A Herculean job well done

It may have been late at night or the crack of dawn but, in a building in Makati, the flurry of activity seemed endless. Meetings were called, teleconferences were held, files sorted out, and mystified clients’ queries addressed. A full night’s sleep was a thing of the past, and weekends were no exception. People hustled about, making sure Manulife Phils. completed two monumental tasks.

When Manulife undertook its demutualization and subsidiarization almost simultaneously, the entire company was thrown in a loop. Behind it all was not Hercules, but low-key executive vice-president for operations Romeo Lualhati.

Lualhati’s fatherly figure and ready smile may seem out of place in a fast-paced and highly stressful environment, but his discipline and phenomenal people skills have won the day.

Demutualization entailed converting from a mutual company owned by policyholders to a public entity owned by shareholders. It involved complying with a host of new regulations, reorganizing the company and informing eligible clients about the transformation process. This project eventually led to the first foreign listing of a stock in the Philippine Stock Exchange, a milestone for the local stock market industry.

At about the same time, Manulife Phils. was subsidiarized into a local company and was no longer considered a branch of the Canadian mother company.

This involved mapping out a new structure, compelling Lualhati’s lean workforce to double-time. Nevertheless, he was able to carry out these endeavors with aplomb, even welcoming the challenge. "Seldom will you be able to prove yourself in big projects such as these," he said.

Coordination

He did prove himself, relying on strict discipline to get the work done. He also banked on his ability to relate well with people. "He has the strength to deal with people at all levels, especially at the lower levels. Romy talks their language, so he can see where they’re coming from. There are things they will hesitate to tell me, but they will not hesitate to tell Romy," Manulife chief executive officer Renato Vergel de Dios said.

In anticipation of a lot of inquiries, Lualhati masterminded the establishment of a local call center to cater to policyholders’ queries about how demutualization – a big word for any person – would affect them. The center was so effective that when the CEO of a competing company pretended to be a client and asked about demutualization, he was so impressed with the answer that he offered Lualhati his congratulations.

In a show of esprit de corps, Lualhati himself alternated with answering telephones, manning the reception desk, and even helping to file papers. "There is no project too small for me not to make myself available," he says.

For a job well done, he received Manulife’s most coveted award, the Stars of Excellence, which was handed out in Toronto. He was among a handful of Asians to be honored in 1999, and the only one from the Philippines. For someone who has achieved so much, Lualhati describes himself as a "simple person, with simple needs." Though he has an accounting degree from the De La Salle University, he neither has a Master’s degree nor was he educated abroad like most corporate bigwigs.

Joining an insurance company as a clerk after graduating, he was promoted thrice in his first year to become an employment assistant. Eventually, he became senior vice-president for operations in that company before he moved on to Manulife as EVP.

Plans

When he turns 61 a couple of years from now, he plans to enjoy the fruits of his hard work. "I want to retire while I’m still strong enough to carry out my plans," he said. First on his agenda will be to visit his four daughters, who work and reside in New York, and to stay much longer than his usual two weeks. One daughter, Pinky, works for Credit Suisse, which holds office in the World Trade Center, which recently collapsed when two airlines smashed into it. Fortunately, she was on leave that day.

Another daughter, Rutzy, recently left her job at Oppenheimer Funds, which also holds office at the WTC, to work for a legal firm. For the safety of his two daughters, Lualhati is grateful beyond belief.

His colleagues say he will surely be missed when he retires. But he will have left his mark as a congenial and effective executive who has helped steer Manulife through one of its most challenging phases as it continues to benefit from his successful handling of demutualization and subsidiarization.