A man called Mar/ Who’s next at FDA?

I first met Mariano C.  Lao last year, when he was given the 2018 Outstanding Sillimanian Award for business entrepreneurship at Silliman University assembly hall. I happened to be on stage with him and two other OSAs ( I had received my award in the 80s). I was so enraptured by his rags-to-riches story, I wrote about it in my column.

Mr. Lao appreciated my piece about him. He and his wife, the former Lina del Rosario, hosted a special dinner for me and my husband at The Cellar, his choice resto at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at Global City. He had been awarded mostly for his generous contributions and his accomplishments, but that night I realized unpublished facts about him. 

We talked about his poor boyhood, and his overcoming it by applying exceptional sales talent that brought him to high places, contacts and friendships with outstanding businessmen around the world – and gave him fame and fortune.

He is chair of Stanpak Group of Companies, which he founded in 1966, after graduating from Silliman University. Stanpak quickly became the country’s largest exporter of rattan furniture and accessories and a full line of handicrafts. Through Stanpak, Philippine products reached major international retailers, including those in the US, Italy, France, Spain, and Germany. In 1987, Stanpak was awarded a Golden Shell Award  by DTI and Citem for pioneering the export of Philippine handicrafts to the European market.

That night, at The Cellar, he brought a coffee table book entitled hidden treasures simple pleasures, that features the art collections of three avant garde collectors – Mariano C. Lao, Jimmy C. Laya and Edilberto B. Bravo. The book has an introduction by Jose Dalisay Jr. and photographs are by Wig Tysmans.

Mar started buying artworks during his many years of travel abroad.  In 1978, he met art collectors Jimmy Laya and Bert Bravo. Mar said, “It was these two gentlemen who introduced me to the works of Filipino artists. Eventually, I fell in love with local masterpieces.”

One of the very first local paintings he acquired was The Miracle of Christ by Mario Montenegro. Fernando Amorsolo, Vicente Manansala, H.R. I Ocampo, Anita Magsaysay-Ho, and Mariano Asuncion are some of the famed masters whose works adorn his house in Makati and Villa Marinelli, a high-class resort in Tagaytay. Other works are by Romeo Tabuena, Juvenal Sanso, Mauro Malang Santos, Ang Kiukok and Onib Olmedo. But it is Fernando Amorsolo’s Binyag ng Panganay and Jose Blanco’s Bayanihan that he considers his favorites. The former dominates the center wall of his living room, and the latter, a huge mural, is installed at the main entrance of the lobby of the Stanpak building along South Superhighway.

Features of Mar’s extensive collection pieces are Eduardo Castrillo and Napoleon V. Abueva’s sculptures, works of famous artists of other countries, hand painted plates and figurines, Chinese jars, and a ceramic Chinese dragon his parents brought with them to Manila from China, thinking they could sell it when times got hard. The dragon piece survived the fire that burned down the family’s belongings, and is treasured in Mar’s palatial home.  

He says, “Appreciation is the cornerstone of art collecting. It is truly no use buying an expensive artwork if one does not appreciate it.” When he likes a painting, he will buy it, never mind the cost. 

When he was a child, Mar dreamed of owning a Mercedes Benz. He now has two most expensive ones – the MB280 SL, the “Mr. Slim” model in 1966, and the other an MB sports car, the 350 SLK, which he bought at the 2006 Frankfurt Car Show. A golfer, he has autographed golf balls of Payne Steward and a cap of Tiger Woods.

His gifts to Silliman are his way of paying back what he learned from the institution. He put in millions of pesos to establish centers to send bright but poor students through high school; an activity facility where students can hold meetings and socials; the Mariano C. Lao Innovation, Creation, and Invention (ICI) Technological Laboratory designed to fuse art, technology, and entrepreneurship; a free computer education program for retirees, underprivileged high school and college students; support for capstone research projects of college students, and P10 million for the development of the Robert B. and Metta J. Silliman library and the Silliman Beach Eco-Park.

Mar and Lina have been separately inducted into the Order of Horace B. Silliman, the highest expression of gratitude to the university’s donors and gift givers. 

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The dismissal of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Nela Charade Puno took a number of people by surprise, myself included. Typically, the FDA is one of the more unassuming government agencies, and they are rarely ever in the headlines.

The sudden leadership shake-up has now put the FDA into the spotlight, however, especially since Puno’s dismissal is allegedly corruption-related. To be fair to Puno, she has yet to receive the details of the complaint against her, and has denied the general allegation. Unfortunately, even though nothing has been presented (as of this writing) in terms of clear evidence of the accusations, her integrity as a public official has already been tainted.

Due to the lack of background information and supporting facts, I can’t formulate a final opinion on whether or not the allegations against Puno are true. On the other hand, what I do know for sure is that the FDA now faces a leadership vacuum that has far-reaching – and potentially grave – implications.

As the entity that regulates and approves which food, drinks, and drugs are legal and safe for consumption of the Filipino public, any delays in their processes could hinder approvals of potentially lifesaving drugs. Citizens could also be put at risk if the enforcement activities of the agency against erring food, drink, and drug producers are hampered.

As it turns out, even when Puno was there, the FDA was already a pressure cooker waiting to explode. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with a few friends from the pharmaceutical industry, and what they told me was alarming, to say the least.

Apparently, the FDA has been experiencing great difficulty in keeping up with its day-to-day functions, particularly the bureaucratic and procedural ones. My friends revealed that FDA processes here in the Philippines are highly outdated compared to those of our neighboring countries. They especially highlighted how applications and renewals for Certificates of Product Registration would sometimes take up to six years (!) before being approved. In other Southeast Asian countries, their FDA applications and certificate renewals are all digitized and automated, thus reducing the time to days, if not hours.

Another concern they brought up was how the inefficiencies of our FDA evaluators and inspectors have led to the closure of establishments and the recall of products from the market. These inefficiencies range from documents being mishandled or lost, due to the total ignorance of FDA staff of the laws and regulations.

I understand that the FDA must be very strict given that it should protect the Filipino consumer from dangerous consumables. But, as my friends succinctly pointed out to me, there is a world of difference between being stringent and being incompetent.

From my Stand, an internal hire – i.e. someone who has had at least five years of experience in the FDA – should be the bare minimum requirement. Apart from familiarity that comes from tenure, the ideal candidate should have proven credentials in terms of technical competence, administrative functions, and the legalities of the agency. Moreover, they should have a good working relationship with the local pharmaceutical industry and other key stakeholders, as improvements in pharma production can lead to cheaper medicines for everyone.

It takes more than a technocrat or a typical administrator to run a highly specialized agency like the FDA. I hope that the appointing officials consider what is truly at stake here, and exercise utmost discernment in choosing its next director.

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