ALEXANDER ESCUCHA ADDRESSES FORRO CLAN IN 2009 REUNION Alex Escucha with wife Elizabeth Panis-Escucha and sons, Jose Miguel and Manuel Alejandro Cabatuan Town Plaza Cabatuan, Iloilo   2009 Introduction of MR. ALEXANDER C. ESCUCHA Mr. Escucha, first vice president of China Banking Corp., is a key member of China Bank’s management team – with responsibility for functional areas in multiple disciplines including Strategic Planning, Product Development, E-Banking, Cash Management, Marketing Services, Corporate Communications, Investors and Public Relations. He is also a key member of the Bank’s Technology Steering Committee. He is a member of the board of China Bank Savings Inc. (formerly Manila Bank), and a member of the savings bank Trust Committee. An important part of his work involves dealing with credit rating agencies such as Fitch Ratings, and dealing with the bank’s stockholders particularly the foreign institutional investors in Singapore, Hong Kong, London, and New York. Alex was born and raised in Cabatuan, Iloilo, the only son of Alfredo Tana Escucha and Juana Salillas Calero. Alfredo is the eldest son of Ignacio Escucha and Dominga Tana, who is from the Esteban-Petra line of the Forro clan. He is a product of the Philippine public school system. He finished his elementary education from Cabatuan Elementary School in 1969 where he graduated valedictorian. He also graduated from the Cabatuan National Comprehensive High School in 1973 as valedictorian, where he was editor in chief of the official publication The Glow for 2 years as a junior and as a senior. He started the first 2 years of his college education at UP Iloilo, where he served as managing editor of the UP Iloilo college publication which was renamed Ang Pagbutlak (formerly The Moderator). He then proceeded to the UP School of Economics in Diliman, Quezon City, where he also became editor in chief of Echoes, the official publication of the UP Economic Society. He obtained his AB economics degree in 1977 cum laude and he was the recipient of the highly coveted Gerardo Sicat Award for the Most Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis. He finished his college education as a National State Scholar, a scholarship program for “poor but deserving students”. Alex started his career as an economic/commercial analyst at the US Embassy in Manila, a first job that was already the most senior position for a Filipino. He then joined an investment bank, the Investment Underwriting Corp. of the Philippines (IUCP) where he rose to become a Senior Manager. He joined The International Corporate Bank (InterBank) in 1981 where he played a key role in the foreign investment by the American Express Bank in the Bank, and in the eventual privatization of InterBank that led to its merger with Union Bank of the Philippines. Then he joined China Banking Corporation in 1994, where is connected up to the present time. Alex has extensive involvement in various professional associations. He is a past president of the Corporate Planning Society of the Philippines (CPSP) in 1989, where he initiated the program of conducting strategic planning seminars for CPSP members. He is a past president of the Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines (BMAP) in 1999 and 2000, the association of professionals responsible for advertising and communications, where he organized highly successful bank marketing conventions. Mr. Escucha was president of the Philippine Economic Society (PES) in 2005, the national association of professional economists. During the same year, he was concurrent chairman of the Federation of ASEAN Economic Associations (FAEA), and he holds the distinction of having organized the most financially successful hosting by the Philippines of the ASEAN economic convention. In previous occasions where the Philippines was host of the ASEAN economic conventions, the finances of the Philippine Economic Society would be wiped out due to the heavy cost of hosting the airfare and accommodations of the ASEAN delegates. During Alex term as FAEA chairman, the convention generated a financial surplus for the first time for the Philippines. He has attended numerous conferences abroad, mainly in the US, Europe and Asia. He is a key international resource person for the The Asian Banker, a leading financial intelligence organization based in Singapore. He has served as co-chair of the Technology and Operations Council for the annual Asian Banker Summit, held in various cities around Asia such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Hanoi, Beijing and Shanghai. He also served as Chairman of the Asian Banker IT Implementation Awards Committee, which recognizes the best banks implementing technology in their businesses. Alex is one of the founding incorporators of BancNet, the largest ATM consortium in the country, and served as a member of the BancNet board of directors. He also served as Vice Chairman of the BancNet Marketing Committee. He is currently Vice Chairman of the UP Visayas Foundation Board of Trustees, where is the chairman of the Finance/Investments Committee responsible for the management of endowment and scholarship funds entrusted to the Foundation. As a member of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP), he was given the title Accredited in Public Relations (APR), a distinction given to a select group of professionals for demonstrating the ability to practice the public relations profession at the highest level. He is also a member of the invitation-only Philippine Association of Public Relations Counselors (PAPRC). He was listed in the International Who’s Who of Professionals, 1997 Edition. Alex has also been active in church organizations. He served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Mandaluyong City, during the construction of the Shrine, and later Chair of the Temporalities Committee. He is an elder in the Couples for Christ community, where he has been part of the community for 20 years having served as household head, unit head, chapter head and cluster head. He now serves as an adviser to the Couples for Christ International Council and a member of the Tekton Guild, the CFC socio-economic ministry. Alex has two sisters who have distinguished themselves in their own right. Inday Mary Ann is a lay sister with the Teresian Association (the ones running Poveda College) and she has served as the Association’s Secretary-General based in Rome and Madrid. “Inday Bamba” Barbara Escucha-Salazar is the country head of HEKS Philippines, a Swiss NGO based in Zurich, Switzerland involved in various projects helping farmers and small communities in Visayas and Mindanao. He is married to the former Elizabeth Panis of Sta. Ana, Manila with whom he has two sons, Jose Miguel and Manuel Alejandro. Miguel, born July 1987, is a graduating senior at the Ateneo de Manila University taking up Interdisciplinary Studies, while Andoy, born August 1990, is a junior at De La Salle University majoring in Psychology. CABATUAN AIRPORT Cabatuan.com (Bookmark this page for future reference)