The Manila Times

‘Humanizing insurance for Filipinos’

“We believe in our philosophy of humanizing insurance or insurance looking into the human side of what we do and offer.”

BY MAAN D’ASIS PAMARAN

THE pandemic has made Filipinos more aware about protecting their future, particularly in making sure they are covered for their health care needs. Etiqa Philippines, which has been in the country for over 40 years as one of the leading group health providers for multinational and local corporations, has expanded its reach to individual consumers through online channels and its partnership with Maybank Philippines.

At the helm of this mission to offer more Filipinos prompt and reliable health care services in over 1,600 accredited hospitals and clinics nationwide with 30,000 doctors, and a 24/7 in-house call center is its President and Chief Executive Officer Rico Bautista.

Bautista is no stranger to the insurance industry, with it being a “family business” or as he puts it: “My family was bred, fed and educated by the pre-need and the life insurance industries. My father started as a life insurance agent during his college days. His life transformed into a rags-to-riches story because of selling pre-need and life insurance products.”

The elder Bautista worked as a house helper with his mother in one of his town’s wealthiest clans. After graduating from college, he became a mailman and married another government employee. “Imagine raising seven children from the province, but eventually, he was able to send everyone to prestigious schools and universities, the majority of them in Metro Manila. All of his children now are very much settled with their own individual families and pursuing their successes,” he added with pride.

Footsteps and digital footprints

He followed in his father’s footsteps after obtaining his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy degree from the University of Santo Tomas. “A few years after university graduation, without my father’s knowledge, I applied to the president of the company where he was an agency manager with his own sales force. I got accepted and became a regional sales manager of the area where my father was operating. So, the set-up was that my father was “reporting” to me, and I was “handling” him with all of his sales force.”

The arrangement would lead to his father being the company’s number one agency manager for five consecutive years. He stayed in that company for more than 11 years and became the national sales head before moving on to other insurance companies.

His vision for Etiqa is influenced by his years of experience in the industry. “My vision for Etiqa is to be the leading Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) insurer in the Philippines! Our roots are Asean; therefore, we want to be strong in our lines of business, both in the life and nonlife operations. More practically, we want to be part of the Top 10 players both in the life and nonlife industries in the Philippines.”

Etiqa Philippines is one of the very few companies with a composite license in the country, meaning the company can sell both life and nonlife products. Rico builds on this difference by launching their Go Unified campaign. “With this, one can get life, health and nonlife products under one company, one roof and one brand. Our clients can get all their insurance needs from one company without having to deal with different brokers, agents, banks, partners and many insurance companies. Our distributors do not have to carry several different insurance companies. They only need to deal with Etiqa Philippines, and we will be able to make available for them almost all of the insurance products present in the market.”

He also describes Etiqa as an “insuretech company.” “We might not be entirely digital in all of our operations, but we have set the footprints for Etiqa Philippines to be at the forefront of what technology has to offer. We are embarking on our digital journey aggressively.”

Passion and productivity

Rico believes that proper planning and passion in action is the key to good execution “When I see something good, I pursue it, and I pursue it passionately. This has been my driving principle in my career. At the same time, I plan for where I will bring the organization, organize the teams around it and work together to achieve the vision. Another essential element is that I tend to favor action more than a very detailed plan of doing things. Plans are necessary, but doing the right action is more crucial in accomplishing the tasks at hand.”

Though busy with work, he nurtures the other areas of his life. He enjoys time away from the office with his wife and their four daughters, with activities such as playing sports, eating together at home or at restaurants and going on road trips. “When my wife and I got married, we decided not to have a TV at home. Because of this, we can spend time on board games, reading or just telling stories, even up to the wee hours of the morning. We have traditions like prayers together and celebrating the Lord’s Day every Saturday evening. We love being together.”

He makes sure to look after his family life, health, social life, spiritual life and even his mental state. “Prioritization is key, including time management. I read the book Atomic Habits, which reinforces what I do to make my day productive and points into the areas I need to improve. All the aspects of my life are being considered every time and not just one area the entire time.”

One of the keys to his longevity in the industry is that he is definitely pleased with his work. “Happiness at work can be described in several ways. One is finding satisfaction in what you do. If you find value in what you are doing, then you find purpose, and it gives you happiness. If you believe you are doing something greater than yourself, you tend to be satisfied and therefore find joy at work. If you find your sense of meaning in what you are doing, you will indeed find happiness.”

He is further motivated by the fruits of his labor. “It gives you the sense that you are doing things right in the job assigned to you. It is your sense of accomplishment. When you can help others in your work, you become happy. It is a human tendency that you become happy in life when you are able to help others. Therefore, it is essential that you help other people in your company and not just necessarily from your department. This is your sense of community.” He added that mistakes are a part of life, and that they help you grow. “Accepting your limitations and mistakes in life gives you that sense of self-awareness. In the end, it is about your mindset of finding your sense of purpose, having a sense of meaning, achieving a sense of accomplishment.”

With the fulfillment he gets from his job that adds value to others, Bautista said he wants to retire with Etiqa Philippines. “We are just starting with many important projects that will let us scale up. So, 10-15 more years of working with the company will allow me to finish the things we have embarked on. At the same time, the reason I want to stay in the insurance industry, aside from my family being benefited by such, is because it is an industry where our products give much value during the uncertain times of sickness, accidents, hospitalization, calamities and even deaths. We are there during the critical moments in the lives of people.”

His passion and purpose combines well with the company philosophy. “We believe in our philosophy of humanizing insurance or insurance looking into the human side of what we do and offer. Moreover, we are living by our purpose of making the Philippines a better place. This is our drive and passion in everything that we do!”

Boardroom Watch

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2022-10-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/281930251874210

The Manila Times