(TRIBUTE. PamCham, MACCII and CILA officials present the posthumous resolutions of recognition for PamCham chairman Levy P. Laus to the Laus family led by matriarch Tess Laus during PamCham’s 63rd GMM at the LausGroup Event Centre on Tuesday. Contributed Photo)
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Three major business groups in the region honored on Tuesday the late Levy P. Laus, former chairman-CEO of the Laus Group of Companies who met his untimely death last April 25 in a chopper crash in Bulacan.
The Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (PamCham), joined by the Metro Angeles Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (MACCII) and the Clark Investors and Locators Association (CILA), gave Laus posthumous recognition for his role in rallying this capital city and the province of Pampanga toward the development and priming of Central Luzon’s countryside progress.
The honor was contained in three separate resolutions from the business groups as well as mementos, including a charcoal portrait by Maestro Rafael Maniago.
Laus widow Tess received the honor during PamCham’s 63rd general membership meeting at the LausGroup Event Center here.
The posthumous resolutions of recognition cited Laus’s visionary leadership and mentorship of PamCham that effectively led to fulfilling its mission of priming countryside development.
“His sage leadership made it a privilege to be a member of the board. Every month, we were witness to his perceptive insights, acute sense of appropriateness and keen discernment of the best way to push forward advocacies that will promote and protect the interests and welfare of business,” the resolution said.
It can be recalled that 15 years ago, PamCham assumed the role of the provincial chamber with the mission to rebuild, rehabilitate and restore Pampanga’s economy from the ashes of an epic disaster, PamCham chairman Jess Nicdao said.
“Priming countryside business became our dictum. And our direction was to unite the business community of Pampanga into a single voice, to advocate for a business- friendly local environment and promote Pampanga as a viable investment destination,” he added.
“As PamCham moves forward sans the vital presence of our beloved chairman emeritus, all of us in the board of directors commit to continuing the work he had so perspicaciously laid out for us. We will be unwavering in this commitment and we are very confident that we will be successful because he will still be with us in spirit,” he declared.
For his part, PamCham president Rene Romero said: “A decade and a half ago, I approached him to consider the conversion of then San Fernando Chamber into a provincial chamber. He accepted my proposal with the condition that I will be his vice president and I will help him put together and establish a credible business organization led by prominent and advocacy-driven businessmen and businesswomen in Pampanga. The past 15 years saw PamCham grow and evolve into the influential provincial chamber it is now, thanks to the wise guidance of our dear chairman emeritus.”
He added: “In his absence, PamCham is bereft of a prescient and charismatic leader. We will miss his quick-wit, perceptive wisdom and enterprising intellect in the board. But we are confident that a decade and a half of his counsel as chairman of the board prepared us enough to stay the course and keep pursuing advocacies that will fulfill our sworn mission to promote development in the countryside and capacitate our homegrown local MSMEs grow into globally competitive enterprises.”
Meanwhile, MACCII and CILA highlighted Laus’s accomplishment of setting standards of corporate social responsibility through his exemplary civic advocacies that benefitted the business community; for fostering and enabling a business climate for foreign and local investments that harnessed Clark Freeport’s economic potential; and for demonstrating values that will forever inspire the community.
In response, Laus Group of Companies chair and CEO Lisette Laus-Velasco thanked the groups and all who have paid tribute to his late father.
“On behalf of the family, I would like to thank PamCham, MACCII and CILA and all those who have recognized my father. It’s been heartwarming to hear the stories and how our father has touched your lives. Maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat,” she said.
