ENDEAVOR
Nine years and four months ago, on Jan. 17, 2015, I had a life-changing experience in the Tacloban City airport.
I stood in the rain with thousands of faithful to participate in the Holy Mass being celebrated by Pope Francis. Setting aside his prepared homily, he spoke from the heart, sharing how, while witnessing from the Vatican the havoc wrought by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) on Nov. 8, 2013, he resolved that he would visit the people who suffered greatly from the horrible disaster. A few hours later, Pope Francis was back in the airport for his return flight to Manila aboard an Airbus jet.
I was among 16 people inside a private plane that taxied on the runway after the Pope’s plane took off. Our plane was hit by very strong headwinds while it was building up speed and momentum to take off. Inside the plane, we heard a popping sound; that must have been the sound of the front tires blowing out. Then the plane swerved to the left of the runway and stopped as it got stuck on muddy ground.
We got off the plane and walked to the terminal building. When my blood pressure was taken, it read 180 over 100. My heart was beating very fast and I could barely speak. I was still coming to terms with having survived a near-brush with death.
That is the reason why I accepted an invitation to be graduation speaker last Saturday, May 11, at the St. Paul School of Professional Studies (SPSPS) held at the Tacloban City Convention Center, more popularly known as the Tacloban Astrodome.
SPSPS was established in 1994 by seven educators under the name St. Paul Business School of Tacloban. From a rented space in what is now the site of Robinson’s Place, it relocated to Leyte’s provincial seat in Palo, under the leadership of its second president, Dr. Erwin Vincent Alcala.
Dr. Alcala recalls vividly that he was installed as school president on Nov. 7, 2013, the day before super-typhoon Yolanda struck Tacloban and cut a wide swath of destruction that extended to Cebu, Iloilo and Palawan. Due to the massive destruction, electricity was restored only in February 2014, enabling the school to reopen even while its buildings and facilities were still being repaired and restored.
Dr. Alcala acknowledges the significant support of Dr. Jaime C. Laya, former Education secretary, Budget and Management secretary, and governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines, in campaigning for assistance from generous benefactors who contributed resources to enable SPSPS to rebuild from the ruins and resume operations. Long-span galvanized iron sheets were installed as roofing, in lieu of improvised tarpaulin covers; damaged buildings were eventually restored.
Today, SPSBS prides itself as the fifth largest accountancy school in the country. For the past 15 years, it has been among the top 10 biggest producers of certified public accountants, lawyers, and real estate professionals in the country – and among the top 10 producers of topnotchers in the government certification exams for these professions.
Jayson Ong Chan, an SPSPS graduate, achieved the highest rating of 92.50 percent in the May 2018 Certified Public Accountant (CPA) board examination; he also secured the 10th position in the 2023 Bar exam with a grade of 88.0125 percent.
SPSPS is a partner school of Seisen University in Tokyo, whose educational ideals are based on Christian humanism. Its motto Veritas et Caritas, “expresses the fundamental principles of seeking truth (Veritas) and realizing love through human service (Caritas).”
Dr. Alcala shared that SPSPS has become a preferred higher education institution by dint of its proven track record in enabling students to attain professional certification. It has achieved this reputation by building a faculty cadre of highly competent and well-respected practitioners.
The 2024 graduates experienced the most difficult and challenging conditions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022, during which their teachers and school administrators worked hard to design and implement an alternative learning system to enable them to learn and complete their education. Their teachers had to improvise and innovate so they could deliver the lessons. They had to learn in a completely different way – from home, with the help of their parents or guardians.
I was informed by Dr. Alcala that the graduates’ top three concerns were cancel culture, facial enhancement, and staying fit. On cancel culture, I told them that this should be channeled toward promoting accountability: “If more citizens would exercise vigilance – and hold public officials accountable – our democracy will be more vibrant and faster progress will be achieved.”
I also urged them to emulate the ideals and principles propagated by Mr. Washington SyCip, founder and chairman of the SGV Group and of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) where I served as a professor and school dean for almost three decades. Mr. SyCip, an accountant by profession, was the quintessential business leader.
After Mr. SyCip died in October 2017, my former colleague in President Aquino’s Cabinet, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima shared lessons that he learned from Mr. SyCip, some of which were shared, too, by the current Chairman and Managing Partner of SGV, Mr. Wilson Tan.
According to Secretary Purisima: “(Mr. SyCip) was a master in the lost art of listening. While we sometimes preoccupy ourselves thinking of what to say during conversations and trying to get a word in edgewise, Mr. SyCip would patiently listen. After every trip, he would give us a very detailed account of who he met and more importantly, what he learned from each encounter.” And, indeed, he always learned a lot because he listened very well.
As shared by Mr. Tan, Mr. SyCip, was a change leader: “He enjoyed speaking with young people to find out what kept them preoccupied. He went to bars that they frequented, and attended the concerts of Madonna and Taylor Swift. Mr. SyCip once dressed up as Jedi Master Yoda for an SGV event but only after he received a mini lecture on Star Wars and what it meant to be one with the Force. He loved the fact that Yoda was over 800 years old and still fighting menacing characters! For Mr. SyCip, one had to accept change in order to thrive in an ever-changing world.”
I am grateful to Dr. Alcala and the SPSPS community for inviting me to be their commencement speaker and honoring my work in business and industry, the academe and government service.