Brigido R. Valencia
Before and during the war Brigido R. Valencia served in the Philippine Army as a commissioned officer in the Corps of Engineers. From there, he would become a successful businessman as well as a public servant. Serving as the secretary of Public Works and Communications.
After the war, he went into the construction business in Davao City. He widened his business interest to include logging operations, imports and exports, agricultural development, financing and investments construction, car distribution and sales, deep sea fishing, and real estate.
He held the positions of president and general manager of Mindanao Lumber Co., Inc.; BR Valencia and Co., Inc.; Minda Development Co., Inc.; Wise Financing Corporation, Inc.; Mindanao Fishing Co., Inc. (MINFISCO, Inc.); Valencia Construction Co., Inc.; (VALCONS); Valiant Auto Sales Corporation; and Valiant Motor Service Corporation. He was also chairman of the Board and president of the Manila Gas Corporation, executive vice president of the Munoz Press Inc., and a stakeholder of the Manila Banking Corporation.
He was one of the founders of Mindanao Colleges, a former president of the UP alumni Association (Davao chapter), Davao Association of Civil Engineers and Contractors, Rotary Club of Davao City, and the Philippine Association of Log Producers and Exporters (PCPE); likewise a member of the Philippine Society of Civil Engineers, the Rotary Club of Manila and the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.
Valencia did not just keep himself busy with his business enterprises, as well as his civic duties, he also strove to excel in his endeavors. Evidence of these are the awards he received such as the Lumberman of the Year in 1961 given by the Business Writers Association of the Philippines, Most Outstanding Businessman of the Year by the Central Luzon Affairs in Baguio City in April 14, 1962, and the Most Outstanding Lumber Executive of the Year in 1961 by the National Region Commentators and Announcers Club in Manila on April 29, 1962. He was also cited by the Joint Civic Organization of Mindanao (Rotary Club, the Junior Chamber of Commerce, and the Davao Press and Regional Association of Davao City) for his outstanding and pioneering contributions to the economic development of Mindanao.