Florencio C. Guinhawa, RETIRED, was recently a Control Systems Engineering Supervisor, Bechtel Corp. where he worked for 39 years-6 months of service in their Houston office. During his tenure with Bechtel Corp., he spent time in foreign assignments which included the following: one (1) year in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia (1984 – 1985); four (4) years in Southeast Asia with residency in Singapore, Shanghai, China, Bangkok, Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from May, 1997 to November 2000.
As an engineer/designer he also enjoyed business travels to Como, Massa and Florence, Italy for GE compressor inspection and testing for his various LNG project assignments with Bechtel.
Flor graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Mapua Institute of Technology, 1970. He hails from Bauan Batangas and is currently a Houston, Texas resident with his family. He and his family arrived in California in 1973 but relocated to Houston in 1979. He was also an instructor at the Houston Community College for 5 years (1979 – 1984).
As an active member of the energetic Houston community, Flor was a founding member of FACT (formerly Filipino American Council of Southern Texas, FACOST) in 1993. He was also a past president of Texas Association of Mapua Alumni (TAMA) in 1996-1997. He is a founding member of PACC-GHR (Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce – Greater Houston Region) and has been active since 1995 to the present. Recently, he was elected to the Board of Director, Philippine Community Center Inc. (PCCI).
He is a recipient of the following awards and recognition:
- Awardee March 29, 2008, Texas Association of Mapua Alumni (TAMA) for Outstanding Scholarship Program at Mapua Institute of Technology.
- Awardee, May 17, 2008, Mapua Institute of Technology, for Outstanding Mapuan in the Field of International Community Service.
- Awardee, June 15, 2013, Knights of Rizal (KOR) Dr. Jose Rizal. Excellence Award for Exemplary and Outstanding Achievement in Educational Philanthropy
- Honoree, October 4, 2014, Houston Royal Oaks Lions Club (HROLC) for Providing Educational Assistance in the Philippines
- Honoree, June 8, 2019, Circulo Capampangan for Exemplary Contributions to the Academic Achievements of Young Adults in the Philippines
- Awardee, October 18, 2019, Philippine American Chamber of Commerce-Texas Chapter for Outstanding Humanitarian Award
Flor has established educational scholarships to various state universities and colleges in the Philippines since December, 2005. To his credit there are now over 300 graduates in the fields of engineering, education and agriculture from the following: Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT), University of the Philippines (UP- Diliman, UP-Manila and UP-LB), University of Rizal-Morong, University of Batangas (UofB), Batangas State University (BSU), Laguna State Polytechnic University-Los Banos (LSPU), Southern Luzon Polytechnic University (SLPU – Lucban, Quezon) and Manuel S Enverga University Foundation.
In his spare time, Flor dabbles in photography, reading fiction books (David Brown, John Grisham, David Baldacci, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum) and non-fiction books. Since 1984, Flor has travelled extensively to Southeast Asia and European countries enjoying music, culture, architecture, history, holy shrines and food chronicled in his photographs.