RP’s first energy minister dies

Geronimo Zamora Velasco, the country’s first energy minister who served under the Marcos administration, died yesterday in San Francisco, California. He was 80.

He was plucked from the private sector at the height of the energy crisis in the mid-70s to assume responsibility for creating a national energy infrastructure almost from scratch.

Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, in a text message to The STAR, described Velasco as “a giant in the Philippine energy sector.”

“His pioneering initiatives, as in geothermal energy, have created viable business entities which will continue to benefit this country and generations of its people.”

Lotilla’s predecessor, Vince Perez, said Velasco was “a man of vision and action.”

“During his term in the 70s, it had already been his mission to push the country into energy self-reliance.”

Velasco was at his riding stables in Pasig when summoned to Malacañang to assume the post of energy minister.

Still in his riding attire, he had to borrow the jacket of then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile so he could take his oath of office. It was said that President Ferdinand Marcos would no longer take no for an answer to his many invitations for Velasco to join his cabinet.

The government had just bought out Esso’s Philippine operations and had also taken over that of Gulf Oil (FilOil), and it was Velasco’s task to use these new assets to jumpstart the Philippine response to the energy crisis.  

The two firms were made subsidiaries of the newly created Philippine National Oil Co. The operating companies were combined in a single company named Petrophil Corp. that sold its products under the brand name Petron.

Velasco, who started his career as a cadet engineer in Esso, was named chairman of PNOC.

Velasco’s first problem was keeping the oil supply stable in the midst of political uncertainties in the Middle East. He also had to deal with the loss of Esso’s share of the local oil supply and with spiraling international oil prices.

A mechanical engineer by profession, Velasco managed Republic Glass and later Dole Philippines in his early professional years. He started the Dole plantations in Polomolok, South Cotabato and was a senior official of Castle and Cook when he was drafted to the Marcos Cabinet. As Minister of Energy, Velasco was concurrently chairman of both PNOC and Napocor.

He entertained his guests, mostly visiting oil ministers from oil producing countries, by playing the cello. He was at one time named Management Man of the Year by the Management Association of the Philippines. He recently wrote a book of his years in the energy sector titled Trailblazing: a Quest for Energy Self Reliance. His father, the late Urbano Velasco, was a journalist with the old Times La Vanguardia Group. He is survived by his wife, Erlinda, and five children.  – With Donnabelle Gatdula