Ad congress gives to Baguio

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT , Philippines  – In a move towards social responsibility, organizers of the 21st Philippine Advertising Congress (PAC) said they would harness their tested media tools to benefit some afflicted sectors of society.

Philippine Advertising Board chair Charmaine Canillas said 100 percent of ticket sales from the event’s prestigious Araw Awards will be donated to Baguio City, the original venue of the 21st PAC and the site of landslides that killed hundreds of residents.

Not to be outdone, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) also vowed to donate the entire income from the rental of the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center (SBECC), the congress venue, for the four-day gathering.

“In the true spirit of the 21st Advertising Congress, the entire organization of the SBMA and the entire community of Olongapo City join the advertising industry in helping Baguio City and other affected areas in Northern Luzon in the process of rebuilding and recovery,” said SBMA administrator/chief executive officer Armand Arreza during the opening ceremony on Wednesday night here.

Dubbed “Brand Aid,” the campaign seeks to set up a funding mechanism for the advertising industry to aid rehabilitation efforts.

Brand Aid's first project “AHON” was immediately set in motion, whereby P2 million was raised for the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC).

The 21st PAC chairman Margot Torres said the glitzy Ad Congress, as it was then known, “has gained a new perspective to become an instrument for positive action to help countrymen and to rally support for long-term recovery.”

Arreza also said the donation would be used to purchase a new ambulance for the City of Pines, where reconstruction and rehabilitation projects are ongoing after it was hit by a series of destructive typhoons last month.

He also said the SBMA, as the government agency that administers the Subic Bay Freeport, is setting an example “for different sectors of society to help in the organized and long-term response to environmental threats, particularly the issue of global warming.”

He added that Baguio City “remains strong as ever, exhibiting great resolve and fortitude that made the city one of the most loved and preferred venues for the Advertising Congress.”

Grateful to Ad Congress

Arreza also said the Subic community is thankful for being chosen as Ad Congress host for the third time.

“The honor of having hosted this prestigious event three times has stamped an indelible mark on Subic Bay as one of the best and foremost venues in the country for this important gathering,” said Arreza.

The Subic official also thanked Baguio City Mayor Peter Ray Bautista “for allowing us to co-host the event.”

Meanwhile, Bautista said they were honored and grateful for being a part of the Ad Congress celebration despite the venue transfer to Subic.

“We took this chance to come out and accept the hand that has been reached out to the people of Baguio and the people of Benguet,” said Bautista.

Meanwhile, speakers during the opening of the Ad Congress also tackled the role of the advertising industry in promoting social change.

Fernando Zobel de Ayala, honorary chairman of the Ad Congress, said in his keynote speech that the Ad Congress “is a vast opportunity for learning and a great opportunity for us to challenge traditional thinking.”

“This is precisely what we need today in a world rudely awakened to alarming environmental and social realities that can no longer be ignored or accepted,” Zobel de Ayala said.

Noting the devastating impact of climate change, he said that the environmental problems “can no longer pass as acts of God.”

“We are witnessing the direct consequences of a human footprint that is so large that it is degrading nature on a massive scale,” he added.

Zobel de Ayala said, however, that “practical and realistic solutions exist and are within reach.”

“Today I see three trends combining to form the foundation of a new, more enlightened capitalism, or what Bill Gates calls ‘creative or soft capitalism’,” he said, adding that the trends show that business and capitalism “can be harnessed for greater positive impact in society.”

“If we do not have the individual willingness and capacity to work together and make a radical change in our ways, if we do not demand a higher standard for ourselves and from our leaders, if we do not reject apathy and mediocrity, we are doomed to muddle through, feeling frustrated and impotent to change our lives for the better,” he said.

Meanwhile, futurist and book author John Naisbitt said that the government should put into practice a system called “political free zone” to ensure economic progress.

Naisbitt, author of the best-selling book “Megatrends 2000,” said the Western economic system has been in existence for more than 200 years, and is now “trapped and needed to be fixed.”

Naisbitt also said that the Philippine economy is weak because the current system was patterned after the Western system, which has created a gridlock in facing the global economic meltdown.