Ms. Leony C. de la Llana, Senior Vice President and Head, Customer Retail Services of the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO), was invited by the Total Quality Management (TQM) Office of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to be the Resource Speaker at the Subic Quality Forum held at the Board Room of Building 229 (SBMA’s Administration building) last June 11, 2010.
The Forum was attended by SBMA’s high ranking officials that included Atty. Joy Alvarado, Senior Deputy Administrator and Head, Regulatory Group; Atty. Robert S. Martinez, Deputy Administrator (DA) for Administration; Ms. Knette Fernando, DA for Corporate Communications; Mr. Joel Ea, Manager, Internal Audit Service Department; Ms. Paulita Yee, Manager, Treasury Department; Ms. Amy Canonizado, Manager, Accounting Department; Ms. Amethya de la Llana-Koval, Department Manager, Ecology Center; Ms. Marietta Fe Dumlao, Officer in Charge, Transportation and Communications Department; Mr. Joey Lacanlale, Officer in Charge, Management Information System (MIS) Office; and other SBMA and locators’ officials or their representatives.
Ms. De la Llana’s presentation was titled “The Theory and Practice of TQM” and cited MERALCO’s experience relevant to the topics she discussed.
In her very lively discussion, Ms. De la Llana cited her experiences when she was TQM head of MERALCO, and strongly stressed the importance of the head of the organization to believe in the concept of Total Quality Management pointing out that, without it, nothing will happen. She added that, “even if you give me the best TQM expert… the best TQM consultant, if the leader is not a TQM champion and not ready to do it with me, no deal!”
Ms. De la Llana also reminded her audience that TQM is a way of life directed towards the satisfaction of the internal and external customers of the organization. She emphasized that “it is not something I will do because the boss is here… it is a way of life that we should embrace,” and that “it is applicable both to your personal life as well as your official life.” She likened 5S of TQM to the way “how you organize your life... your kitchen... your cabinet...”
According to Ms. De la Llana, another process essential to TQM is "transformation". She pointed out that “we cannot go into TQM unless we go into restructuring process; not unless we reinvent the way we do things; not unless we reengineer some of our processes and empower our people”. She quickly added, however, that “we can only empower people if they have the skills and competence”.
Ms. Leonisa Cuayo-de la Llana has a Master’s degree in Economics from the Utah State University, U.S.A. and earned her BS degree in Economics from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. She was a College Scholar at the U.P. School of Economics and recipient of the Dean’s Medal for Excellence.
In her 28 years of service in MERALCO, the country’s leading power distribution company, Ms. Leony de la Llana has held top positions and became the first woman ever in that company to get to the position of Vice President.
Ms. Leony de la Llana has had various speaking engagements in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and in the Philippines and has delivered various papers on many subjects and topics which included Human Resource Management Update, Harnessing Executive Talent & Potentials, HR and Corporate Planning, Leadership and Organization Transformation, Business Excellence and ISO Certification, and Women in the Workplace, among others.
A high level speaker, Ms. De la Llana did her thing with passion and articulateness fascinating what seemed like a “star-struck” audience very much like how an amazing performance in a television talent search wowed both the judges and the audience.
Ms. Leony de la Llana, Quality Speaker, arrived earlier than the scheduled time
Mr. Buds Fernando and Atty. Joy Alvarado chat with the Resource Speaker
Sir Buds Fernando introducing the Resource Speaker
Beauty-and-brain Leonisa Cuayo-de la Llana, the Resource Speaker
Ms. Leony de la Llana starts her presentation
Participants easily got fascinated by the very bright and articulate Speaker
Leony de la Llana reads the outline of her topic
Senior Deputy Administrator, Deputy Administrators, & Department Managers among the participants
OIC of Ecology Center; Senior Deputy Administrator Alvarado; OIC of Transcom Dept., DM of Accounting Dept., DM of Treasury Dept. in attendance
The Resource Speaker cites the MERALCO experience
"We in MERALCO, when we say 7:30 am, it has to be 7:30 am..."
The Question and Answer portion of the Forum
Ms. Leony de la Llana intelligently answers questions
"Total Quality Management" class picture
Tin-Tin Geronimo, Media Relations Office; SDA Joy Alvarado, Regulatory Group; Ms. Leony Cuayo-de la Llana; & Amethya de la Llana-Koval, OIC, Ecology Center
Goddy Ramirez and other SBMA TQM Office staff
The talk continues even at lunch time
Mr. Bubong Antonio, Ms. Leony de la Llana, Mr. Buds Fernando, & Mr. Noli Manuel
Ms. Leony Cuayo-de la Llana, Senior Vice President, MERALCO
Quality people at a quality restaurant with quality foods
Ms. Leony de la Llana attentively listens to Mr. Bubong Antonio
TQM heads, private and otherwise
Leony, Goddy, & Buds
Goddy approaches Leony for a souvenir photo
One shot
One more
And another one
Two old friends and former classmates meet again
Classmates no more but still friends
Thank you, Ms. Leony Cuayo-de la Llana for your invaluable contribution to the Subic Quality Club and SBMA!
