forged some partnerships with other institutions like the Knowledge Channel and the Association on Supervision and Curriculum Development for us to be responsive to our mission of “being the leader in providing educational books, materials and services globally accepted for relevance and performance.”
We are strengthening our marketing under the leadership of Jeanne Marie Tordesillas.
Sales which is the apex of our business aspiration is dependent on Rico Lavalle who will have overall managerial perspective of sales.
This sales management would be in coordination with our new national sales manager for Educational Materials Division in the person of John Gabrinao to religiously monitor the activities in the market and come up with solutions to address the stiff market competition and other issues affecting sales, all these with a view of increasing sales.
Through the RBSI International under Breezy Santiago, we have tasted an increase of the international market. There are , however, threats like the attempt of one of the Middle East functionaries with the blessing of Deped to monopolize the trade.
Journals under Maybel has a significant sales growth this year.
GMD under June Dungca is hoping to recover whatever sales drop was experienced through training of dealers with a corollary commitment under a well crafted sales contract to boost sales.
Although there is still much to be desired as far as our printing capability is concerned, we are consoled by the fact that we were one of the awardees in the recently held Print Excellence Awards facilitated by the Printing Industries Association of the Philippines.
Thanks to Liza Cruz with the help of Sheila Araño, Vio Rodriguez, Ryan Francisco, William Abueg, Cyrus de Leon, Onnie Bagon, Lito Mawanay, Zorie Javierto, and the rest of the group for manufacturing our products and having them delivered to our clients.
We have acquired also new machines that would enable us to increase our productivity and improve our performance in the field of commercial printing.
I would say that the financial aspect of the Company is properly taken care of where every centavo is well accounted for and every expense judiciously audited under CFAG with Roger John Fontelera as the head. Special mention of the leadership of Audit under Annie for keeping true to their duty.
Special mention to Mother Liza Monces, Mary Ann Ada, Letty Liwanag and Claire Pineda for ensuring the proper recording of our financial statements.
Onnie Bagon and group will now be professionalized to be the Customer Relation Group.
It is hoped also that the varying discrepancy in stocks under Lito Mawanay at the given point in time will be eradicated through technology assistance or otherwise.
The MIS under Richie Regunan and Quality Assurance under Baningning Campang are continuously finding ways to find systems and procedures that would enhance productivity and efficiency.
Under collection Randy made a commitment to improve the functions of his office.
Special mention to the Executive Office under the leadership of Lee Ulangca for keeping intact the records of corporate meetings including the minutes thereof and for attending to the multifarious affairs of the Chairman’s / President’s Office.
Everything was made possible through a system that is well placed. We can approximately obtain all the needed information that would serve as the basis for decision-making.
Though I am the Chairman and President of this Company, much of my time is likewise demanded by my other obligations being the President of the Asia Pacific Publishers Association, the Philippine Printing Technical Foundation and the Ayala Heights Village, to name a few. My affiliations with these associations require me to be out of town or out of the country once or twice a month.
Once more I would like to give recognition to the leadership of the third generation under the leadership of COO Don Buhain through the cooperation of union under the leadership of Domeng Miguel, the Company was able to pose increase in sales through the support of the members of the Board of Directors and the members of Top Management and every one down the line in the organization.
At this point, I would like to congratulate and thank our Loyalty Awardees for their respective contributions in the Company for a period of ten years and more.
Last but definitely not the least, I would like to thank and acknowledge the effort of our invaluable partner – our authors. We are grateful for your decision to entrust to us your intellectual property.
So far, as of December 21, 2011 data we have published 722 titles for pre-elementary, 1,883 for elementary, 1,141 for secondary, 726 for tertiary, 376 for references, 1,381 titles for legal or a total of 6,229 titles.
Again, congratulations to each one of us and my endless thanks to all of you.
May we all have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year ahead of us!