Fernando S.

Guevara: A Lifetime of Service Worth Recognizing

“All mechanical engineers should be ethical, not only in his practice but also in any way
he deals with his co-mechanical engineers”

Mechanical Engineering is a field which is not designed for everyone to penetrate

but is rather intended for those with the ability to discern the technicalities, difficulties,
and intricacies inherent therein. Thriving in the area of Mechanical Engineering certainly
requires intellect, hard work, zeal, and dedication to global excellence.
The contribution of mechanical engineers to our country is incalculable. To be
sure, we could not afford and even for a second imagine a world where engineering
didn’t exist since a lot of the things that we come across with every day simply wouldn’t
work. In fact, most of the things we enjoy and use today wouldn’t have been invented
without mechanical engineering. It is thus accurate to say that without this engineering
discipline, our life would be similar to that of early human beings.
Pecuniarily compensating our mechanical engineers for their immense role in
society is unquestionably inadequate. While PSME is fully aware that conferring awards
to or recognizing exceptional mechanical engineers is nothing but ornaments to their
already established and outstanding careers, it nonetheless believes that rewarding and
honouring their efforts through plaques and medallions would give them a sense of
fulfilment for it means that their hard-work is appreciated and not merely taken for
granted- a feeling which neither money nor any kind of luxury could give.
It has been a yearly tradition for PSME to honour with the Don Tobias P. Marcelo
Lifetime Achievement Award one of its members who has proven his worth and
contribution not only to the discipline but also to the Philippine industry and society. This
year, the recipient of the award is no other than Hon. Fernando S. Guevara.
Hon. Fernando S. Guevara is the standard of excellence which every aspiring
and current mechanical engineer should learn from and follow by example in creating
his own mark in the world. He does not only remarkably exercise his profession in the
Philippines but he has also been successfully practicing engineering internationally,
specifically in the state of Minnesota and California, USA. For his body of work to be
enumerated and described in detail in this short article would be quite difficult. However,
just to name a few, his design of the 6750 Office Building and Radisson Blue Hotel won
the ASEAN Energy Award in 2004 and the Honorary Award in Energy Efficiency by the
Emerson Cup (an international prestigious competition that recognizes Innovation in Project,
Products & System Design) respectively. Moreover, he was appointed as member of the
PRC Board of Mechanical Engineering in 2015. Indeed, with his extensive experience in
the field Mechanical Engineering, Hon. Guevara has surely proven himself worthy of the
Don Tobias P. Marcelo Lifetime Achievement Award.
 In his acceptance speech, aside from thanking PSME and fellow engineers for
the award, Hon. Guevarra wholeheartedly communicated his advocacy of helping the
discipline flourish more significantly in the coming years. He truly believes that Filipino
mechanical engineers can be the greatest engineers in the world and that he is willing
to aid in all efforts towards achieving this goal.
There is truth in the adage that not all superheroes are with capes and fight
monsters or are seen only in movies because a real hero is one who makes a difference
in this world and in the lives of many. Hon. Guevarra is therefore a hero in his own way-
a man deserving of our respect and admiration.