Elmer Francisco

As a student

Curious from the start

Elmer Bautista Francisco was born on April 19, 1978 and grew up in Las Piñas City, the youngest of six children of Jorge “George” Trinidad Francisco and Rosalinda “Rosie” Bautista Francisco of the Francisco clan — makers of the legendary Francisco Passenger Jeepney.

He finished elementary and high school at Colegio San Agustin in Makati (1992 and 1996), where he served as an officer of the Adeodatus Scholarship Trust Foundation and the Sandigan Social Studies Club, both devoted to helping deserving youth who have less.

At De La Salle University he studied Physics, and at the DLSU College of St. Benilde he earned an Arts degree in Consular and Diplomatic Affairs, graduating in 2002. He was an officer of the Physics Society from 1996 to 1999, Batch President for the College of Science in the DLSU Student Council, and a participant in the 2001 mock United Nations Assembly.

His research in nuclear fusion and quantum physics continues today: he is miniaturizing the latest hydrogen fuel-cell technology and making it regenerative — technology now applied commercially in the Francisco Passenger Jeepney, PINOY Transporter, ELEKTRON e-Trikes and DOMENG pick-up series.

Believing that life is a continuous journey of learning, he went on to study Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies at Harvard Business School, Machine Learning at MIT, and a long list of programs at The Wharton School — from corporate finance and operations to FinTech, blockchain, artificial intelligence and scaling a business. And, he says, he is still counting.

As a young leader

Service from the age of eighteen

At 18, Elmer became President of the Las Piñas Mabuhay Jaycees, inducted by then Las Piñas Congresswoman Cynthia Aguilar-Villar and Jaycee National President Jimmy Yaokasin. Under his term the chapter hosted the Metro Area Conference and the Ten Outstanding Young Men awards, planted trees, ran weekly feeding programs for children, donated wheelchairs, organized medical and dental missions, gave scholarships to deserving students and supported livelihood projects with barangay officials.

He still holds to the last line of the Jaycee Creed: “And that service to humanity is the best work of life.”

As a husband and father

Family first

In 2002 Elmer married Michelle Tiu Cabrera-Francisco of Cagayan de Oro City. They have a son, Dominic Cabrera Francisco, who graduated as Valedictorian and Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Entrepreneurship, specializing in Sustainability, at Enderun Colleges.

He makes a point of spending time with his family despite a hectic schedule. “It’s all about time management, creating an efficient system, hiring good people and loving what you do.”

As a businessman

Learning the trade at his father’s side

Elmer learned business early, helping his father in the family automotive company. That training took him into diverse industries — automotive manufacturing, retailing and servicing, information technology, trading, technical education, security and manpower services, real estate, insurance and the global distribution of the Filipino-invented board game Game of the Generals.

His latest venture is Francisco Motors LLC, registered in the United States, which holds the family’s intellectual property, builds international partnerships, and manufactures and distributes modern, fully electric Francisco Passenger Jeepneys and the PINOY Transporter — alongside e-trikes, e-buses, e-taxis, e-delivery vans and other electric vehicles.

The family also works in financial technology through the social network Jeepney.io, and in renewable power generation including hydrogen fuel cells through the New Babylon Group of Companies. Its real estate and board-game arm is 1111 Empire, Inc. All of the family’s businesses and foundations are overseen by New Babylon LLC, the holding company and family office.

As a Rotarian

Club service since 2007

Elmer joined the Rotary Club of West Cagayan de Oro in 2007 as its youngest member, serving as ICT Club Director, District 3870 ICT Chairman, Rotary International Convention Chairman, Youth Exchange Chairman and Zone 1 District Information Officer. He has been a Paul Harris Fellow since 2008.

In 2012 he joined One World Rotary in California, which responded directly to the Yolanda crisis in Tacloban by donating water-filtration devices that turn seawater into drinking water, along with solar lights for survivors.

In 2019 he joined the Rotary Club of Makati West — now a Paul Harris Fellow +4 — and chaired “Elmer’s Run,” a project that provided free transportation to front-liners and health-care workers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a philanthropist

Giving that becomes livelihood

Elmer is an active member of the International Child Protection Network (ICPN) of the United Kingdom, which protects children worldwide from abuse and trafficking.

He founded ElmerFrancisco.org, a philanthropic organization that distributes relief goods after natural calamities, builds livelihoods for the less fortunate, promotes sports development, builds rainwater-catchment systems for relocation sites and donates off-grid solar power to barangays the electric grid has not reached.

Its projects include Sendongpreneur, born days after the December 16, 2011 flash flood; Isang Litrong Liwanag and Isang Litrong Bahay, with the MyShelter Foundation; Soap for Hope, with Sealed Air (Diversey) of Singapore; and Linens for Life, which donated sewing machines and cloth so beneficiaries could make school uniforms, dresses and bags.

He later started the TsuperHero™ Program to help public-utility drivers and small jeepney operators keep and improve their livelihood, and the family established the Michelle Francisco Foundation in the United States for eco-friendly housing for the unhoused, sustainable public mobility, education and health-care access.

Elmer is also Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of VetCoin Foundation, Inc., a Delaware non-profit and IRS-registered 501(c)(3) public charity working to connect, enable and transform veteran communities — including building homes for homeless veterans and supporting veterans’ mental health.

As a business leader

A voice for business in Northern Mindanao

Also in 2007, Elmer joined the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation and served as a Trustee from 2008 to 2009 for the Trade and Commerce sector, then as Media Relations and Communications Chairman from 2010 to 2013.

He took part in the Chamber’s advocacies on power shortages in Mindanao, the Oro Best Expo with then U.S. Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr., the U.S. Commercial Service, USAID and DTI Region X — and was an invited delegate to the first US-ASEAN Business Forum in Cambodia in 2012.

As a Filipino patriot

Industrialize the nation, bring Filipinos home

Elmer dreams of a strong Philippines where every Filipino is proud to be Filipino. “What really counts are WHAT you want and WHY you want it; God and the Universe will take care of HOW. Just stay extremely focused and positive no matter what is happening, and do everything with love.”

He promotes national industrialization to create millions of jobs and businesses at home — in Filipinos’ own provinces — so that fewer families have to be separated by overseas work. If every Filipino had a job or business with enough income, he believes, no one would need to depend on others for help.

He is a committed advocate of federalism, economic liberalization and a shift to a parliamentary system. He served as Special Advisor to the Director General of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to attract investors from North America, the European Union and ASEAN; stood as a candidate for Mayor of Cagayan de Oro in 2013; ran for Senator under Partido Federal ng Pilipinas in the May 13, 2019 elections; and activated the FEDERALISTA Political Action Committee to advance its advocacies.