REACH Board of Trustees

REACH, Inc. is a non-profit organization registered with the Security and Exchange Commission in the Philippines.

The Board consists of nine members who are appointed for two year terms. They give policy direction and support for REACH ministries. These gifted lay men and women are also active in the REACH ministry.

Eduardo C. Jimenez serves as Chair of the REACH Board of Trustees. He has a Masters in Public Administration. He is a microfinance specialist and has served as a consultant for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, USAID, and for technical donors such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. He formerly worked at the Bangko Sentral ng Philipinas and was the former Executive Director of the Alliance of Philippine Partners in Enterprise Develoopment (APPEND). Ed was one of the first high school contacts of the Navigators where he learned to make disciples. He was involved in collegiate and young professional ministry where he followed up many men. He has served on the board of many Christian organizations and is a guest speaker at the Haggai Institute.

Dr. Rex V. Cruz is Vice-Chair of the REACH Board of Trustees. He is the Director of the Environmental Forestry Programme at the College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna. He is also a professor at the Institute of Renewable Natural Resources. He was awarded the Mancono Award for the most outstanding Alumnus of U.P. College of Forestry and Natural Resources in April 2001. Mancono is a hardwood tree whose wood is considered iron wood, hence this award is the highest award to be given to very select Forestry professionals in the country. He came in contact with REACH as a faculty member at the university where he now works and reaches out to students and professionals.

Norma Liongoren is the owner and curator of the Liongoren Gallery. Her husband Fred is a well known and multi-awarded painter in the Philippines. Norma is a member and formerly an officer of the subcommission on Cultural Heritage, of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in the Philippines. She has served on the board of many Christian organizations. For many years she has hosted a regular artist Bible study. Her three children, Erik, is an art photographer; David, a graphic artist and music vidoe director; and Hannah, a graphic artist and designer.

Gene Tolentino is the Secretary of the REACH Board of Trustees. He has been involved with REACH since 1981. He also serves as the ministry area coordinator for the REACH ministry in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija. Muñoz was transformed into a Science City on November 7, 2000 through Republic Act #8977 and is home to a number of research organizations. Gene is a Division Chief at the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension. He works with several other REACH members and are known as Christians amongst their co-workers. He is also involved in various Christian and civic organizations. He is a member and a deacon of the San Jose Conservative Baptist Church; a member of the Christian Leaders Association in Muñoz (CLAIM) in Nueva Ecija, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Filipino Values Formation Movement, Inc.; a member of the Board of Directors of the Resources Development Cooperative, Inc. He is presently the president of the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) Alumni Association, Inc. and a member of the Board of Regents of CLSU. He and his wife, Virgie, have three children. He has a M.S. in Agricultural Engineering

Aurelio V. Miguel is a CPA working with the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas. He travels to rural banks and conducts examinations on the operations of these banks. He came from a humble background and had to work to complete his college education. Despite much effort after passing the CPA board examinations, his dream of having a house and lot and a car were not met until he found and received the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible passage in Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you” proved real in his life. The Lord was good and blessed him with these things in just a year’s time, and eventually a loving wife and three children. He was a youth leader in his church but was eventually excommunicated for his commitment and confession of Jesus Christ. He loves to share the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ with everyone he meets, especially to the officers and employees of the banks he visits. He has served as an elder in his local church and currently leads two Bible studies for couples.

Dr. Simplicia A. Pasicolan is a senior science research specialist for the Ecosystem Research and Development Bureau for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Sim has a doctorate in Environmental Science from the University of the Philippines—Los Baños. She is invovled in the high school ministry in Los Baños, Laguna. She has a heart for the youth and has spoken on values and boy-girl relationships in several school settings.

Dr. Aida Solsoloy is a research scientist for the Cotton Research and Development Institute in Batac, Ilocos Norte, in the northern part of the Philippines. She is an entemologist and her research has led to non-chemical pesticides derived from plants. She was selected as one of The Outstanding Women in the Nation in 1995. She and several members of REACH recently set up a company to import and export environmentally safe products that will improve crop production by reducing pests non-chemically. She has been invovled in collegiate and professional ministry.

Ricardo C. Soriano is a supervising forest management specialist with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region 2 and is the assistant division chief in his region. He is still pursuing his doctorate in Rural Development. He is also president of the DENR regional employees union and serves as corruption prevention officer, instituting reforms in the DENR. He also seeks opportunities to share his faith in Christ Jesus. He also assists in the local ministry's experimental rice farm and owns a cattle ranch on land he and several other ministry members were able to obtain through a government titling program.

Gene Tabor is the founder and director of Reach Ministries International (RMI) since 1987. He accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior as a teenager, was followed up, and has made disciples ever since. He studied electronics in the U.S. Navy, which brought him to the Philippines in 1953. He claimed Isaiah 42:4 for a disciple-making ministry in the Philippines and returned to the islands with his family in the 1960s with the Navigators. Gene has a B.A. in Social Studies, took advanced studies in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of the Philippines, and later earned an M.A. in Marriage and Family Counselling in 1986 from the California Family Studies Center in North Hollywood, CA. He has served as a Navigator Area Representative in Washington D.C., was Philippine National Director for the Navigators from 1967-1974, founded REACH, Inc in the Philippines in 1976, and established RMI in 1987 to assist indiginous disciple-making ministries in the developing world. He also serves as a marriage and family counselor. His wife, Helen, has a M.A. in Special Education and recently retired from teaching in the public schools in California.