Doris Magsaysay Ho

​Rayla Melchor Santos with DORIS MAGSAYSAY – HO,  Chair, ABAC (APEC Business Advisory Council) 2015 in Shangri-La, Boracay, Aklan, May 17, 2015 at APEC 2015

 

I know Doris as the daughter of my mom’s dear friend and fellow artist, Anita Magsaysay – Ho*. Doris and I share a beautiful and blessed gift: the unconditional and empowering love of a mother.  It is thus this tremendous grace that needs no words. Whenever we bump into each other in social and professional functions, and hug each other, our hugs have an extra, unspoken and common message: “I miss Mom and thank you, Mom!”

 

Doris is a person to admire and recognize.  As an advocate for women empowerment, she shortens the gender parity gap of 81 years.  I can say this because …
Ms. Doris Magsaysay Ho is the CEO of the Magsaysay Group of Companies which is involved in shipping, logistics, human resources, marine travel and tourism. She is also the President and CEO of Magsaysay Transport & Logistics Group, the shipping arm of the Magsaysay Group of Companies.  She serves as a Director or Trustee of Batangas Bay Carriers, Inc. Creatives Asia Company, Inc. & Filipinas Maritime Transport Corporation. She was a Member of the Business Advisory Board at Healthpoint Capital, LLC. She serves as a Trustee at The Asia Society.

 

Ms. Ho was recognized as the Global Filipino Executive of the Year at the Asia CEO Awards in 2012. In 2011, Ms. Ho also received the Lloyd’s List Asia 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award for her outstanding contribution in the shipping industry. In 2010, she ranked 94th in the Lloyd’s List of 100 Most Influential People in the Shipping Industry. Ms. Ho also received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Social Responsibility in 2004.
(http://www.magsaysay-logistics.com/about/page/23/74/Doris_Magsaysay_Ho & http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=7421613&ticker=LSC:PM)

 

I hug Doris today as the Chair of the APEC Business Advisory Council … but I will always know and hug her as the daughter of Anita Magsaysay – Ho, Mom’s dear friend and fellow artist.

 

* Tita Anita would have been a National Artist for Visual Arts had it not been for a nationality issue.  In Mom’s invitation, on the back, to a solo exhibit, “Impressions by Merci Melchor” in 1996,  Tita Anita is quoted as saying: “Merci is a fine, dedicated artist … paints mostly in pastel and oil.  Her paintings have a lot of movement, and her colors are pleasing. She is a very promising artist, and I think she would reach greater heights. “ She also cut the ribbon at the opening Mom’s exhibit “Fascination”.
Mom and Tita Anita would paint, dance (Makarena) and travel together. Tita Anita was also the classmate of Mom’s aunt at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts.