Everybody loves a Warner... (...as everybody loves a winner)

Three years ago, when sports reality shows and Pinoy Big Brother were just hits waiting to happen, HSBC CEO Warner Manning already embarked on his own "extra" challenge and invited the public to look on!

At that time a newly-arrived expat in Manila with some excess baggage round his waist, Warner dared himself to lose at least 20 lbs. – with a little help from his friends. He asked them and other skeptics to pledge a certain amount for every pound he lost. If he did not meet his goal, he would match the donor’s pledge, plus P50,000 from his own pocket regardless of the outcome. Thus began a losing streak that was to become one of the biggest winning formulas for charity: It won P250,000 for the Children’s Hour that year alone (Children’s Hour is a charity that asks donors to devote at least one hour’s worth of earnings a year for underprivileged children).

Warner lost 23 lbs., and never looked back. It was a losing streak that would earn over a million for charity in the three years that followed. It also jumpstarted a major lifestyle change for Warner.

To lose all that weight, Warner didn’t just go on a diet, he started on an exercise program that he didn’t abandon after he met his goal. After he won his first weight-loss challenge, he still craved for the discipline that helped him achieve his goal – like waking up early to swim or bike and giving up social lunches to work out. Warner liked how his personal sacrifices took on a greater meaning, says Laine Santana, head of corporate communications of HSBC.

In fact, Warner so took to running and swimming as a part of his daily routine that the next year he ran a marathon from Binondo and invited donors again to pledge an amount for every kilometer he completed. That marathon ran up P400,000 for charity. Last year, he did a duathlon at the La Mesa Dam park and when the donors’ generosity broke loose, over P800,000 was washed in for charity.

With over a million pesos gained and just an impressive number of calories spent, Warner is now gunning to complete his first triathlon.

Dubbed "Charity Challenge for the Children’s Hour," Warner has "twisted" the arms of 26 other sports enthusiasts like Fernando Zobel of Ayala Land, who is also on his first triathlon and is another "loser" in the weighing scale; seasoned triathlon athlete Fred Uytengsu of Alaska Milk, ABS CBN’s Ernie and Jeena Lopez and Pet Plans’ Larry Ocampo for a charity triathlon on Feb. 4. They aim to complete a sprint triathlon (750-meter swim, 20-km. bike and 5-km. run) at the Manila Polo Club and The Fort (the Bonifacio Estate Services Corp. has actually waived road usage fees as their contribution the Children’s Hour).

As in previous years, the challenge is for Warner, and now the team, to complete the course in order for them to collect on the pledges.  If they don’t complete it, Warner pays the pledges on the donors’ behalf. The minimum the athletes need to do is finish. But the top male and female athletes get a special cash prize from HSBC that they can then donate to their chosen charity.

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What is new this year is that the donors actually have a choice as to where their pledges will go and they have identified certain charities to receive the funds based on donors’ preferences. Warner says the focus of HSBC’s charitable programs is children and education. "Because they are the future!" he reiterates. It doesn’t take a banker to figure that out. The charities include: Stepping Stone Learning Center for Special Children; Sa Aklat Sisikat; Gawad Eskwela; GILAS (Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students); Send a Tribal Kid to School and e=MC2.

Now....for those of you who are not into sports (like me!) HSBC is also organizing two other events for the day: A charity fair with close to 40 merchants at the Cogon Village of the Polo Club and a charity jam where special guest artists pledge a song for the Children’s Hour. 

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I asked Warner, who was born in South Africa and who spent his pre-teen years in Jamaica before moving on to London and getting posted all over the world as a banker, what he likes most about Filipinos.

Over a hearty lunch at the Inagiku ("I no longer have to watch the calories when I’m training, in fact I need them!" he says, to my envy, as he takes a big bite of prawn tempura) Warner says that he likes Filipinos for their "warmth and the respect they give to their friends and family elders."

He admires their resilience, even "when all seems to be chaotic or going wrong."

Warner also expressed admiration for the Filipino’s emotional quotient. While, like some other CEOs of multinationals, he does think Filipino workers can and must improve on their English, he believes they already have an edge with their EQ. He relates how he once observed a call center employee soothe an irate caller for over 10 minutes as the technical side of her problem was being sorted out. Now, that is harder to learn than English, he points out.

Though it’s news to see CEOs running a triathlon for charity, I’d like to think this is more than just a publicity stunt for them. After all, it is difficult to get up at the crack of dawn for at least two months to train for a triathlon, trading fruits for steak for a "normal" lunch, giving up hors d’ oeuvres and cutting down on social drinking, as Warner has. The easier way to raise funds for charity, I would imagine, is to sponsor a premiere or a concert and still sleep till 7 a.m. every day as you launch the project.

Warner has chosen a more difficult route. And it’s not just a finish line that awaits him and his team at the end of the race. It’s a child’s lifeline.

French flair at the new Philippine Plaza

French flair and Filipino hospitality combine to make the new Hotel Philippine Plaza (formerly the Westin Philippine Plaza) the new "Goddess by the Bay."

Hotel Philippine Plaza announced in a recent press conference that Accor, the European leader and one of the world’s largest groups in travel and tourism, is taking over the management of the luxury resort hotel. The hotel, which recently underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation (the renovation alone of the hotel’s main dining outlet, "spiral," cost $2.5 million), will be launched as the Sofitel Philippine Plaza next year.

Michael Issenberg, managing director of Accor Asia Pacific, flew in especially from Sydney to announce the partnership. He said that the Sofitel Philippine Plaza will become Asia-Pacific’s largest deluxe hotel brand by the end of 2007.

Issenberg is an American living in Australia who is working for a French company (Accor). In a way, he symbolizes the global character and the regional charms that the new hotel will have.

Asked what sets Accor apart from other hotel chains, he smiles, "French flair."

Now, that’s an attraction which, combined with inimitable Philippine hospitality, is simply irresistible.

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