Author: Jose Ma. Lorenzo Fernandez

Asia Pacific Basin Strategies’ Board of Trustees elects Charter Founder Antonio A. Ver to Chairmanship 

Asia Pacific Basin Strategies’ Board of Trustees elects Charter Founder Antonio A. Ver to Chairmanship to succeed Jorge V. Sarmiento who was Chairman from 2018-2022. Ver was President from 2010-2018. He was succeeded by Angelo A. Jimenez in 2018 who was President until 2022. Redbert Maines succeeded Jimenez as President in June 2022. Sarmiento, Jimenez and Joselito John Blando are Advisers. (August 20, 2022).

Philippine Gas and LNG Investment Summit

Asia Pacific Basin for Energy Strategies (APBest) hosts a major energy event at The Tent at Solaire, Solaire Resort, Pasay City on September 27, 2022. This is APBest’s continuing commitment to promote power and energy. Advisor Atty. Joselito John Blando will deliver the opening keynote, and President Mr. Redbert Chris Maines will be the closing speaker.

 

Plans for the “Sen. Heherson Alvarez Climate Leadership Award”

July 15, 2022. Quezon City.

The new Board of Trustees, Officers & Working groups led by Atty. Red Maines met to lay down the plans for the “Sen. Heherson Alvarez Climate Leadership Award” that include raising an Endowment to sustain the Award and critical thinking on Climate Leadership. Atty. Maines took over former UP Regent Angelo A. Jimenez. The next meeting is on August 20 during which time the initial fund of at least Php10 million would be in place to promote and foster the Award as a nationally-acclaimed Award, progressing to a Php100M Endowment to bring the Award and its Mission to global recognition possibly during COP 27 in November in Egypt.

The meeting was presided by Founder Antonio A. Ver who will be the next Chairman to succeed Atty. Jorge V. Sarmiento who will continue as Advisor to guide the Board in its breakthrough plans. Atty. Joselito John Blando was prevailed upon to have another term as Advisor.

In attendance, left to right, are Rj Suarez, Nizer C. Rosales, Antonio A. Ver, Anthony John Santos, Henryking Sicad, Anton Rodriguez, Ervin Frederick Dy, Red Maines, Luis Macabbabad, Mark Balmaceda and Miguel Policarpio.

Newly-elected President of APBest

Mr. Maines is the newly-elected President of Asia Pacific Basin for Energy Strategies (APBest) and is also currently the Chief of Staff of Deputy Speaker and Cebu Province 3rd District Representative Pablo John F. Garcia. Prior to his stint in Congress, Mr. Maines was a university researcher in the University of the Philippines (UP) Office of the Vice President for Legal Affairs from 2017 to 2019 and a research assistant in the Office of the Dean of the UP College of Law from 2015 to 2017. Before being elected as president of APBest, Mr. Maines served as the technical working group head since 2014. He earned his Economics and Juris Doctor degrees from UP Diliman. He passed the recently concluded 2021 Philippine Bar Examinations. Mr. Maines is also a former Lord Chancellor of the UP Alpha Phi Beta Fraternity.

Meanwhile, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin E. Diokno is named Secretary of Finance. He is Chairman Emeritus of Asia Pacific Basin for Energy Strategies.

APBest mourns the demise of Atty. Roberto Rafael V. Lucila, Charter Founder & General Counsel, on September 18, 2021

RRVL

by Wilfredo M. Trinidad, September 18, 2021

who can measure the loss of your leaving?
after the shock came the emptiness, the stillness of nothingness; the heart hollow
and gasping for air
as blackness envelopes me.
who can quantify darkness or fathom the gloom of the soul?
i have knelt and prayed, cried and begged.
God had given you to us; He has taken you away.
glory to God.


farewell my brother
my soul holds on to you
and would not let go.
yet in my stubbornness I can only cling to your memory:
the gentle words, the helping hand
the encouraging smile, the appreciative laughter
the generous heart and the brilliant prolific mind.
how in our stronger years we enjoyed the spirits amid tall tales,
shallow musings, and deep insights;
how you wove your dreams with the wife of your youth
and together made them into a colorful tapestry of beautiful children
and a happy brood of little angels;
how you had welcomed us to your home
and shared with us the joy of sincere fellowship;
how you had gone out of your way to lend a hand or extend comforting arms.
my heart overflows as remembrances of you races through my mind;
the wrinkles on my face are wet.


should I not weep and hide the hurt inside my chest,
or bawl like a deprived child?
i should be a fox that howls in the desert night
sounding out the grief that chokes my guts.


who shall comfort us? not the day or the night;
not the sun, moon, and stars,
nor summer or rain,
neither words nor song, nor hugs or kisses.
let the thunder grumble and roll, and the lightning flash,
let the storm rage and the floods drown the plains.
let the ceaseless ache ravage the heart
and turn it into a senseless pulp of numb flesh.
let me taste the pain and bitterness of loss and impotence,
of helplessness and hopelessness.
let me weep, bawl and howl
in the desert of these darkest nights.


farewell my brother
let our love and tears usher you to God’s light.