Manila Board in 75 Years
HISTORIC MOMENTS
First there was ONE
Manila Board of Realtors, the first and
foremost board in the Philippines,
was organized on November 7, 1938. It
was originally named the “Manila Realty Board.”
Its founders were: Macario
Arabejo, Jose Araneta, Federico Calero, Jose Felix, Colin Hoskins, Rosendo
Subido Jr., J. Perez de Tagle, and Tomas de Vera.
Then there were TWO
MBR
members Lucio Ildefonso, Federico Calero and Aurelio Aquino took the first bold
steps to spread realtorism in the country.
With their help, the Davao Realty Board was organized and eventually
incorporated with the SEC in 1951.
In
1952, the Manila Board itself registered with the SEC as the “Manila Board of
Realtors, Incorporated.” At that time, it
was already the country’s exclusive affiliate board of the prestigious National
Association of Real Estate Boards (NAREB), USA and was given the right to use
the term and trademark “Realtors.” Among the incorporators of MBRI were: Federico Calero, Colin Hoskins, Lucio
Ildefonso, Teodoro Kalaw, Jr., Gervacio de Ocampo, Jr., Rosendo Subido, Antonio
Varias, Artemio Valencia,
and Tomas de Vera. All of them, except
one, eventually served as president of MBR.
In
1953, Antonio Varias succeeded Calero as MBR president. He felt that the two boards (Manila
and Davao) were
not enough to constitute a truly national association. Varias wanted
more boards organized in other urban centers of the country. In 1955, he appointed a committee
to organize more REALTOR Boards. An intensive campaign was
launched. People who wanted to become real estate brokers were taught and made
to take the broker's licensing examination. Five years later 7 more
boards were formed.
And then there NINE.
It
takes nine months to make a baby. It
took nine boards to give birth to PAREB. Five years later the Philippine
Association of Realtors Boards (PAREB) was born. The organizing members were
leaders from 9 Boards and 6 individuals.
The
first PAREB member boards were -- Manila
Board of Realtors, Davao City Realtors Board, Quezon City Board of
Realtors, Pasay City
Realtors Board, Baguio
Realtors Board, Bicol Realtors Board, Cavite Realtors Board, Cebu Board of Realtors, and Negros
Realtors Board. The individual founding
members were -- Ernesto G. Castaneda; Ramon
F. Cuervo, Jr.; Alberto E. Filamor; Artemio U. Valencia;
Rosendo V. Donida; Ciriaco N. Montano
A
formal signing of the PAREB Articles of Incorporation, which was held on
April 29, 1960, and it was formally notarized on May 15, 1960 (adopted as
the birthday of PAREB) and approved by the SEC on June 2,
1960.
The individuals listed and signing as incorporators were
-- Marcelo
S. Balatbat; Alfredo Buot; Federico
Calero; Juan Espolong; Colin M.
Hoskins; Lucio Ildefonso; Teodoro Kalaw, Jr.; Aurelio Locsin; Macario Mariano; Domingo Pascual; Juan M.
Ruiz; Rosendo O. Subido; Antonio Varias; Tomas de Vera; Juan F. Zarate
Notably, 7 out of the 15 were past presidents of Manila
Board.
For decades, Manila Board continues to be at the forefront
of “realtorism” in the country. That
tradition goes on. Year after year, MBR
has led in conducting review seminars for agents taking the DTI licensing
examinations and increasing their ranks as the real estate economy grows. Today, MBR continues to be one of the most
respected and largest realty associations in the country with about 300
members.
For 2013, the Manila Board is led by President Wilfredo
Segovia, a real estate broker, appraiser and civil engineer. With the strong support of 16 past presidents
who are still active members, MBR celebrates its 75th anniversary in
2013 with the theme – “Serving real estate 75 years”.
The history of the Manila Board of Realtors will not be
complete without mentioning the names of its dedicated leaders, the Past
Presidents –
The linkage with NAR
The
Manila Board of Realtors brought the REALTOR trademark to our country.
On
February 3, 1953 NAREB recognized MBR as a national organization and
elected REALTOR Federico Calero as a NAREB Director.
Manila
Board was accredited as an affiliate of the National Association of
Realtors Board of the USA (NAREB,
now the NAR-USA). MBR members were
given the right to use of the trademark REALTOR® in doing real estate business
in the Philippines.
The trademark was patented to NAREB and registered with the U. S. Patent
Office (Document Nos. 519780 and
515200) and with the Philippines Patent Office (Document No. 5385).
But
when the national association PAREB became reality, Manila Board turned over
its exclusive accreditation and shared it with all other member boards of the
national association.
On November 2, 1960, NAREB signed an agreement
with PAREB. The agreement effected recognition of PAREB as
a national association and as NAREB's sole affiliate in the Philippines. Also, the
agreement passed on from the Manila Board of Realtors to PAREB, its
constituent boards and members the authority to use the
trademark REALTOR® and the block "R" logo in doing real estate
business in the Philippines. NAREB
president C. Arnel Nutter signed for NAREB and PAREB president
Antonio Varias for PAREB. Witnessing the signing, which was held at the
Ceremonial Hall of Malacañang Palace, were Philippine President Carlos P.
Garcia and U.S. Ambassador John Heckerson.
Over the years, PAREB grew to become the largest
organization of real estate service practitioners in the country. But along the way, the historic affiliation
with NAR was not renewed and in 2011, NAR shifted its local affiliation from
PAREB to CREBA.
