Conquering the road less travelled

Taking the road less taken is not Robert Frost's monopoly. There were numerous precursors before him, and there will be more venturesome souls in the coming generations, more so that men and women today have learned to value self-flight in search of their pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow, or have realized the significance of freedom in pursuit of their dreams. Taking the route least traveled by manifests strong-mindedness and resolve for more challenges, even to the breaking point. After all, it is a way of living life to the hilt which, more often than not, makes heroes out of ordinary mortals.

To politics he was born, just like his brother, Edgar Chatto who, for the past many years has proven himself equal to the quirks of political razzmatazz, by surviving in a world where when the going gets tough, it's the tough who gets going. Efren Migriño Chatto could have been another pedigree in the political arena, with a bloodline indisputably palatable to Boholanos: an uncle was once a Governor, his father an undefeated Mayor and Congressman, his mother presently lording it over at Balilihan's Sangguniang Bayan, and his brother a Congressman. But he opted to explore a field, starting as a neophyte, and emerging as the champion. This is a success story in a business where no other Boholano entrepreneur is known to have prospered.

Efren was born in Manila on August 1, 1956 , when his father, Iladio I. Chatto was still serving as a Congressman of the First District of Bohol. His mother is Victoria Migriño-Chatto, from Dauis, Bohol . She is presently serving her third term as Mayor of the Municipality of Balilihan . Now residing in Baguio City , Efren is married to Veronica Modequillo-Chatto from Davao . They met while she was taking up a course in Dental Medicine at Southwestern University in Cebu City . They are blessed with four children. Mark Paolo is now 20 years old, and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology student at Ateneo de manila University. Efren Dominique us 18 and taking up Legal Management also at Ateneo. Katherine Therese, at 15, is a third year secondary school student at St. Louis University , Baguio City . The youngest, 12-year old Patrise Ysabel is in first year high school, also at St. Louis University .

He graduated from the University of San Carlos with an AB Economics degree as Cum Laude in 1976. Right after graduation he was employed as Credit Investigator of Manila Banking Corporation and, because of excellent performance, was promoted as Branch Manager, a position he held until 1981. During this time, MBC was already investing in agri-business in Manila while sourcing agri-products like strawberries, raspberries and blackberries from Baguio and Bukidnon. Sensing an opportunity for advancement in a new field, he opted to leave his routinary bank job and concentrated his time in the firm's agri-business, exporting agri-products to Hongkong. The cut-flower industry became his main obsession, and he concentrated on it. Now, as President of King Louis Flowers and Plants, Inc., a position he held since 1982, he has distributors in Metro Manila, Baguio , Cebu , Bacolod , Iloilo , Bohol , and other cities all over the country.

Efren M. Chatto has been involved in the cut-flower for the past 23 years now. His company is one of the pioneers in the commercial production of cut-flowers in the Philippines and considered among the biggest in the country today. Efren has directly stirred the company since its inception and has been responsible for bringing in the new varieties of flowers from other countries and growing them locally. His drive for always searching something new and passion for growing them at the best quality has significantly changed the beautiful assortments of blooms available in our markets today.

In the mid 90's, he realized that getting ahead alone in his field is a lonely journey. So, he decided to assist other farmers in Benguet shift into cut-flower growing from not so rewarding vegetable farming. He directly assisted 35 farmers, trained them in cut-flower production, helped them in securing loans from banks to finance their greenhouse construction, provided them with planting materials and technology and helped them in marketing their produce. This partnership with the smaller partners proved successful through the years resulting to visible improvements in the farmers' incomes and standards of living. This scheme is now being adopted and promoted nationwide by industry experts, encouraging “big brother – small brother” partnerships for big growers to help smaller growers for mutually beneficial results.

It was during this time that Efren founded, together with the other growers in Benguet, the Baguio-Benguet Cut-flower Growers Federation, an association composed of several cut-flower growers' cooperatives in the province of Benguet. For over a decade now, Efren has also involved himself in the National Cut-flowers Growers Federation and had served as President of the said organization in 1998 and 1999. His involvement in the national federation has given him the opportunity to help lobby for policy reforms and introduce improvements in government policies affecting the sector making it more attractive to investors in the cut-flower and ornamental industry.

It was also during his stint as President of the National Federation in 1998 that the federation partnered with the Department of Tourism under Sec. Mina Gabor to jointly organize the “Florikultura” a month-long international Floral Exhibition in Pampanga. His efforts did not go unnoticed. As early as 1997, and every year since then, he has been a recipient of certificates of appreciation for participation and support to the Panagbenga Flower Festival. On March 22, 2006 he was an awardee of the NIA Employees and GAD Focal System for organizing a Floral Demo. In September 2003 his expertise was internationally recognized with the Floral Nobel Prize Award by the World Flower Council.

Efren's interest was not limited to the growing of flowers. He also joined the World Flower Council, an international organization composed of flower shop operators, floral designers, etc. with home office at the United States . They have membership in over 26 countries across North America , Europe , and the Pacific Rim . Although not a floral artist himself, Efren organized the flower shop operators, floral artists and designers from the Philippines and invited them to join the World Flower Council. Through regular attendance in the annual summits of the organization, our local florists learned from the other members from different countries and this led to considerable improvement in the floral arrangement designs and techniques being adopted now by our local florists. Efren is the founding President of the WFC-Philippine Chapter and he was recently designated as Vice-Chairperson for Asia and the Pacific Rim of the World Flower Council International.

Moreover, his involvement as President and Chairman of the Cordillera Agribusiness Research and Technology Center , a non-profit NGO, has also allowed him to help other farmers in the Cordilleras improve their ventures. They encourage formation and strengthening of farmer organizations and do collective marketing of their produce linking them to institutional buyers. Among the sectors they have been assisting are the coffee growers, cutflower and vegetable farmers in the region.

Efren has also farming projects in other areas-an ornamental, cutfoliage and flower bulb in Bulacan, a cutflower and flower bulb farm in Intavas, Bukidnon and a Passion Fruit farm and fruit puree processing plant in Lantapan, Bukidnon for export to Japan. It has been quite a long way for this gentleman from Balilihan…from the school portals, to the world of banking, to becoming a by-word in the cut-flower business. This is the road he has taken and will continue to pave for a long, long time.

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