A third-generation engineering firm keeps upholding high customer-work standards
Manila Times article by Leah Salterio January 28, 2022
ANGEL Lazaro 3rd has been a civil engineer for 57 years, as his father Angel Lazaro Jr. before him and now, his daughter Michelle Lazaro-Payumo. He wouldn’t have had it any other way
Lazaro, an imposing figure, is the managing partner of Angel Lazaro and Associates International (ALAI), composed primarily of professionals and registered civil engineers. The company was set up by his late father, while his daughter Michelle is now a junior partner.
Lazaro, a 1964 graduate of the University of the Philippines, holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and passed the board examination the following year. His higher studies include a 1965 Master of Science in Engineering, a 1966 Master of Arts and a 1971 Doctor of Philosophy, all from Princeton University.
One strongly senses Lazaro’s obvious pride when he looks back on his company’s evolution. “Our ALAI office, located in Quezon City, has about 70 employees.” Throughout the years, his achievements have never failed to bring him great fulfillment, he tells Boardroom Watch. According to him, his projects have affected and benefited, not only individual Filipinos but the country’s economic progress as well.
Lazaro (center) takes his oath as chairman of the Board of Civil Engineering before the Professional Regulation Commission in 1997
With his wife Zeneida (center in red) and their children and grandchildren
With the ALAI strong team. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
But as the world is aware, a strange and baffling disease — Covid-19 — continues to wreck the best professional planning. The biggest challenge in the new normal is coordination with the client, between the different disciplines that are involved in a civil engineering project and between the individuals working in the project. Lazaro, however, refuses to give up entirely.
He says: “A generation ago, that challenge would have been almost impossible to address before the computer age,” Lazaro says. “But with the facilities available today, adjustments have not been that difficult to make. Most [professionals] involved in current projects are very comfortable with the different platforms available for communicating electronically.”
ALAI clients are veterans of the government and private sector. He believes the most effective way to ensure a close and effective relationship “is to be responsive to their needs and meet these in a timely manner.
“We must deal with all of them uniformly, making sure there are no celebrities or allowances made,” he stresses. “We should offer personalized service tailored to their specific needs.”
ALAI boasts a variety of projects throughout the Philippines, including some overseas. “When I was younger, I would regularly visit all our road, bridge and building projects,” Lazaro says. “I do not do that as much anymore. The last destinations I visited were our projects in Bangladesh and Vietnam, in the early 2000s.”
Tacit agreement
Keeping the division between the professional and parental roles has not been exceptionally difficult for Lazaro. He observes: “I have my work hours. After that, I am at home. From time to time, I bring my work home or stay longer in the office, but this is more the exception than the rule.
“My wife Zenaida and I had a tacit agreement that I would not meddle with her at home, and she would do the same with the office. However, this did not mean that one could not seek the help of the other. In the times I have asked for her help, she has been very supportive.”
Aside from their daughter Michelle, who is an ALAI junior partner and the next generation legacy leader, the couple has two sons, Victor and Daniel, as well as five lively grandkids.
In his younger years, the 6’2 executive starred in the UP varsity team and played bowling and billiards. Pre-Covid-19, he would spend time at the gym or golf links. Now, despite nearing his 80s, Lazaro is not fazed by retirement issues. “I am in front of my computer every day,” he declares. “I check my email and answer them as needed. I confer via Skype or Zoom with my staff to discuss our projects.
“From time to time, I study specific issues and problems, working out solutions, in most instances through the computer.”
There is only one person who has served as a burning model for him — his father and mentor Angel Jr., a man, who simply requested that his children always do their best in life. As a civil engineer, family man and Filipino, Angel Lazaro 3rd vows never to forget that promise.
