MANILA, Philippines — Who has not heard of Washington Sycip? I stand in awe of the man who simply calls himself “a mere book keeper.” He who is a titan in Philippine business, founder of SGV & Co., the country’s largest professional services firm, co-founder of the Asian Institute of Management and the Management Association of the Philippines.

I call him Director Wash as he sits in the PNB board, among his many other directorships. At board meetings, he often makes comments on major issues, always insightful and wise. I distinctly remember in our 2008 August board meeting , he has just arrived from abroad then, he cautioned us about Lehman Brothers’ financial condition. True enough in just a matter of days news came out of Lehman’s erasure from the financial map.

Director Wash celebrated his 90th birthday on June 30 with splendor. Present were Manila’s movers and shakers, business, the academe, diplomatic core, government with President Aquino, Vice President Binay as well as the economic team – Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Trade and Industry Secretary Gregorio Domingo, and BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. That night, the President conferred upon Director Wash the Order of Sikatuna, the highest presidential award.

Director Wash birthdays are always celebrated with meaning. In his 86th birthday, a park in Legaspi Village was named the Washington Sycip Park. In his 88th birthday, 88 Gawad Kalinga homes were donated, now already been completed. This time, 90 playgrounds will be built in 90 schools for the children. I saw tears of joy from Nene Guevarra of Synergeia when she received the donation with Director Wash from SGV Chairman Vic Noel.

What I found most impressive that night is the passion that still drives Director Wash at 90. (He jokingly said should have been 19). His message talked about his three advocacies. Director Wash shared his firm belief that through these channels, he can help effect real change and poverty alleviation.

The first is BASIC EDUCATION. The most important cause in Director Wash life is to have “ every Filipino child complete basic education.” He said, “A child who drops out and is illiterate is sure to be poor.” Director Wash, a graduate of the public school system believes that “Education is the greatest of Equalizers.”

He had been working for years with Dr. Nene Guevara of Synergeia, with the goal of helping every Filipino child complete basic education. Synergeia works closely with local governments, the DepEd, schools, etc. improve the learning and teaching processes in public schools.

Its programs aim to improve the proficiency in reading and math in Grade 1 to 6 so that they don’t drop out and move on to high school. In three Moslem communities in Cotabato, Synergeia was able to reduce the dropout rate in basic education from 80% to 30% in 3 years.

The second IS ACCESS OF CREDIT . This is really microfinance, or making credit available to the poor. He has been working with Dr. Aris Alip of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD).

Over the last 25 years, CARD has helped the lives of over 1.4 million clients, with an impressive repayment rate of 98.4%, better than the commercial banks record. CARD has an educational fund for basic education to reduce illiteracy in poor communities.

American philanthropist Paul Kazarian had presented Director Wash with $1 million to be used to fund basic education and microfinance projects. The Kazarian foundation also set aside another $1 million to fund research, training and education in microfinance and see how CARD’s efficient management system can also help other microfinance organizations.

All these will supplement the funds that Dir. Wash has set aside to provide Synergia and CARD with resources for basic education. He hopes that these funds totaling $3 million will go a long way to help reduce poverty.

The third advocacy is in the area of RURAL HEALTH .Director Wash shared that he is still learning, a great deal from Stephen Zuellig about ways to improve healthcare for people in rural areas. He also acknowledged a generous donation from the Zuellig Foundation, in his name, for the improvement of rural health as a means of further reducing poverty.

Basic education, access to credit and better healthcare – three pillars that Director Wash believes can help uplift people from poverty to attain the human dignity and quality of life.

Director Wash ends his message with a commitment of using his time and energy to these worthy causes for the remaining years of his life. Thank you Director Wash for leading the way and more power to you!

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Ms. Tarriela is Chairman of Philippine National Bank. She is trustee of Finex Foundation and the Filipino Foundation for Enterpreneurs Inc. She was formerly Undersecretary of Finance.