Teodorico T. Haresco, Jr., in his recent Chaikofi branchinauguration, was the man of the hour. Popular social, business andpolitical personalities, nay celebrities, thronged to the new, morepleasant watering hole in Metro Manila's social scene. Celebrities werepleasantly honored to shake hands with the man. For Haresco is no merecoffee shop owner but one who has risen from the ranks ofmicro-entrepreneurs to new heights of global achievers. The ink on hisrecognition in the Philippine business world has hardly dried, even ashe recently won the coveted Businessman of the Year Pearl Award for2006 from the prestigious Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry(PCCI). Over that, his contribution to national economic developmentthrough the President's Bridge Program is rather immeasurable.



But unlike other prominent figures, the technocrat in Haresco prefersto let his achievements speak for themselves. He has structured newbusiness enterprises and is at present Chairman for WinAce HoldingsPhilippines, Inc., mother corporation of several subsidiaries which healso chairs: Winsource Solutions, Inc., a call center and businessoutsourcing corporation; Winace Land Development Corp., Inc.; BoracayLand Group, Inc.; Chaikofi Corp.; Technostrat Corp.; Winserve RiskManagement Consultants, Inc.; and R.T. Haresco & Associates, Inc.Pivotal to his business standing is his affiliation for more than adecade with Mabey & Johnson, the British engineering firm whichmanufactures the modular, prefabricated bridge panels for thePresident's Bridge Program (PBP).As if to point out that is not in hisvocabulary, he sketchily pointed out that in five months, the 50-seatsWinsource Call Center and BPO easily emerged with 500 agents, theforeign sounding Chaikofi franchise of local creation opened threeoutlets in eight months and in three years, the property value of hismoving Boracay venture quadrupled.

It is on his pivolate role in the President's Bridge Program thatscores him best. No less than 1,500 modular steel bridges have beenbuilt all over the Philippines. His handling of this bridge program hasearned him a listing in the book British Legacy in the Philippinesalong with Jose Rizal, Fidel V. Ramos and President Gloria MacapagalArroyo as ?one of the Filipinos who have made monumental contributionsto national economic growth?. But the man is far from finished with hiswork. ?There is more to do,? Haresco declares. ?I did only 1,500bridges and our country needs 14,000. Competition is most welcomed,especially from other donor countries.?

Haresco continues: ?Right now, we have a program called ?Tulay ngPangulo sa Magsasaka? that's building 453 bridges all over the countrywhere there are agrarian reform communities. The national governmentspends 12 billion pesos a year on the agrarian reform communities forirrigation, technical inputs, fertilizer, etc., but it's only nowgovernment can afford to link these communities to market, thus,further spur countryside growth.?

To illustrate the point, he gives an example to consider: ?Totransport a cavan of rice without the benefit of a bridge, it takesfive pesos to go down into the ravine, 20 pesos to cross the river,five pesos again to go up the other side of the ravine, and another 20pesos for the tricycle ride. So altogether, about 50 pesos transportcost. That's just about the surplus income that our average rice orcorn farmer will earn if he planted more to sell. So, the farmers arethinking ? why will I plant more? Wala naman akong kikitain. (I willnot earn anything.) I might as well plant just enough for my family.But the moment you build a bridge, you free large numbers of Filipinosfrom the poverty trap, allowing them to escape from extreme isolation.In Cauayan, Isabela, we built a bridge, which opened about 2,000hectares. The farmers had a surplus production of 200,000 cavans. Themayor was happy, tumaas ang amelioria niya (his property taxes wentup), everybody's happy, people are buying TV sets, tricycles andvehicles.