FROM THE MARGINS
This is Holy Week, a time for us to celebrate the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection. Like many Filipinos, I am taking a step back from the usual grind to reflect on how to be a good Christian in today’s world. As I look back on my journey as a poverty eradication advocate, what Isaac Newton wrote to Robert Hooke in 1675 came to mind: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
My contemplation made me realize how blessed I had been, with family and friends whose social awareness shaped my character and aspirations. They not only jumpstarted my career; they fuelled my passion for transforming the lives of the poor.
I had been lifted up on the shoulders of giants — mentors who built my knowledge base. I hope to do the same for the next generation.
Friends and mentors
I learned from everyone I have worked with through the years, but some played pivotal roles in my journey. First, I would like to thank Ernesto Garilao, my former boss at PBSP and DAR, who taught me the value of hard work in pursuing a development mission. I learned about field operations from Pablito Villegas, my UPLB Professor who I worked with later in a UN-FAO project. Rory and Bruce Tolentino, my former PBSP bosses, taught me the art of fund-raising and people management. I later joined ACPC, where Gilberto Llanto involved me in policy and agricultural credit studies, teaching me how to develop financial services for the poor.
My search for a loan and savings model that best suits the Filipino poor led me to microfinance. I learned the fundamentals of microcredit from the Grameen model of Nobel awardee Mohammad Yunus. Then, the late Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, multi-awarded founder of ASA-Bangladesh, shared their microfinance methodology and helped us expand to serve millions of poor Filipinos.
For my international exposure, I am grateful to Sally O’Neill(†) for hiring me at CIDSE and trusting me to implement the credit and savings program for poor women in Vietnam and the Indochina Region.
Eventually, my organization grew into a group of mutually-reinforcing institutions that included the pioneering microfinance NGO, banks, and other units that provide microinsurance, health, education, business development and other services to clients. When we were expanding, the legendary Washington SyCip helped me forge partnerships in the banking community that until now bolsters our financial inclusion advocacy. I miss Wash a lot – our discussions, his wise counsel and even his mild rebukes at times. From him came what I consider the greatest recognition of my lifework. It was when he said, “Aris is half my age but has double my wisdom.” I will always remember him fondly.
Co-advocates
No one was more surprised than me when I was nominated to the Board of the Makati Business Club (MBC). I was very reluctant to join, thinking that I have little in common with MBC members, all business giants and industry leaders.
How wrong I was! The CARD Bank, which I represent, may be a dwarf in terms of business scale, but our development insights are valued during MBC meetings. I have realized that contrary to stereotypes, big businesses also want the best for the country and the ordinary Filipino.
Our chairman, Edgar Chua is supportive of our poverty eradication agenda. During MBC meetings, I see many, like Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, advocating business sector inclusiveness so that nobody is left behind. Members are pushing for private sector-government partnerships to support the growth of MSMEs. This has resulted in replicable partnerships between big businesses and small players like us. For example, Jose Victor Paterno, president/CEO of 7-11, is providing backhaul trucks to help farmer-clients of CARD bring their produce from Baguio to Laguna. Shipping magnate Doris Magsaysay Ho has also expressed support for farmers and the agriculture sector.
MBC consistently lobbies for government policies to help the private sector bring its agenda for economic growth. In many forums, PHINMA’s Ramon del Rosario, Jr. advocates education for the poor. Aboitiz’s Cosette Canilao often speaks about public-private-partnerships (PPP). Many are promoting financial inclusion: former SGV Chairman Carlitos Cruz, Accenture’s former Managing Director Lito Tayag, Ambassador Jose Cuisia, Jr. of PHILAMLIFE, Sunlife’s former CEO/president, Rizalina Mantaring, among others.
Kudos to MBC Executive Director, Coco Alcuaz and his team for organizing activities for dialogue and learning exchange among businesses, policy-makers and stakeholders. Working together, we all hope to do our part for our economic recovery.
Universal goal
Poverty eradication is a universal goal. I thank God that I am pursuing this in partnership with a lot of people – my CARD family, my colleagues in the microfinance industry, our client-members, my friends at the MBC and other networks.
Blessings and peace to all this Holy Week! Let us all ruminate on our Lord’s exhortation from John 13:14: “So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.”
(Dr. Jaime Aristotle B. Alip is a poverty eradication advocate. He is the founder of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually-Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), a group of 23 organizations that provide social development services to eight million economically-disadvantaged Filipinos and insure more than 27 million nationwide.)