Philippine memorial industry leader Eternal Gardens recognized its top producers for 2017 during its Grand Annual Awards Night held last April 25, 2018, Wednesday, at the Citystate Tower Hotel in Ermita, Manila.
In his keynote address before the sales personnel, officers, and employees of Eternal Gardens, Mayor Danilo Fernandez of the City of Santa Rosa, who was the guest of honor at the event, likened the memorial care company to Santa Rosa, saying that both the company and the city have embraced change and innovation in order to bring about improvement.
“Eternal Gardens maximizes the use of land space to provide products other than the traditional memorial lot, now there are those apartment-style structures, crematories and chapels. This is the change needed to go on with continuous improvement,” Fernandez said. In the same way, the mayor pointed out, Santa Rosa City has transformed itself from a municipality to a modern city, from an agricultural zone to an industrial zone, to bring about improvement in the lives of its people.
In his own message to the Eternal Gardens sales force, company chairman and chief executive officer D. Edgard A. Cabangon lauded the awardees for their outstanding sales performance in 2017. “We commend and admire you for your great role in the continuing success of Eternal Gardens,” he said.
Eternal Gardens Board Director T. Anthony C. Cabangon, on the other hand, pointed out that despite possible challenges that the company may meet in the future, the sales force of the company should always strive for growth every year to make it stronger than ever. “We have to excel yearly. We have to grow every year from strength to strength to continue our legacy of excellence,” Cabangon said.
More than 50 sales associates were honored for top sales production in various categories during the Awards Night. They include Helen Abesa, top general agency manager; Nayda Cuenca, top regular unit manager; and Rosemarie Tang Lee Say, top regular sales counselor, who was also named Family Estate Specialist of the Year.
This year’s Rookie of the Year awardees were Juvy Manalo, Regular Unit Manager; and Florencia Mea, Regular Sales Counselor. For the Garden League category, the top awardees were Ma. Theresa Manlapig, top league manager; and Rachelle Anne Aguilar, top sales counselor.
Specialist Awards were also handed out to individuals who excelled in a particular area of sales. They were Alita Casinillo, Lawn Specialist of the Year; Mario Jojo Manalo, Garden Specialist of the Year; Apolonio Abesa, Account Specialist of the Year; and Marites Ramirez, Spot Cash Specialist of the Year.
Aside from the awarding ceremony, there was also a Search for the Male and Female Stars of the Night, which was won by Naga Branch, through their representatives Rodolfo Pacheco, Sr. and Josephine Reyes. During their traditional dance, the couple was serenaded by one of the country’s top performers Randy Santiago, who also entertained the crowd with medleys of upbeat songs and some of his greatest hits.
Another highlight of the evening was the grand raffle draw of exciting cash prizes. The following day, qualified sales managers and agents flew to Taiwan with the branch managers and executives as part of their incentives for a very productive year.
Eternal Gardens was founded by Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua in 1976 and is part of the Eternal Group that includes Eternal Crematory Corp., Eternal Chapels, and Eternal Plans Inc. It currently has memorial parks in Baesa, Caloocan City; the cities of Biñan and Santa Rosa, both in Laguna; Dagupan, Lipa, two in Batangas (Balagtas and Concepcion), Naga, Cabanatuan, and Cagayan de Oro, for a total of 10.
