Filipino Engineers

DR. DIOSDADO BANATAO -“Bill Gates of Asia” Engineer / Inventor Chairman, Managing Partner Tallwood Venture Capital Education:  

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, cum laude, from the Mapua Institute of Technology in the Philippines. M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Stanford University.

Background: 

Banatao was born on May 23, 1946 in Malabbac, Iguig, Cagayan, Philippines. His father Salvador Banatao, was a rice farmer. His mother, Rosita Banatao, was a housekeeper.

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Banatao is known for his rags to riches story. During his childhood, he walked barefoot on a dirt road just to reach Malabbac Elementary School. He pursued his secondary education at the Jesuitrun Ateneo de Tuguegarao. After high school, he pursued his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Mapúa Institute of Technology and graduated cum laude.

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After college, he turned down several job offers, including one from Meralco. He joined Philippine Airlines as a trainee pilot, and was later pirated by Boeing. At Boeing, he worked as a design engineer for the company's new commercial airliner and cargo transport aircraft, Boeing 747, in theUnited States. With the opportunity to stay in the United States, he then took his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Stanford University and finished in 1972. Banatao also joined the Homebrew Computer Club, where he met Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

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Banatao is most known for introducing the first single-chip graphical user interface accelerator that made computers work a lot faster and for helping develop the Ethernet controller chip that made Internet possible. In 1989, he pioneered the local bus concept for personal computers and in the following year developed the First Windows accelerator chip. Intel is now using the chips and technologies developed by Banatao. He now runs his own semiconductor company, Mostron and Chips & Technology, which is based in California's Silicon Valley. In 1997, he was honored with the prestigious “Master Entrepreneur of the Year Award” sponsored by Ernst & Young, Inc. Magazine, and Merrill Lynch Business Financial Services.

Engineering Management Profile: 

Dado Banatao is the managing partner of Tallwood Venture Capital. With his past experiences as an entrepreneur, Dado provides Tallwood with a unique perspective. As an engineer, he is credited with developing several key semiconductor technologies and is regarded as a Silicon

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Valley visionary. As an investor, he has a keen sense of trends and opportunities involving technology solutions for computing and communications. Mr. Banatao serves as Chairman for SIRF Technology and current Tallwood portfolio companies. He also served as Chairman and led investments in Marvell Technology Group, Acclaim Communications, acquired by Level One, Newport Communications, acquired by Broadcom, Cyras Systems, acquired by Ciena, and Stream Machine, acquired by Cirrus Logic.

DR. GREGORIO ZARA Engineer / Inventor/ Scientist /Educator/ Government Engineer Education:       

Zara finished primary schooling at Lipa Elementary School, where he graduated as valedictorian in 1918. In 1922, he again graduated valedictorian in Batangas High School. With full support from his parents he then enrolled at the University of the Philippines. In the middle of his first semester, he finally got the scholarship when his rival got sick and died abroad. Dr. Zara then enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, and graduated with a degree of BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1926. After that he obtained a Master of Science in Engineering (Aeronautical Engineering) at the University of Michigan, USA, graduating summa cum laude. Zara then sailed to France to take up advanced studies in physics at the Sorbonne University in Paris. In 1930 he again graduated summa cum laude with a degree of Doctor of Science in Physics, with "Tres Honorable," the highest honor conferred to graduate students. Zara was the first Filipino given that honor

Background: 

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Dr. Zara was probably the most productive of Filipino inventors, with 30 devices and equipment patented to his name. Among these were the earth induction compass, used by pilots for direction; the vapor chamber, used to visualize radioactive elements; the wooden microscope; solar energy devices for areas not reached by power lines; a functional robot; the photo-phone, which allowed audiovisual phone conversations; a functional alcohol-fueled plane; wooden aircraft propellers; and a corresponding propeller cutting machine. He also has written numerous papers and textbooks in science and physics, with some even written in French. While busy in government positions, Zara also was an educator. He was an instructor of aeronautics at the Valeriano Aviation School, at the American Far Eastern School of Aviation (1933) and at the Far Eastern University (1937–41). At FEATI University, he was professor of aeronautics (1946), then head of the Aeronautical Engineering Department (1962) and later dean of Engineering and Technology and director of research. He was elected executive vice-president of the university from 1946 to 1962 and acting president in 1956. He retired from government service in 1946 and joined the Far East Asian Technical Institute (FEATI) and eventually became a member of its board of trustees. He was also a Member of the board of directors of the National Shipyards and Steel Corporation and of the Civil Aeronautics Board.

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He was awarded Presidential Diploma of Merit - Distinguished Service Medal (1959) for his pioneering works and achievements in solar energy research, aeronautics and television, and Presidential Gold Medal and Diploma of Honor for Science and Research -Cultural Heritage Award for Science Education and Aero Engineering (1966).

Engineering Management Profile:   

He was appointed as technical assistant on aviation matters in the office of the Secretary of Department of Public Works and Communications (DPWC) and later on, he became chief of the aeronautical division of the DPWC. In 1936, he was assistant director and chief aeronautical engineer in the Bureau of Aeronautics of the Department of National Defense. For 21 years, he was director of aeronautical board, a position he held and confirmed by the Congress of the Philippines up to 1952. Considered expert in the Field, he was chosen to be the technical editor of Aviation Monthly and at various times, he worked as vice chairman and acting chairman of the National Science Development Board, where a number of Science projects were impetus.

ALFREDO LAZARTE JUINIO Civil Engineer/ Educator/ Government Engineer Education:  

In 1939, Juinio graduated cum laude with a degree in civil engineering from the University of the Philippines where he became a member of the Beta Epsilon Fraternity. He then attended the Massachusetts, from which he obtained his master's degree in civil engineering.

Background: 

Juinio, together with other UP engineering professors, became the structural engineers of the first thin-shell concrete dome in the Philippines for the UP Catholic Chapel, otherwise known as the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice. The structure is the country's first circular church with the altar in the middle and has been declared a historical landmark and cultural treasure by the National Historical Institute and the National Museum, respectively.

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During his term, as the dean of the UP College of Engineering, he initiated the establishment of the National Engineering Center building, as well as the formation of the UP Engineering Research and Development Foundation, Inc. (UPERDFI).

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Juinio was elected as the first Chairman of the Board, and went on to serve as UPERDFI president for thirty years.

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Awards: -Meralco Award for Engineering and Applied Sciences, 1990 -Most Distinguished Engineering Alumnus, given during the Diamond Jubilee of the UP College

-of Engineering, 1985 -Most Outstanding Betan Award, given by the Beta Epsilon Fraternity, 1999 Engineering Management Profile: 

Prior to serving as college dean, Professor Alfredo T. Juinio headed the UP Diliman Office of Campus Planning (also known as the Campus Planning Committee). Two of the projects he undertook during his term were the construction of C.P. Garcia Avenue and the UP Gateway at the University Avenue.

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Juinio was appointed as the Minister of Public Works and Highways, as well as the Administrator of the National Irrigation Administration. During his term, he headed the Upper Pampanga River Multipurpose Projects in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija.

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From 1970 to 1979, Juinio served as the dean of the UP College of Engineering.

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Juinio was also the co-founder of the DCCD Engineering Corporation and a consultant to various government agencies.

Geronimo Z. Velasco Mechanical Engineer/ Government Secretary Education: 

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering- University of the Philippines.

Background: 

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He was recognized as one of the highest paid CEOs in the Philippines as the head of DOLE and Republic Glass. He was invited by former president Ferdinand Marcos to join the government to become the first president of the Philippine National Oil Corporation. He was among the many brilliant, elite, well- educated Filipinos that Marcos had invited to help him run the government then. Velasco was a protégé of the smart yet controversial American Jewish self-made tycoon Harry Stone hill, who tasked Velasco in the late 1950s with building the Philippines’ pioneer glass manufacturing factory. The late mechanical engineer Ronnie Velasco was winner of the 1977 Management Man of the Year Award, first president of Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC).

Engineering Management Profile:

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He was chairman of Republic Glass Holdings Corp. which used to own the pioneer factory supplying 70 percent of Philippine glass requirements for home and building construction since 1956.

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Velasco also served as energy minister from 1978 to 1986, implementing President Marcos’s then strategic goal of reducing Philippine dependence on imported oil.

Lucio C. Tan Chemical Engineer/ Business Man/ Billionaire Education: 

Tan earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Far Eastern University of Manila.

Background: 

Tan was born in Amoy (now Xiamen), Fujian, China. His parents moved to the Philippines when he was a child.

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Forbes asserts that Tan "worked as a janitor at a tobacco factory" where he presumably also "mopped floors to pay for school”. He said he attended night and Sunday classes.

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In 2013, Forbes magazine listed him once again as the second richest billionaire from the Philippines with a net worth of $7.5 billion.

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He is married and under his helm are his children of whom some may be poised to follow in his footsteps. Michael Tan currently working with Asia Brewery Inc. after being replaced by Lucio Tan Jr. who now heads the Eton Properties Inc. Timmy Tan, the self-made entrepreneur with SK Techno lube Corp and La Isla Publishing Corp ranking progressively at the country's top 2013 corporations and Vivian Tan who dwells in education and low level politics.

Engineering Management Profile: 

Lucio C. Tan owns the following companies: -LT Group, Inc. (PSE: LTG) -Asia Brewery, Inc. -Tanduay Distillers, Inc.

-Fortune Tobacco Corporation -PMFTC, Inc. – 50% ownership by FTC -Eton Properties Philippines, Inc. -Philippine National Bank (PSE: PNB) - (merger of Philippine National Bank and Allied Banking Corporation) -Victorias Milling Company, Inc. (PSE: VMC) – minority interest and management control[6] -Philippine Airlines (PSE: PAL) -MacroAsia Corporation (PSE: MAC)

Other Successful Engineers:

David Consunji. Ranked by Forbes magazine this year as the fifth richest billionaire in the Philippines with US$1.9 billion in estimated net worth, this UP civil engineering graduate is big in construction with DMCI, also infrastructure, real estate, mining and power.

David Consunji

Francis Chua. Henry Lim Bon Liong of Sterling Paper Group told me that I should add his batchmate Francis Chua to this list of tycoons who are engineers, because Chua is an industrial engineering graduate of his same batch 1972. Chua is president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PCCI) and he hopes to construct PCCI’s new headquarters building in the Manila Bay area. Chua said a major thrust of PCCI is to encourage more proliferation of small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) nationwide for faster Philippine economic growth. Chua is also former member of the UP Board of Regents. Francis Chua

Ramon S. Ang. This mechanical engineering graduate of Far Eastern University is now the dynamic boss who is transforming San Miguel Corp. from a beer giant into a diversified conglomerate with huge investments in infrastructure, energy and other fields. Due to Ang’s bold strategic reforms, beer and foods now constitute only 20 percent of San Miguel’s total businesses.

Ramon S. Ang

Henry Lim Bon Liong. This mechanical engineering graduate of UP batch 1972 is a leader in Philippine paper products with Sterling Paper Group. In recent years, Lim has become more known as a pioneer of hybrid rice technology with his SL Agritech Corp. which seeks to promote Philippine rice self-sufficiency. He is now one of the vice presidents of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII).

Henry Lim Bon Liong

Bayani Fernando. The former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman and Marikina mayor, is a mechanical engineering graduate of Mapua. Before entering politics, he was founder of the BF Group of Companies, with construction, steel, manufacturing and real estate businesses. BF built the country’s tallest building, top shopping malls, industrial and residential subdivisions and other facilities. Like Consunji, BF is also a former secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways. BF once told me that engineers like him “are more practical and prefer to focus more on solving problems.” Bayani Fernando