History

Interestingly, despite its 45-year academic history and despite repeated discussions about forming an IE-only alumni association as early as 1995, the UPIEAA was formally incorporated only in 2006. The first association president was Vito Aberin.

The very first board invited Prof. Amadeo San Mateo to serve as the board’s senior adviser.  Prof. San Mateo religiously joined all the meetings – in fact, the old board members recalled that because of Prof’s so many inputs and asides, the one-hour meetings became two-hour meetings. The first meetings were held at either the Polo Club or at IBM’s Eastwood building, on the invitation of board member Jajo Quintos.  The first board took five meetings to finalize and incorporate what is now the UPIEAA. And it took even more meetings to get the UPIEAA logo right – with Prof. San Mateo leading the creative process.

Vito Aberin was followed by Dindo Cortez in 2009. 2012-2013 saw Pete Maniego take the helm, followed by Elise del Rosario in 2013-2014.

In the recent board meeting last October 21, Jaime “Bing” del Rosario was elected as the new UPIEAA president. Other board members include – Eugene Gonzales (also treasurer), Bess Yap, Drake Lopez, Marton Banson, Kevin Hartigan-Go, Ting Joson, Liza Ting, Benjie Mirasol, Kenny Bulahan, and Jody Gadia. Ex-officio members include outgoing president Elise del Rosario and UPIE department chair Lowell Lorenzo (also secretary).

In the eight-year history of UPIEAA, a handful of IE alumni had remained committed by volunteering their time and effort from almost the very beginning – Eugene Gonzales, Ting Joson, Dante Briones, to name a few.

The UPIEAA mission statement has remained consistent:

1. To create, and-or sustain a strong sense of community (loyalty, pride of school, shared experiences etc.) among the people who graduated from the UP IE program. The “sense of community” can then be potentially leveraged in future to request for donations, request for volunteers, requests for specialist skills, requests to accommodate student teams for practicum projects, create good turn-out for future homecomings, etc.

2. To assist the IE department with some of its initiatives and projects where funding is required and there are financial constraints, such as unbudgeted items or expenses that can’t be approved. Clear examples given included subsidies for international student competitions, and “soft infra” such as tables, desks, chairs, audiovisual equipment, etc. which tends to be ignored by national government funding in favor of “hard assets” such as buildings, labs, etc.

3. To assist the UP IE students, primarily through the IE department and student associations – IE Club and CIEM – and through the UP Engg groups like CAPES, PRIME, and ARISE, with their needs for professional speakers, outside advisers and counsels, panelists, and need for host companies and government agencies that will allow (and be receptive to) students’ project studies.

The UPIEAA works hand in hand with the DIEOR, specifically the chair, who automatically assumes the secretary role, a non-voting director role. This post had been assumed by now-dean Aura Matias, then Virginia Soriano and then Iris Martinez. The role is now currently with department chairman Lowell Lorenzo.

Two years ago, the UPIEAA raised sizeable funds through the innovative “Pillars of IE” Program, conceived to help the UPDIEOR with its facilities improvement programs, notably with the faculty-student area of the new IE Department building. The half year project, during the first half 2013, generated nearly P400,000 from 60 donors. In return for their donations of at least P6,000, the donors were awarded:
 lifetime membership (if not yet a lifetime member), a personalized plaque, and
free entrance to the 2013 homecoming.

Nine years ago, in 2006, the newly-created UPIEAA first launched the lifetime membership program, with 100 notable alumni signing up.

The UPIEAA had convened alumni homecomings, with the first coming soon after establishing the association, back in March 13, 2006. The last three homecomings were held in successive years – on June 16, 2012, October 6, 2013 and October 4, 2014.

Each year, occasionally timing it with the homecoming if one had been scheduled, the UPIEAA board looks for the most deserving alumni and nominates these individuals to receive the UPIEAA Distinguished Alumni Award. These same individuals become the de facto nominee to receive the UP Alumni Engineers (UPAE) annual Departmental or Achievement Award (for Industrial Engineering) at the regular UPAE November homecomings.

For 2014, the UPIEAA Distinguished Alumni Award went to Justiniano “Jody” Gadia, BSIE 1982, for his outstanding contribution in the Private Sector.  Under Jody’s leadership as General Manager, Robinsons Supermarket Corporation has expanded into a multi-billion peso company operating close to 100 branches, with more stores scheduled to open. He was also part of the core group responsible for the IPO offering of the Robinsons Retail Group, successfully generating interest that allowed expansion for the company.

In 2013, four UP IE alumni were given Distinguished Alumni awards by the UP Alumni Engineers and UPIEAA.  The awardees included – Elise del Rosario (IE Professional Degree Award for IE), Luis “Chito” Calingo (UPAE Most Distinguished Alumnus), Joseph Phi (Global Achievement for Logistics), and Jeremias Paul (National Achievement for Government Service).
From 2012 and earlier, the following had been recognized by both UPIEAA and UPAE:

• 2012     Danilo Valenzuela (Professional Degree Award for IE) and Ramon “Mon” Jocson (International Achievement Award for IT)

• 2011 Ramon “Mon” Segismundo (Professional Degree Award for IE), Rogelio “Babes” Singson (Most Distinguished Alumnus), Elizabeth “Bess” Yap (Achievement Award for Government Service), and Pedro “Pete” Maniego (Achievement Award for Service to Industry)

• 2008 Luis “Chito” Calingo (Professional Degree Award for IE)

• 2007 Noel Tempongko (Professional Degree Award for IE) and Katrina Limcaoco (Achievement Award for Entrepreneurship)

• 2006 Dante Briones (Departmental Award for IE), Rafael “Paeng” Santos (Achievement Award for Government Service), and Macario “Mac” Fojas (Achievement Award for Entrepreneurship)

• 2005 Marcelino “Mars” Mendoza (Departmental Award for IE) and Julito Vitriolo (Achievement Award for Government Service)

• 2004 Antonio Rivera (Departmental Award for IE), Edgardo “Ega” Atanacio (Achievement Award for Engineering Education), Timoteo “Timmy” Diaz de Rivera+ (Achievement Award for IT), and Romulo Manlapig (Achievement Award for Government Service)

• 2003 Joaquin “Jajo” Quintos (Departmental Award for IE), Valentin “Val” Reyes (Achievement Award for Service to Industry), and Luwina Enecio (Achievement Award for Government Service)

• 2002 Ricardo “Ricky” Banaag (Departmental Award for IE) and Valentin “Val” Reyes (UPIEAA Presidential Award)

• 2001 Washington “Wash” Roqueza (Departmental Award for IE) and Renato Goco (UPIEAA Presidential Award)

• 2000 Jaime “Bing” del Rosario (Departmental Award for IE), Dominador “Ding” Villena (Achievement Award for Community Service), and Rufino Bumasang (Achievement Award for Petroleum Exploration)

• 1999 Ramon “Mon” Jocson (Departmental Award for IE)

• 1998 Rogelio “Babes” Singson (Departmental Award for IE) and Antonio Ng (Outstanding Achievement Award)

In addition to the annual distinguished alumni awards, in 2010, the College of Engineering celebrated its first 100 years by recognizing the 100 Outstanding Alumni Engineers of the First Century. The three IE alumni recipients included: Aura Matias, Jaime “Bing” del Rosario, and Josef Yap.

For the next 12 months – October 2014 to September 2015 – the new board has decided to focus on significantly enhancing the association’s web portal, dramatically increasing the number of alumni with current contact details on file, subsidizing participation in international student competitions, and assisting the IE&OR department in equipping the various classrooms and labs in the new IE-ME building.