The 1UPIE Community

By Val Reyes

Following the May 2022 elections, for which its campaign originally brought a host of UPIE alumni together in October of the previous year, the core leadership aligned on the need to move on, set aside political differences and focus on the common ground of helping in nation building. The thought process was that there was a wealth of talent and network in the group. The membership had also grown closer to the threshold of 250 for the Viber group, including a host of members from the UPIE Alumni Association. This led to a decision to convert the One UPIE Viber group to the *1UPIE Community*. The painstaking work of migrating the original group members and signing up new ones was led by Alma Sta. Ana, IE’78. To date, there are now 227 members. The Community has also established a more formal alliance with the UPIEAA given the overlap of membership and common objectives.

Moving forward, we are extending our reach beyond helping those in need in times of disasters just as we did to the Odette survivors in Dinagat Island and the fishermen who lost their boats and livelihood in the Visayas. The core leadership has identified (3) potential initiatives in line with nation-building: 1) tapping and promoting block chain technology (led by Ricky Peña), 2) uplifting a poor community in Cavinti, Laguna (led by Alma Sta. Ana) and 3) reducing non-revenue water losses in identified pilot areas in the country (led by Sec. Babes Singson and Jeng Pascual). Each group is in the process of recruiting its members and preparing to set up respective organization meetings to launch the project activities for 2023. We look forward to a productive year ahead!

About the Author:

Val Reyes is a member of IE batch 1974 and completed his MS IE degree in 1977. He has over (40) years’ experience in the fields of Operations Management, Industrial Engineering, TQM and Environmental, Health & Safety in the semiconductor manufacturing, telecommunications, airline and rail transport industries. While working in Intel Philippines, he was part of the start-up team for the first Intel China manufacturing facility established in Shanghai in 1997. He has also worked as a Project consultant in upstream oil and gas construction projects in Asia and Africa.