Wilson Lee Flores

In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Young and the surname or paternal family name is Lee-Flores.
Wilson Lee Flores
Kamuning Bakery Café
Born
Wilson Lee Flores
Alma materAteneo de Manila University (BS)

Wilson Lee Flores is a multi-awarded Philippine writer, entrepreneur, educator, poet, philanthropist, and political-economic analyst.[1][2]

1939 Kamuning Bakery façade with narra tree

He has won 15 Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA)[3] for his Philippine Star newspaper columns called "Will Soon Flourish" and three Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature.[4] He has also been honored with three CMMA Hall of Fame Awards, including CMMA Hall of Fame Awards for "Best Opinion Column", and "Best Business Column".[5] He writes a Tagalog column, "Kuwentong Panadero" for the Filipino-language, and mass-market Abante tabloid newspaper, which he used to also write before for the Philippine Star Group's mass-market Pilipino Star Ngayon tabloid. He also writes a column "Baker's Tales" for Bilyonaryo.com, the popular business and economics online news site. He used to write a column, "Roots of Philippine Business" for the now defunct "Manila Chronicle" newspaper.

Lee Flores, pandesal forum

Flores established and owns the Red Apple Properties & Management, Inc., a real estate business mainly into investing, acquiring and renting out of mostly commercial real estate properties; it started as a real estate brokerage firm and still has an office which offers diverse realty services.

In January 2014, he bought the historic and pioneering Kamuning Bakery (now Kamuning Bakery Café) of Barangay Kamuning, Quezon City; this is Quezon City's first bakery which was established in 1939.[6] Upon Alejandro Roces' invitation, lawyer Leticia Bonifacio Javier, daughter of Singalong, Malate, Manila's Los Baños Bakery’s proprietor, and spouse Marcelo founded Kamuning Bakery, along 43 Judge Jimenez Corner K-1st Street, Project 1. Kamuning is derived from Kamuning which surrounded the Barangay. [7] In February 2018, a fire razed the iconic bakery, and what only remained is its façade, 2 clay ovens, a bookcase, and the pterocarpus indicus. Flores, however, restored it by 2019.[8]

He is moderator of the café's non-partisan, issues-focused and tertulia-inspired "Pandesal Forum", where leaders and newsmakers dialogue with media and intellectuals. Among the diverse speakers at Pandesal Forum include President Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Senator Imee Marcos, former Vice-President Leni Robredo, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, former Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, two United States Ambassadors, two Russia Ambassadors, two China Ambassadors, two Singapore Ambassadors, British Ambassador, Ukraine Ambassador, Cuba Ambassador, etc.

Since 2015, Flores has led the Kamuning Bakery-Café in celebrating "World Pandesal Day" every October 16 (globally known as "World Bread Day" and "World Food Day"). "World Pandesal Day" is celebrated in order to honor the Philippines' most popular bread pan de sal and as a reminder of the need to solve the age-old problem of hunger.[9]

Wilson Lee Flores has also led Pandesal Forum of Kamuning Bakery Cafe to celebrate the United Nations' annual "World Poetry Day" on March 21.

Among the various awards and honors conferred on Wilson Lee Flores include the Gawad Manual L. Quezon Award which is Quezon City government's highest honor for outstanding citizens of the Philippines' biggest city;[10] the Supremo Award conferred by the Grace Christian College; the Award for the Promotion of Philippines China Understanding (APPCU) from the Association for Philippines China Understanding (APCU)[11] and conferred by First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos and Senator Koko Pimentel; and others.

To commemorate World Food Day-"World Pandesal Day" on October 16, 2024, Lee Flores' 100,000 pandesal were given to Sinait Integrated School, Tarlac City students and teacher. Further, Lee Flores and the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry donated a school building for Sinait school.[12]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Lee-Chua, Queena N. "Kamuning Bakery's Wilson Lee Flores". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  2. ^ "On Writing, Constantly Adapting and Thriving in Business against All Odds". CHiNOY TV. August 16, 2021.
  3. ^ "Wilson Lee Flores wins CMMA Hall of Fame award". The Philippine Star. November 16, 2018. Archived from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2024 – via PressReader.
  4. ^ "Directory of Winners". www.palancaawards.com.ph. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  5. ^ "Anvil Business Club elects Wilson Lee Flores, Patrick Cua". BusinessWorld. June 28, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  6. ^ "8 Things to know about Wilson Lee Flores and Kamuning Bakery Café". TheLobbyist. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  7. ^ Lee Chua, Queena (April 24, 2015). "Kamuning Bakery's Wilson Lee Flores". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  8. ^ "Kamuning Bakery The Little Corner Bakery That Could". Summit_Media. April 18, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  9. ^ "Free pandesal and food on World Pandesal Day on Oct. 16". Manila Bulletin. October 16, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  10. ^ "STAR columnist wins Quezon City award". Philstar.com. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  11. ^ "STAR's Flores conferred 2022 APCU Award". Philstar.com. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  12. ^ "Kamuning Bakery Cafe, FFCCCII donate schoolbuilding in Tarlac". The Manila Times. October 17, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2024.


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