MR. RENE E. CRISTOBAL
BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (CUM LAUDE), 1955
CHAMPION OF OVERSEAS FILIPINO WORKER

Working tirelessly fir the welfare and protection of overseas Filipino workers since 1978, Mr. Rene E. Cristobal, a prime mover in overseas employment, has reaped awards, consistently from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration-Department of Labor and Employment, making him a Hall of Fame recipient and earning international recognition in migration and microfinance.

A 1955 UE Graduate of Bachelor of Business Administration – major in Economics, minor in International Trade - Cum Laude, and an Outstanding Senior Distinguished Service Awardees, Mr. Cristobal is now President and Chief Executive Officer of a host of companies dealing with international trade and employing Filipino professionals and technical personnel mostly to European and American principals, contractors and ship owners. Among these companies are the DCL Group of Companies (Manpower Resources of Asia, Inc., Sealanes Marine Services, Inc., Trans-Orient Engineers, Inc., Trans Orient Overseas Contractors, Inc.) RenoGlas Corporation, Van Aarsen Pacific, Inc., Innovative Concrete Elements, Inc. and Center for Multicultural Studies, Inc.

Mr. Cristobal is also Governor and Vice-President of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), serving as a specialist on overseas employment and sustainable development, and Chairman of its Corporate Social Responsibility Committee; Trustee of the Philippine Bible Society and Chairman of its Property Development Committee; and Trustee-President of the PBS Condominium Corporation. He is also into real estate development and project financial packaging services, serving at the helm of Tagaytay Crest Estate, Inc., Inyan Inc. JRN Management Services, Inc. True North Inc. and the former France-Philippines Industrial Corporation.

From 1952 to 1964, Mr. Cristobal was top Executive of the Aguinaldo Development Conglomerate Involved in logging and wood processing in Davao and Palawan, pearl culture, livestock and mining. Then he formed his own company representing a consortium of French and German manufacturers and contractors that constructed and financed “turnkey” project of the Philippines.

Born on October 23 1934 in Manila, Mr. Cristobal is married to Elizabeth Bartolome. They are blessed with three children: Rene Jr., a Pastor; Reniel and Rea, who have followed in their father’s professional footsteps.

Mr. Cristobal’s educational record speaks of his passion for knowledge and learning as evidenced by graduating in 1957 from the Second Advanced Management Program in the Far East conducted by the Harvard University Graduate School of Business. He is a Master of Arts in Economics candidate at the University of the East Graduate School, also in 1957, and was President of the UE Alumni Association in 1975. He was recipient of the Award Distinction in Entrepreneurship in 1992 from the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines.

The Alumnus achiever likewise founded or co-founded associations and organizations working for the uplift of OFWs’ lot, such as the Association for Professionalism in Overseas Employment, Inc. (ASPROF), the only association of service providers whose members are non-fee charging, mostly Hall of Fame Awardees; and the Bagong Bayani Foundation, Inc. which together with the DOLE & POEA, grants the annual Bagong Bayani Awards to outstanding Filipino overseas workers. He is the Vice-President and Chairman of its Awards Screening Committee.

Mr. Cristobal concern for overseas Filipinos heightened when he was appointed by then President Fidel Ramos as a Commissioner of the Gancayco Commision, which instituted reforms on the protection of Filipino workers abroad as manifested in the Migrant Workers Act no. 8042 and spearheaded the investigation into the Delia Maga-Flor Contemplacion cases in Singapore. He was also appointed by the President as Member of the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC) and is involved in the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva as employer’s delegate and/or resource consultant on migration. He is Chairman of ECOP’s committee on Corporate Social Responsibility, which sponsors and promotes the UN-ILO Decent Work Program and other conventions on human and labor rights, and environmental concerns.

Reflective of his civic mindedness, he assumes the position of the president of Multi-Savings and Loan Association (MULTISLA), the only Central Bank-licensed association providing financial assistance to deserving and needy Filipino workers specially overseas workers (employed or deployed by the DCL Group) and their families; President, Tulay sa Pag-unlad Development Corporation Inc. (TSPI), the biggest and oldest non-government organizational for microfinance in the Philippines; Trustee, Kilosbayan, Inc. and YMCA of Makati; Founder and Past Chairman, Family Wellness Center Foundation, Inc. an alcohol and substance abuse recovery center which assists the OSHC and industry associations in dealing with alcohol and substance abuse in the workplace; Trustee, Mary Johnston Hospital, Inc. in Tondo; and President Trustee, Knights for Individual Direct Scholarship Foundation, Inc. (KIDS), giving financial grants to almost 1,000 students of Cayetano Arellano Public High School in Sta. Cruz, Manila.