Conrado Benitez, Executive

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Part of The Coconut Journal

Title: Conrado Benitez, Executive
extracted text: Taking the oath of of office before Secretary Vargas. In the picture are left to right, Mena Quinto, Assistant to the Manager Hila rion Henares, As sistant General Ma nager Benitez, As semblyman F. Lavi des, General Ma nager Maximo Ro driguez and Secret ary Jorge Vargas. CONRADO BENITEZ, EXECUTIVE A s much as any other man before the public eye in the Philippines today, Dean Com-ado Beni tez newly appointed Assistant Geneml Manager of the National Coconut Corporation belongs to that select g1·oup of men known as liberal. For not only is he a man of wide vitiona! Convention and now as a coconut planter with a record for integrity and ability he joinR the Na tional Coconut Corporation. sion and solid intellectual fitness but with him the shee1· logic of calculating reason is tempered with the mellowing warmth of understanding. Distinguished Career He joins the National Coconut Corporation af ter a caree1· of such dis tinction that notwith standing the fact that he is far from being a litician, his eminence as a national figure was demonstrated by the sponteneous inclusion of his name in 976 ballots in the nation-wide poll of candidates for the Philippine Senate con ducted by the chain of the T.V.T. Newspapers. The eminence of Dr. Benitez iH no accident_ It is but the net result. of a consistent record of personal e f f o r t and Love for Coconut Industry In this new field of action he is certainly not CONRADO BENITEZ Fmm "Distingrtisllt>11- JOO'' B!l s. H. Gwrk'o/1 COLLEGIATE education for business in this country was started by the University of the Philippines, but it was not given Its professi<lnal standing until in May 1934, when its school was converted into a college. Made dean of the new College of Business Administration was Profes sor Com·ado Benitez, director of the old school and first dean of the College of Liberal Arts of the University of the Philippines. At 23, Professor Benitez joined the University of the Philippines as instructor in economics. That was in July 1912. At the time he was already holder of the degrees of bachelor of philosophy and mastP.l' of arts from the Unive1·sity of Chicago. In orde•· to give him the broadest conceivable preparation not only in his teaching of econo mics but also in his college administration work and pre sent connections with the outside world, he handled a variety of social science courses up to June 1917. This broad foundation was again extended when he got the degree of bachelo•· of laws from thE' University of the Phil Ippines. As a ta.flgible result of this all-round acadl'mic p•·epara tlon, Dean Benitez has written several books, principally the Philippine History, which is used by the fourth year high school students; Economic Dt>vc/opmc11t of tile Phil ippilles, used by the second year university studE-nts; PMl ippine Civics. used by the fourth grade elementary pupils; and A History of the Ori.t•nt (as co-author), used by the third year high scbool students. Of equal importance werE' his editorial writings while first editor o( thE' Plrilippiue� Herald and hls Food. /Or Tlronght, a daily column in the (Please turn to ne.rt page) a neophyte. "The coco nut industry is my first love," he says, and any one who knows the con structive and fruitful labors which he contri buted as organizer, di rector and secretary of the Philippine Coconut Planters Association can not but agree that here is a man in his element. He was born in the great coconut province of Laguna, and from the cradle the warm breeze� of the tree of life fanned in his blood a passionate love for this unsut·passed plant-the pride of tro pical lands. He there fore brings with him a knowledge of the coconut possessed by few and this, together with his achievement. He is a noted economist, an educator of high reputation, an author and a newspaperman, a lawyer, a former delegate to the National Constituvast comprehension of the economic problems of the country, make him ideal ly the right man in the right place. In the course of a discussion of his plan he Page 9 The COCONUT JOlJRNAL reminisced thoughtfully of the times when he was associated with General Manager Maximo Rodri guez in the Philippine Coconut Planters Associa tion. one before us the toil of individuals must be united with that of others; otherwise it will be aimless." "The Philippine Coconut Planters Associa tion," he said, "had prac. tically the same objec tives and plans as the present National Coco nut Corporation, namely the alleviation of coco nut planters and the re habilitation of the coco nut industry, but it was handicapped by lack of funds. The Philippine Coconut Planters Asso ciation had the will, but not the means. The Na tional Coconut Corpora tion, however, has both the will and the means. With the funds placed at its disposal by the gov ernment and with rea sonable foresight, ambi tion and planning there is no reason why it should not succeed in its mission." Requisites for Success According to him, suc cess in this enterprise as in every other enter prise, may be attained by the observance of three fundamental points n a m e I y: Cooperation, control by men of the resources of nature and capacity for high ideals. These are not new ideas, he confesses, yet as in the case of the per son who looks but does not see, they are often overlooked and neglect ed. He says that "co operation is the binding force that unites the ef forts of many into a com mon channel. Where there is dispersion of labor; the results are in conclusive and the goal, however definite, may eventually appear far ther off intead of com. . ' mg nearer attamment. Hard work is admirable but where the common goal is as vast as the Page 10 Dr. Benitez used a com mon and effective simile to give point to his words. He cited the example of Tribune for several years, which reflect his dt>ep under standing of human nature and the social process. In recognition of his scholarly work, he was made dean of the College of Liberal Arts of the University of the Philippines on May 3, 1918; then director of the School of Business Administration, and dean, when it was converted into the College of Business Administration. His thirst for knowledge cannot be satisfied. In Nov· ember 1913, he did research work at the Philippine Ass�>m· bly so as to give him "that broad experience which one does not acquire from the classroom alone." Again, in October 1916, he became legislative researcher in order t0 enrich his theoretical knowledge of economics with govern· mental problems. He went to Japan in the summer of 19.l7 to continue the study of that country's economic develop· ment started by him a year before; twice he made trips to Mindanao to enhance his knowledge of the economic conditions in that region. Professor Benitez attended the Farmers' Congress in 1915. He was appointed technical adviser to the First Philippine Mission by President Quezon and Speaker Os· mefia in February 1919. A good deal of his time in the United States was devoted to the study of Am�>rican collt>ge administration. Aside from his work as technical adviser, he also organized the publicity work in Washington, of which he became the first head. In 1919 he pointed out to President Villamor of the University of the Philippines the need of a survey of the institution. President Benton ordered the sut·vey two years later. He was likewise instrumental in the appointment of a registrar. His suggestion for the univer sity to have a permanent source of income unaffected by the whims of politics, such as mill-tax, formed the basis of Dr. Benton's proposals to the Philippine Legis· lature. Through his efforts, experts on higher education in the Bureau of Education of the United States have included the University of the Philippines in their educational surveys since 1919, thereby giving the unive t·sity a for· mal recognition in the United States. Another important feature of his work was in getting help for research from the Carnegie and the Rockefellt>r Foundations, and for this purpose he succeeded in con tacting Dr. Vincent. He also looked in the possibility of taking advantage of a Congressional law that awarded the sum of $50,000 a year to graduates of agricultu raJ and mechanical arts colleges. Although he was dean of the College or Liberal Arts for two years only, yet he accomplished a great deal in stimulating the growth of certain activities. He started the first weekly convocations of his college, an institu tion which Dr. Benton continued and enlarged. Finding that the college was receiving the miserable sum of f'500 a year, he asked for an appropriation of f'10,000 and got it. He also succeeded in getting bigger sums for technical equipments. As director of the School of Business Administra tion, he lent the services of students and faculty to the business firms that needed their services. With this rich experience and these t>rlucational thoughts, Professor Benitez assumed the deanship of the College of Business Administration. Indeed, he is more than a mere head of his college; he founded the collegiate course in business; he developed it; he got the Sehool of Business Administration to administer the course; he built the business library for the school and the business corn· munity; and finally, with the support of Regent Carlos P. Romulo, he succeeded in having this type of univt>rsity (Please turn to page 88) a team which must pull toget.her to win. The cap tain of the team directs it but unless the indivi dual players give him a helping ha11d. unless there is teamwork, the team cannot win. It is no flattery to state that Dr. Benitez himself possesses to a high de gree the rare gift of evoking in others the spirit of cooperation. With quiet tact and re sourceful handling of men, he a ttracts in others the w ill ingness to giv e freely of their best ef forts. Of such stuff are leaders m ade. Warns recalcitrants For those, however, who will not cooperate he ha!" harsh words. "We do not need peo ple who do not want to harmonize their work with that of others. Thev are a lialibility and wiil deter us in our march to progress. If we ever have such people in our midst, we should get rid of them immediately and tell them that they are free to go elsewhere. The organiza tion must function like a well-oiled machine, each cog doing its part to make the mac hine be on the move." Harness Nature Through Science The harnessing of na ture through the medium of science is the second fundamental that Assist ant General Manager Be nitez lays down in assay ing the Elements of suc cess for the organization. This carries particuler importance for the Na tional Coconut Corpora tion whieh is embarked on (Please turn to payr .'JH) The COCONUT ,JOlJRNAL BENITEZ, EXECUTIVE . • • (Continued from pa.ge 10) a va$t program of industri'alization of the coconut and its by-products. Tpe nearly illimitable re servoir of industrial richeS which the coconut tree holds in its various parts fill one with amezement at the potentialities which the industrialization of this plant holds. Scientition of coconut by-products he feels that it should lead the way in the· search of scientific methods whereby the potentialities of these by products will be more fully exploited. The best means of assuring this, he says, is by having a. strong and progressive scientific· depart ment which shall uncreasingly labor on the fic experimentation and research along this line be said to be still in their swaddling clothes in the Philippines, yet we are already attaining surprising results. What scientific research will unlock in its advanced stages in future years may well be something to marvel at. He considers the abil ity of our coconut people to adopt themselves to a changing environment in their attitude toward:; the coconut a challenge to their educaton and progressiveness. "It is a real challenge to the capacity of our people," he says. "I say it is a real challenge to our capacity, because it cons titu.tes a. trial of our abil ity to adjust ourselves to a changing environment. An essential pre-requi site to that utilization is training and experience. I believe whole heartedly in the value of scientific research and I believe that every encourage ment should be given to scientists in their effort. CONRADO BENITEZ ... ( Contin1ted from pa.ge 10) · work given by the college of business. Because of his wide interest in educational matters that vitally concern the University of the Philippines, his name was mentioned when the Board of Regents was engaged in the task of selecting a successor of the late President Ignacio Villamor. He is well-known in Japan, China, and Canada for being twice delegate to the conferences of the Institute of Pacific ·Relations, and for being the executive secre· tary and director of the institute in the Philippines. Dean Benitez was member of the Filipino participa· tion in the Joint Preparatory Committee on Philippine Affairs appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States in consultation with President Quezon of the Philippines, for the purpose of studying the trade relations between the United States and the Philippines with a view to an orderly and adequate adjustment of the Philippine national economy. Once president of the Jose Rizal College, Dean Be nitez was formerly partner in the Abad Santos and Benitf>Z law firm at Manila, and alumni regent of the University of the Philippines. In the National Constitutional Convention he was chairman of the committee on industry, and member of the committees on public instruction, national defense, agricultural development, sponsorship, and selection or the resident commissioner under the Commonwealth. He was also member of the committee of. seven that drafted the Constitution. He is member of the Historical Research and Markers Committee, Board of Indeterminate Sentence, Pardon Board, Philippine Economic Association, and of the execu tive council of the Philippine Academy of Social Sciencf>s. He is editorial correspondent of the Pacific Af!rtirs; Phil ippine representative of thf> World Alliance for Interna tional Friendship; secretary and director of the Philippine Coconut Planters' Association; adviser of the Internal ional Club, U.P.; and organizer of the International Relations Club of the Philippines. scientific problems involved and reflect its progress in a continued expansion of its field of research. The Need for Ideals Speaking of. the objec tives of the Corporation, he came to the subject of ideals. It might appear at first blush that ideals have no relevant connec tion with the activities of the Corporation but Dr. Benitez quickly disabused the such of any Ideals c annot listene1· notion. be dissociated from every worthy enterprise, he said, and in the case of the National Coconut Corporation, the task en trusted to it is a noble one. That task, aceoJ·d ing to him, is a heavy responsibility in itself. "We who a re entrusted to utilize various coconut by-products. And not only is the application of scientific methods valuable to the exploitation of the by-products of the coconut but also to improvement in our methods of coconut farmin." with the task of car rying out the work of the Corporation must never forget that the Corporation haR a mission. That mission is the rehabilitation of the coconut indus try. It is a trust resposed in us. Therefore wt> should make the realization of that mission our ideal." Because one of the main objectives of the N a tiona! Coconut Corporation is the greater utiliza- -G.Z. UNLOCKING THE ... (Continued from, paye ?.n) Thus the coconut shell has been unlocked, mostly through the efforts of the National Coconut CorporaPage 38 tion Officials, who had faith , viHion and dared to at tempt.
Date: 1941
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