By FR. Emetrio Barcelon, S.J.
The story of Fr. Sy has to start with his father. Mr. Simeon Reyes started as a janitor in Philippine Trust, one of the four banks at the time in Manila. My uncle was his contemporary as clerk but Simeon was a janitor and went on to become the CEO of the bank. When he separated from Sy’s mother, he went on a spree with different girlfriends. When we were in San Francisco he gave me a ball pen which was new at the time and cost a whopping $30. He bought a residence in Nob Hill. When they found out he was Oriental, they asked to buy it back. He sold it for twice the amount he paid. Mr. Simeon Reyes was a good friend of my father and when my father gave me R5 to start a savings account, Simeon Reyes received me, introduced me to all the female clerks, and opened the bank vault to show me the contents. I will never forget feeling like a big shot. On the evening of May 30, 1948, we arrived in the Jesuit Novitiate, and my father asked Simeon if he had a son who was entering the Jesuit Novitiate. He answered that Junior wanted to become a priest. I had never met Sy before but was very familiar with his father Mr. Simeon Reyes.
Nine out of our group of 12 were ordained priests. I remember Sy helping me with Greek where he was good in parsing 30 lines every night. We were also the first group allowed to go to theology in Woodstock, Md., through Europe by plane and to attend the World’s Fair in Brussels in 1958. We went in pairs through the Holy Land and on to Brussels. Each of us was given $100 but when we arrived in New York, we still had enough money to surrender. We also passed by the pyramids of Egypt. In Loyola the Provincial of the province gave us an abrazo to which we were not familiar. The only obligation we had was not to pass by Rome. We had a wonderful theology course but most of us found the Latin lectures boring. We were finally ordained in 196l. Sy and two others of our Filipino group opted to be ordained by Cardinal Spellman with the New York contingent. Two of us opted to stay in Woodstock with the Maryland contingent.
Fr. Sy spent most of his time in Ateneo de Zamboanga and Ateneo de Naga, finally ending up in Ateneo de Manila. He was always shy but when he was preaching in charismatic circles, he was a transformed person. Just before we went to Maryland for theology, I asked Sy to ask his father to invite us for lunch since I was told I would be working with Jesuit finances when I came back. Mr. Simeon Reyes obliged. During the lunch, I asked him what was his secret for success in finance. He revealed to me two principles that helped him. The first was that he treated everybody with a red carpet. Those who came in wooden clogs and later after the war came into money remembered Mr. Reyes to help with money. The second principle was that when his superiors had a thorny problem, they passed it to him. He then studied it as best he could and made the decision. If he was right his superiors got praise but if was wrong then he got blasted. I complained that this was unfair. But he corrected me, saying that soon he knew best the bank’s clients and problems.
We were never assigned together since my assignments were Asian Institute of Management, Ateneo de Davao, and Ateneo de Cagayan. When we were both retired, we visited his father in Marikina and he got the idea of performing the wedding of his father to the lady who was taking care of him the past 20 years. We did the celebration and Fr. Sy’s sisters and in-laws attended. Soon after that, he passed away still very lucid when we visited him. As retired priests we got together once in a while. Then he too passed away.
Of the nine priests in our group I am the only one left as a Jesuit. One of our companions left the Jesuits but is still alive working as a parish priest in Baleares, Spain. Fr. Sy was always popular with the staff especially when he would blurt out some unusual expression. May he and the other members of our group who have preceded us rest in peace.