Profile: Alex Corpus Hermoso
He graduated with award in AB Sociology
President of the Graduating Class of 1979
President of the Sociological Society
Recognized as Best Actor of the College Dramatic Guild Club
Champion in College Declamation Contest
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Mr. ALEX CORPUS HERMOSO started
his education in Adamson University and finished at Columban College
in Olongapo City. As a student he helped to organize the
Sociological Society became the founding President He graduated with
award in Sociology and the President of the graduating Class of
1978-79. He was also known to be active what was then known as
Columban Dramatic Society being the best actor and was acclaimed as
best declaimer. As a young student activist during the Martial Law
regime he helped to establish the PREDA Foundation, Inc. in 1974
with Fr. Shay Cullen, a Columban Missionary from Ireland and Merly
Ramirez (deceased), who later became his beloved wife and have 3
children. The organization which he co-founded is now known as the
People’s Recovery, Empowerment and Development Assistance
Foundation or PREDA Foundation.
As a young student activist during his time at Columban College, he is known to have initiated campaigns against the Nuclear Plant in Bataan. He was also a national personality in the campaign to convert the US Bases in the Philippines. He was the founding Chairperson of the Kampanya Para sa Sariling Industriya at Nasyonalismo or KASARINLAN, a network of NGOs, Pos and individual social activists in Olongapo and Zambales who campaigned relentlessly for the abrogation of the US Bases Treaty. KASARINLAN was the local campaign network of the national Anti-Bases Coalition headed by Senators Diokno and Tanada. It was then an unpopular political stand in the City of Olongapo where most people favor the retention of the US Bases but nevertheless, he made his firm belief and now takes pride in being one of the personalities involved in the national and international campaign to convert the Subic Naval Base into what it is appreciated today, Subic is now a thriving commercial freeport and industrial park. His personal struggle during that time is a recorded historical fact having been the co-author of the Conversion Plan submitted to the joint Executive-Legislative Bases Council headed by UP President Abueva.
He also takes pride of the organization which he helped to set up and develop into what it is today from its humble beginning as Regional Youth Drug Rehabilitation Center with the highest success rate and as Center for Basic Community Organizing during the Martial Law regime. Today his work with Preda and with Fr. Shay Cullen is recognized and a recipient of prestigious International recognition and awards and a nominee to the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 2001 and 2003. Preda received the Human Rights Awardee from the City of Ferrara, Italy and Germany, Caritas Switzerland Award and several other recognitions abroad. As the founding Programme Director he directly manages the Social Welfare and Development Programmes and Services of the PREDA Foundation. Unknown to many, the organization that he co-founded is Internationally recognized and with partnerships in European countries, Australia, Japan and USA. Preda-Italy and Preda-Ireland are now being established.
HIGHLIGHTS OF HIS ACCOMPLISHMENT AS INTERNATIONAL ADVOCATE ON CHILDREN'S RIGHTS, YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT:
At present he is one of the three (3) permanent NGO Representatives to the Central Luzon Sub-Committee on the Welfare of Children, Regional Development Council, Central Luzon.
He has represented the Philippines and the work of the PREDA Social Development Foundation in various national and international Conferences, Workshops and Seminars. As a resource person, delegate and advocate, he frequently travels to European countries. He has made presentations and lectures on Philippine contemporary social problems, human rights issues, and child and youth welfare issues in Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Italy, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Ireland, Netherlands, Australia, and in the US. He was in Spain for a similar advocacy and promotional campaign.
In 1990 he was one of the panelists and paper presenter in the World Council on University Curriculum and Instructions held in Sydney, Australia.
In March 1993, Mr. Hermoso was in the United States to act as one of the representatives and spokesperson of the PREDA Foundation in its Class Action Suit against the US Navy on behalf of Filipino-Amerasian children and their mothers. He is now the Director of a project dedicated to assist the Filipino-Amerasian Children and Youth.
He is one of the founding Board Members of the Philippine section of ECPAT, a global movement seeking to End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for sexual purposes. The organization is active in more than 20 countries. In 1992 he was a panelist during the first ECPAT Global conference held in Bangkok. ECPAT is operating in more than 25 countries. ECPAT received the award given by the World Tourism Council for its preventive campaign against sex tourism.
In 1999 he was the only Filipino who was invited to the International Experts Meeting in the UNESCO headquarters in Paris and presented a paper on Child Abuse and Pornography on the Internet before the UN representatives.
On May this year, he was invited to present a paper on Child Pornography on the Internet at the International Symposium in the University of Toronto, Canada that was organized by the Faculty of Law.
HIS WORK IN ADVOCATING FAIR TRADE DEVELOPMENT AND EXPORT PROMOTIONS:
As a Business Director, he represents the PREDA FAIR TRADE PRODUCTS in the International Business Conferences of the Alternative Trading Organizations. The first of such conferences conducted every two years was held in Salzburg, Austria. During the same period in 1986 he visited eleven (11) cities in France to campaign for export-import trading partnerships between French NGOs and their Philippine counterparts. The same promotional campaign was done for the Dutch speaking population of Belgium.
In 1993, he helped organize the International Conference of the International Federation of Alternative Trading (IFAT) Organizations with participants from 55 countries across the continents of Asia, North and South America and Africa. The PREDA Foundation hosted the 2nd International biennial conference, the first held in a Third World country.
He was the founding President of the Canada Assisted Community Enterprise Development, Inc. or CACEDI - a network of more than 50 NGOs and POs all over the archipelago assisted by the Canadian Embassy and the Canadian International Development Assistance (CIDA). For three successive years, the proponents under his leadership have organized national Trade Fairs in Glorietta and SM Mega Trade Hall. Since then the organizations sustained their markets here and abroad.
He helped to organized the Philippine Fair Trade Forum and was elected as the founding Chairperson. He currently represents the Philippine Fair Trade Forum with other leading Philippine Fair Trade delegates to the ASIA-Fair Trade Forums in Jakarta, Indonesia, Vietnam and recently in Thailand.
He remains as the official delegate to the International Federation of Alternative Trade (IFAT) and recently represented the Preda Fair Trade and the Philippine Fair Trade Forum in the Global IFAT Conference in New Castle, United Kingdom.
At present he is the President of the Community Crafts Association of the Philippines (CCAP). An association of community enterprises that export various furnishings and novelty products from the Philippines based in Manila where he also holds office.
OTHER REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENTS IN SOCIAL ORGANIZING AND ADVOCACY TO PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS:
He is one of the convenors and founding member of the coalition of Development NGOs in Olongapo and Zambales that was very active during the Mt. Pinatubo emergency relief and rehabilitation period. It is through his initiative that the Olongapo-Zambales Civil Society Network is now again active in pursuing justice for all.
He was elected Member of the Council of Leaders in the Regional Central Luzon Coalition of NGOs and Pos who later elected him as the Private Sector Representative to the Regional Development Council (RDC) of Central Luzon, Region 3 in 1996 to 1998 and served as a member of the RDC Committee on Socio-Economic Development.
He represents PREDA Foundation in the National Inter-agency Committee on Drug Abuse Prevention spearheaded by the Dangerous Drugs Board under the Office of the President. He is recognized and awarded as a member of the national speaker's bureau on Drug Abuse Prevention and Drug Rehabilitation. On two occasions he was awarded by the Philippine Government as one of the official delegates in conferences and trainings in South East Asian countries.
Aside from his commitments and undertakings in Social Development, Mr. Hermoso still have ample time being a businessman. Mr. Alex Corpus Hermoso however, sees to it that his personal businesses no matter how big or small does not have conflict of interest over his duties and responsibilities in Social Development and Fair Trade Export of Philippine Products.
As a successful businessman he was one of the Incorporators of the Mactan Cable TV Network in Cebu and later as co-owner of the Cordova Cable TV Network also in Cebu. He is involved in other small businesses including real estate and other worthwhile endeavors. END