Silent Initiative: Pedro's Commitment to the Hearing Impaired

Our De La Salle University,   Master of Business Administration,  BUS560M-2017 Case Group  under the class  of Ms. Pia Manalastas, analyzed and presented the case of  the Silent Initiative: Pedro’s Commitment to the Hearing Impaired by Ms. Maria Cristina I. Alarilla. 

I salute Mr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro,  CEO and President of Lamoiyan Corporation for his  magnanimous heart for the hearing impaired. He is an exceptional leader  in the Philippine business world because he has shared not only his resources for the upliftment of the lives of the hearing impaired but also made them realized their true worth as a human being.

Cecilio Kwok Pedro, CEO of Lamoiyan Corporation (Photo credit: http://www.lamoiyan.com)

Mr. Pedro,  born in 1953 to a  Filipino Chinese family, has learned from his father  the value of discipline and entrepreneurial spirit.  After graduating from Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in  B. S. Management in 1975, he went into the hardware store business together with his classmate but did not succeed. He then went to Japan with his friends and was able to buy  an equipment with the P50,000.00 that he borrowed  from his father.

In 1978 he set up the Aluminum Container, Inc. (ACI) which became an accredited supplier of aluminum tubes for Colgate Palmolive Philippines (manufacturer of  Colgate) and Unilever (maker of Close-Up) for ten years. He also became a member of the United Evangelical Church in 1983, joined the Deaf Evangelical Alliance Foundation (DEAF)  in the same year, then became DEAF’s Chairman in 1993.

However, the above mentioned  client companies shifted  to laminated plastic tubes, which resulted to the closing of ACI in 1986 and the layoff of his 200  employees. Since he had the machinery for the production of aluminum tubes, it was Sun Star, Japan’s  biggest toothbrush manufacturer which trained and provided him with the  technology and training  in toothpaste production.

Thus, Lamoiyan Corporation was  born,  with Hapee as its primary product. He priced Hapee  30% cheaper than the  other  two toothpaste giants which  enabled him to capture 20% of the market share. As part of Lamoiyan's strategic move  to improve on their brand awareness, Mr. Pedro  sponsored the 1988 Philippine Olympic Team  and this resulted to making Hapee the number three toothpaste brand in the Philippines. In 2004, Mr. Pedro invested P100 million and another round of P150 million in 2006 to 2007 as part of his vision  to be a major player in the manufacturing  industry.

Hapee Classic White (Photo credit: http://www.lamoiyan.com/?page_id=263)

Mr. Pedro's principle of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be seen  in the following statements which he always shared with his fellow businessmen: " Corporations should not only focus on making profits but should also contribute to the environment, the community and especially the  persons with disabilities (PWD's)" ; "We are held accountable to our creator. When we die, it doesn't matter how much our money is, what matters is how much we have done for the community." ; " My primary intention is to encourage more businessmen to be socially responsible - to help people and to give back to the community."

The  Equal Employment Program for the hearing impaired  was started by Mr. Pedro at ACI in 1978, which he also  implemented when he established Lamoiyan Corporation in 1988 and  integrated this in the company operations.   At Lamoiyan,  the hearing impaired employees  enjoyed the same benefits and privileges as the regular employees and they are treated equally in all aspects. The company  provided sign language training to hearing employees to enable them to interact and communicate effectively with the hearing impaired.

However, Mr. Pedro's personal  mission  of propagating the hiring of the hearing impaired  was threatened with the new innovations in machines,  current trends in outsourcing  services and hiring of contractual employees in the manufacturing industry.

Thus, in our group's analysis of this case, we chose the  position and point of view of Lamoiyan Corporation and  the best alternative course of action that we chose was:  Lamoiyan Corporation will establish strong partnership with various  professional business associations and foundations in the country to buy-in to the idea of establishing a Training Academy that would produce competent hearing impaired  workforce which can be employed by the different companies or associations in the country.

We highly recommend the above mentioned alternative course of action because this has a multiplier effect. Meaning, if we get the buy-in of a big number of member companies of the various associations, organizations and foundations in the country, such as the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industries (PCCI)  with 400 active members,  the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP) with 105 chapters nationwide and the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF)  with a membership of more than 80 of the Philippines'  biggest grant making corporate foundations and corporations,  then Mr. Pedro will be able to help the hearing impaired which he considers the poorest of the poor because they are PWDs and they are having a hard time finding work.

Through the  strategic partnership with these organizations, the personal mission of Mr. Pedro will bear much fruit and the magnitude of impact that this endeavor will bring to the hearing impaired people at large will be very significant in terms of giving back to the community.  Based on research, he found out that there are close to half a million people who are hearing impaired and from these, only 10 to 15 percent have work.

We have totaled the number of member companies of the above organizations and it totaled 585 companies, corporate foundations and chapter organizations. Thus, if each entity hires at a minimum of 30 hearing impaired employees, then there will be an initial group of 17, 550 who  will have decent jobs and this will just be the start of great things to come for the advocacy with a heart of Mr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro. May God continue to shower him with blessings.

Sharing of Our Blessings at Bahay Aruga (Service Learning- Event Proper)

On Sunday, June 25, 2017, I woke up early as this was the agreed day with Ms. Mayette Bonilla, Founder and President of BahayAruga that our De La Salle University (DLSU) Master of Business Administration (MBA)  BUS560M-2017 Class Group will share our blessings to the pediatric cancer patients.

After breakfast, donned with white t-shirt with Green Archers printed in front and my blue jeans and black rubber shoes, I have  gatheredall the  items that I can share like new folding umbrella,six pieces of white face towels,  one purse, one pouch  and a small black bag (from Watsons) and a black back pack (my Christmas gift from  our client Court Meridian Hotel, Subic).

 I went straight to the plant store near our village.  I as I was the lead person for the requested vertical gardening activity of Ms. Bonilla, I purchased all the required materials and tools assigned for me to buy.  Thus,  I bought six half sacks of garden soil and had it loaded at the trunk of my car. Then I went to the nearby Handyman Store inside the  Robinson’s Townsville and bought three pieces of garden tools for my team,  various vegetable seeds in packets,  three small chairs and three pairs of  hand gloves. As there was no available water can, then I bought   one small pail and one small water dipper. 

With all of the required materials already completed, I had a quick lunch at Army Navy  along the way and then proceeded to BahayAruga  at San Marcelino, Manila. The traffic was light that’s why I was able to arrive at the agreed time of 12:30 pm. Some team members were already there while the rest of the  team arrived one after the other.  My team member , Josh  and his sister were  there already so they  helped me unload the sacks of the garden soil,  the bags of prizes, and the other paper bags of seeds, and plastic wares for gardening. Mark was still on his way because he had lunch with his family.

When I went inside the multipurpose area, I was surprised that all the kids and  their mothers were already seated on the chairs and were waiting for us. The agreed time with Ms. Bonilla for the event proper was 3:00pm based on our site ocular and meeting with her  last June 2017.  We arrived early at 12:30pm to give each of our groupstime  to prepare. Like for thevertical  gardening activity,  my team mates (Josh and Mark) and I planned  to just put ahead of time,  the garden soil on the plastic pots (that Mark will purchase and bring to the site) so that the kids will just put the seeds, then Josh will water the plants and then Mark will facilitate the hanging of the plastic pots on the vertical garden mesh wire.

When I learned from our team that the parents said that Ms. Bonilla said that they were instructed by Ms. Bonilla to proceed to the activity area as the program will start at 1:00pm. Thus, I talked to the parents and informed them  that the agreed start time for the program will be at 3:00pm. We were just there early as we need to prepare everything beforehand. But they said that the kids will already sleep at 3:00pm. With this, I had a quick meeting with our team and we agreed that we will already start with our games with prizes, while the team in charge of the food, i.e., Jennelyn, Josh and Apryl  will prepare the food already and then after eating, we will proceed with the gardening activity. Marichu brought her friend, while Josh invited  his sister and Liza came with her daughter too to join us.  These three angels helped us to take pictures and videos to document  our activities.   Mark also brought his video cam so he can take videos for our team.

I promised Marichu (the lead person and host  for the games), that I will help her with the games and distribution of prizes. Zyrine, Zalia and Liza also helped in the games. Originally, Marichu prepared just three games, i.e., Bring Me with six winners; Stop Dance  with three winners; and Hep-hep Hurray with one winner. However, we had lots and lots of prizes after these three games, so I suggested to Marichu that we also do a Trip to Jerusalem, then conduct a Raffle and give numbers to  25 kids so we can give away all our prizes. Zyrine and I prepared the two sets of small papers with numbers 1 to 25. I put the first set of 25 numbers in a paper bag and the other set, I asked each and every kid to get a number for the Raffle Game.

The kids and their respective mothers enjoyed all the games conducted by our team for them. They were able to get all sorts of gifts from us such as different colors of bath towels, face towels, umbrella,  drinking tumblers, packs of notebooks with crayons,  bags, purse, back packs, etc.

The Games Team during the Hep-hep Hurray game.

Enjoying the Hep-hep Hurray Game with the kids.

Anne posing with the winner of the game.

We were only given two hours to do the whole program, i.e., form 1:00pm to 3:00pm. Thus, right after the games, the Food Team who were preparing their healthy snack of bread with strawberry jam and fresh banana took their turn to announce the snack time. They were also able to get a donation of a birthday cake for the kiddie celebrants for June and July.  Everyone  sang the  happy birthday song and the celebrants were able to blow their candles on the cake.

The Food Team, busy preparing our healthy snacks.

Our healthy snack treats.

Right after the games were over, I proceeded right away to the gardening area to prepare and put soil   on the pots brought by Mark. Josh, Mark and I used the green gloves and  the  small  green kiddie chairs that I bought. Liza also helped us in putting garden soils in all the 50 small plastic pots. The sister of Josh helped us put stick-on labels  on the pots to help identify the kinds of vegetable seeds that we planted on each pot. After a few minutes, the children began surrounding us, as they were curious on what we were doing. I have informed them that we are creating a garden for them to take care of and that they can help us by putting the seeds on the soil. So our team had a bunch of kiddie surrounding each of us and we all helped them one by one put the seeds on the soil. They also helped us water the pots with seeds. Then when all the said pots were done, Mark hanged them one by one until all the pots were hanging on the vertical mesh wire of Ms. Bonilla.

Anne with Kyza during our gardening activity.

All these time, Ms. Bonilla was not present during the whole program. She only appeared during the start and end of the activities. I think that she was not interested in what we had to share as they  were all in kind and not cash.  Each segment was done in 30 minutes time. Thus, by 3:00pm, we  were done with all the activities and clean up.

The team members were all  happy that we had a successful execution of what we had planned. One parent requested us to buy some souvenir key chains which were handmade by all the patients and their parents to help them with their expenses. These keychains were all beautifully made from the white and  yellow pages of telephone directories. The parents even requested us to bring them Telephone directories so they can be made into paper keychains to raise funds for their children.

The DLSU-MBA BUS560-2017 Team together with the pediatric cancer patients at Bahay Aruga after our Service Learning Activity.

With this, we  liquidated with Zyrine all our cash advances so that we can determine how much cash was left so we can use it to purchase the beautiful keychains priced at P50.00 per piece. 

With the left over cash, all of the team members including family members and friends  chose three keychains each as our souvenirs  for a job well done from this heavenly place called Bahay Aruga. 

MY TOP 5 TERMINAL AND INSTRUMENTAL VALUES

MY TOP 5 TERMINAL VALUES AND INSTRUMENTAL 

TERMINAL VALUES

SALVATION

Salvation  is my number one priority in terms of terminal values because as a Catholic,    it is my earnest desire and prayer to go to heaven. Thus, I will do everything to be able to make this a reality. I will attend the Holy Mass every Sunday and other days of obligations. I will also go to regular confessions so I can receive the Holy Communion every Holy Mass.  I will pray the rosary everyday. I will be devoted to our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and seek her intercession when the time comes that I will leave this world.

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal's  apparition to St. Catherine Laboure. (Photo credit: Association of the Miraculous Medal)

FAMILY
Family is my second priority after my soul because they are the reason for my existence. My family and my children inspires me to be a  better person and to be an achiever because I want them to be proud of me and my achievements. My family is my source of joy and inspiration. I love them very much.

My family

HAPPINESS
This is my third most desirable terminal goal because I know that money cannot buy happiness that's why I have to create this and make this happen. Happiness is a state of mind. And this is found inside you. You cannot depend on other people to give you happiness. You have to achieve this yourself.

I think the secret to happiness is contentment and having a grateful heart.   It is also found in doing the things that you love to do every day. Like in my case, I love to go hunting, collecting  and reading John Grisham's hardcover legal thrillers. I also collect English love stories/movies  with happy ending in CDs and DVDs. I also love to go shopping and traveling. Gardening is also a great source of joy, especially when your plants have new growths/plant shoots. This means that you have to separate  and transfer the baby plant in a new small pot and replant the mother plant back into its pot. Like last week, I had six new plant shoots. Thus, I have six  new baby shoots.

COMFORTABLE LIFE
Living a comfortable Life is my goal and  I have already finished paying for my house and my car.

Thus, my focus now is in creating and building my retirement fund. My monthly  contribution with SSS is in the maximum range allowable. I have also increased my contribution to the PAG-IBIG FUND so I can get back all my contributions in accordance to the new program of PAG-IBIG  of return of contributions when you retire. Likewise, I have also increased my contributions to our company Provident Fund. On my own, I am saving with the bank so I am liquid and can move flexibly under  any circumstances. 

SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

A Sense of Accomplishment is my fifth priority because after I have achieved the first four terminal values, then I know that I have done something about my top personal goals. My three children whom I sent to Lasallian schools  are now all professionals and have lives of their own. They  are on the top list of my accomplishments. My eldest son now works with Australian New Zealand Bank (ANZ) and was promoted to Assistant Vice President of the company last year. My nurse daughter now works at the Singapore Red Cross and with prior working experience as an ICU nurse at the National University Hospital in Singapore. And my youngest son will start work this July 15, 2017  with an American BPO company. As for me, I'm currently working for an international maritime training center owned by Norwegians and will be celebrating my fifth year with this company by September of this year.

INSTRUMENTAL VALUES

INDEPENDENT
I am a  highly  independent person ever since I was small because I was the eldest daughter  and my parents are always out of town doing their business. Thus, I was already both mother and father to my younger brother and sister as early as Grade 6. I take care of  my siblings. I tutor them with their school assignments. I cook for them. I attended their PTA meetings in school when required. So when I got married, I already knew what to do and how to make good decisions for me and my children even though my husband was working in a bank in Jeddah, KSA.

AMBITIOUS

I have lofty goals like after finishing my MBA from the De La Salle University (DLSU)  in Manila   I would like to enroll in Law School too. It's only now that I am able to pursue my MBA because of family and financial  concerns. Now that all my children are already independent and living their own lives, I thought that this is the right time for me to pursue my other dreams.

RESPONSIBLE

I am a highly responsible person. I was both mother and father to my children and I was able to finance and send them to De La Salle University in Manila  (for my eldest son) and De La Salle Health and Sciences Institute in Dasmarinas (for my nurse  daughter)  and College of St. Benilde (for my youngest son) for their college schooling.

LOVING 
I am a very loving and caring person to my family and children. I work hard to be able to provide for all the needs of my children. I always walk the extra mile for all of them. I support them in all their endeavors. Like when my eldest son was building his house in Paranaque and the bank has not yet released their second tranche of loan, he asked me if he can borrow  money from his grandmother (my mother) and I said no need to call my mom because I will be the one to lend him the money that he needs. And this made him very happy and thankful.

When my nurse daughter was applying in Singapore, she informed me that she needed a big amount of money to pay her placement fee with the local agency and I said I will finance her placement fee. She said that she will pay me back within six months from the time she starts working. And I said no need to pay me as that was my gift to her. But my daughter insisted in paying and I said alright, you can pay within one year. But she said that she will pay me in  six months time and I agreed.

My youngest son has been on his own right after graduating from college. He has been renting an apartment near Lasalle Manila. When he is in between jobs, I give him an allowance so he is able to pay for his apartment and utilities.

Thus, my son informed me yesterday that he has been accepted in an American  Business Process Outsourcing company already and he was asked to undergo his medical examination and report to work on July 15, 2017. I was so happy that all of us have jobs now. This means that we can already continue pursuing  all our  other dreams.

HELPFUL

I  always help other people in any way that I can. I'm a very generous person. I treat my staff in the office as my family. So if they have any personal  concerns, they can easily approach me and ask for my help or assistance. I always understand their predicament and I try to put myself in their shoes. Therefore, they value this very much.

In my own humble way, I also help the street children and poor beggars by giving them alms, i.e., money, food and donations of clothes. I usually gather all my left over food from my refrigerator and pack them each night in one or several paper bags so that I can distribute them to needy beggars which I usually find along the streets that I pass everyday going to work.

I also  gather and put together in bags all old clothes which are not anymore being  used by my children and give or donate them to needy people in our community.

FILIPINO VALUES REVISITED

Filipino Values are standards of behavior or beliefs   which most Filipinos regard as sacred  in their lives and are passed down from generations to generations. The following are some of the most noteworthy principles that Filipinos care about deeply and take pride in themselves.

Closeness and Solidarity

Filipinos are a closely knit family. They all live together under one roof and sometimes even though the children are married already and with children of their own,  they are still living with their parents. They are all united as one family and one clan. Most of the time the clan lives in a compound or just near each other. When the parents grow old, the children takes care of them and provides for all their personal and medical  needs.

Unlike in the Western Countries where they send their parents to home for the aged  or residential nursing facilities.  The Westerners  cannot take care of their parents as they are  busy with their work. They don't have a maid to look after their parents that's why sending them to nursing homes is their best option.

Politeness
Children are taught early in life  to be polite by saying "po" and "opo" as a sign of respect for the elderly. Politeness, i.e., being considerate and respectful of other people  is also being preached in school. This way, this good behavior will be ingrained in them while they are still young and will be something that they can cultivate, develop and bring with them when they grow up.

Hospitality
Filipinos are  known for their hospitality worldwide. This is one trait of Filipinos which endears them to co-Filipinos and foreigners. When a guest is invited to a Filipino home, they are treated with kindness, warmth and respect. The guest will be offered the best food in the house and will be treated like a royalty. The guest will be served to the utmost even though there will be no more food left for the other members of the family.

During town fiestas, the traditional  Filipino family will prepare and cook roasted pig called "lechon" early in the  the day as they will request their relatives  to help them with the cooking. Then during the fiesta proper, their clan, friends and other relatives will visit them and eat from their feast. The prominent  Filipino host will offer all the best cuisines and lay them all on the long dining table. He will welcome the town mayor, the parish priest and all the other prominent officials in the barangay.

Gratitude
This is  one value which is very unique to Filipinos. We call it "utang na loob." This kind of gratitude is returned to the other person when the time comes that it is the other person's turn to pay it forward. It is supposed to be a positive Filipino value. However, when it is applied in politics it takes on a different color.

Social Acceptance
Filipinos value social acceptance and this is called in the vernacular as "pakikisama." This means that they will do everything in their power just to have a smooth interpersonal relationship within their sphere of influence. They use nice persuasive words, soft voice, gentle manners just to be in good terms with everyone around them.

Economic Security
For the love of family, Filipinos opt to go work abroad just to be able to provide for their families and ensure economic security. They will not think of the  hardships and sacrifices that they are encountering just for them to be able to send money to their respective families in the Philippines. I have experienced this first hand as my husband became an Overseas Filipino Worker and went to work in big bank in Jeddah, KSA.

Trust in God
The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country brought about by the 333 years of Spanish colonial rule. Thus, more than 86%  of the population knows about God and trusts in Him. We have a lot of private Catholic schools in the Philippines initially established by various foreign  missionaries from different congregations, that's why majority of us Filipinos  are Christians.

We have witnessed and experienced two great miracles in the Philippines attributed to the intercession of God and the Holy Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the EDSA Revolution of 1986 popularly known as the " The People Power" and the peaceful oust of President Joseph Estrada in January of  2001, who was accused of corruption and inept leadership.

LEISURE AS CONTEMPLATION

One of the topics that has inspired me during our class discussion was  the topic on  "Leisure as contemplation." Our De Lasalle University Professor for Master of Business Administration subject -  BUS560M,  Ms. Pia Manalastas said that " in our leisure time, we refill and we allow for the grace of receiving."

 Likewise, she also mentioned that there are three habits of leisure/resting and receiving and these are: " Habit of solitude (daily silence); Habit of celebration: Weekly Sabbath and Worship; and  Habit of service: Going to the Margins."

HABIT OF SOLITUDE:
This is my daily habit of solitude. In the morning upon waking up, I pray the Morning Offering to the Sacred Heart  which goes:  "O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings for this day, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart, the salvation of souls, the forgiveness of sins  and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for all the intentions of our bishops, priests and all apostleship of prayers and in particular for the intention of our Holy Father for this month and my own personal intentions." Then I enumerate  my personal intentions for God's blessings.

I also offer  this prayer to all the "poor souls in the purgatory" so that in my own little way, I may be able to help them in their purification,  through my daily  prayers, works, joys and sufferings. I pray that whatever little merit that my sacrifices receive, I will also offer it to them to help hasten their going to heaven to be with God.

A photo of my new Holy Rosary.

On my way to work, instead of listening to music or the radio while driving,  I pray my favorite prayer, i.e.,  the Holy Rosary  and contemplate on the mysteries of our salvation. Sometimes when there is traffic, I sing  all the Hail Mary  and Our Father prayers as I believe that  just like in the HIGH MASS  where all the responses and prayers are sang, then this is my version of an elevated praying  of the Holy Rosary. I know that my  Mama Mary will surely smile and be happy with my humble offerings for the day. As each Hail Mary that I recite is like giving Mama Mary a  beautiful white rose and for every Our Father that I pray is just like giving her  a red rose. Thus, praying the complete Holy Rosary is like giving her  a beautiful   crown of roses and the Holy Rosary of five decades is a small wreath  of roses which we are giving her and  our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  As our priests and nuns say, " To Jesus through Mary" as Mama Mary is our Mediatrix. She is the Mediatrix of all graces. As Jesus bestows all graces through His Beloved Mother Mary.

In spite of my busy day at home and at work, I pray the Hail Mary whenever I get the chance, like while washing  the dishes, while sweeping the floor,  while doing my gardening, when I step out of the car and walk towards the elevator, while riding the elevator, while walking towards my office and every way I can pray, I pray the Hail Mary. It is my salute to my dear Mama Mary for all the love and care that she has showered upon me and my family. For always being there for me in every minute of my life. For if we love Mama Mary, Jesus will surely  bless and shower us with His love too, as Mama Mary is His beloved Mother.

HABIT OF CELEBRATION
In accordance to the teachings of the Catholic Church, it is our obligation to attend the celebrations of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass every Sunday. We all need to refill our body and soul with the many graces that only God can bestow upon us. So we should all praise and  adore Jesus during the entire celebration as He is present in the  Holy Eucharist and in the celebration of each Holy Sacrifice of the  Mass. 

We should attend  and receive as many Holy Mass and Holy Communion  as we can in our lifetime, because each Holy Mass that we attend and each Holy Communion that we receive,  will plead for us before God, when its time for us to go to heaven.\

HABIT OF SERVICE:

Is all about serving and sharing our blessings to the poorest of the poor. It means doing our Service Learning advocacy and reaching out  to the margins. As I am busy everyday with work and school at night time and weekend, I try  to pack any left over food from my refrigerator and hand it out to street children and beggars who I encounter on my way to work. This way, helping them out becomes an everyday thing and not just on special scheduled service learning activity.

We should really find time to help the marginals i.e., the homeless,  the orphans, the starving, people with special needs as helping all of them will make us realize that we  are  truly blessed, therefore, we should share these blessings.

SHARPEN THE SAW

In our class discussion of the work-leisure-integration matrix, I was intrigued by the phrase  “sharpen the saw” which was under the heading Leisure as Utility in our Family and Resource Foundation Session 3 topic. Our DLSU-MBA BUS560M Professor, Ms. Pia Manalastas  said that it was the        ” 7^th Habit”  and was  taken from the  book of Stephen R. Covey (1989),  7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

I have learned that it’s all about taking care of one self.  Focusing on the “ME.” Thus, my personal definition of “ sharpen the saw”  is  basically about creating the time to do the things that makes you happy every single day.   I am a simple person, so I try to find joy even in the cutest  little things.

Like this morning, while I was driving going to work, along the Coastal Road, I noticed the long stretch of plants with yellow flowers, and these cheered me  up,  as yellow is my favorite color. Even though I pass this way every day, this morning was an extra beautiful morning because I started to look for other yellow colored things like, there’s the yellow traffic light so I started to slow down and then stopped. Then I made a left turn to Pacific Drive and turned  right to  Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard.

On this long stretch of boulevard, I saw two big yellow Komatsu backhoes  and several yellow crane trucks parked on the left side of the road, yellow lamp posts, the yellow painted  Sentosia  Condominiums,  yellow traffic signs, yellow conduction stickers on cars, yellow car plates,  walking laborers wearing yellow hard hats,  the yellow logo of the  Shell Gasoline Station and  the yellow logo of McDonald’s .  Then,   there was a sporty  solar  yellow  Nissan Juke speeding past me.  What a great looking  crossover! 

Suddenly, I thought of singing….”It was an itsy bitsy teenie  weenie  yellow polka- dot bikini, that she wore for the first time today…” I laugh out loud after hearing myself sing this old song of Brian Hyland because it’s only now that I realized that the bikini was also yellow.  What a lovely yellow day this is, and it’s a Friday, pay day too!

Bought a pretty yellow shawl during the Arts and Crafts Exhibit at the Diamond Hotel after my meeting with the Philippine Association of Maritime Training Center Inc. on June 9, 2017.

It was only when I encountered the phrase “ sharpen the saw” that I came to realize that I was doing the deed even before. It’s just that this time, I know what to label it.  I am self - confessed book worm thus, I have created a mini library in my house with various books on sales, leadership, religious, inspirational, real estate, finance, travel, gardening  and cook  books. 

I have a dream of becoming a lawyer thus, there was a time when I started  hunting, collecting and reading John Grisham’s legal thrillers. I always go to Book Sale Store in any mall that I visit to check if they have hardcover  copies of  John Grisham books. To date, I already have 23 out  of his 36  novels and have read most  of them. I was also able to watch  five of the eleven film adaptations of his novels such as: The Firm, The Pelican Brief,  The Client, A Time to Kill and Skipping Christmas. Other than novels, he also has four short stories and three non- fiction works. I just love John Grisham’s brilliance as a writer and I intend to continue hunting for his books.

There are so many things that I enjoy doing  but I prioritize the enhancement of my spiritual, emotional, physical and  mental  wellness. In terms of finding time for my spiritual wellness, I pray the rosary  almost everyday while driving. Sometimes when I'm so inspired, I sing the Hail Mary Prayer so that my Mama Mary will be happy. I also salute her with three Hail Mary Prayers whenever and wherever  I see her statue.

                                       
Video Credits: www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Hail+Mary+%28religious+song%29+lyrics

For my emotional wellness, thanks to modern technology, I see my family and friends on Facebook especially those classmates and relatives who live overseas.  However, when I have the time, I call my family and friends and get together for lunch or movies at the mall to catch up on each other's life and activities.

I consider doing my household chores, gardening and cleaning my car,  my physical activities as I don't employ anymore the services of a stay-in maid as I am living alone already and I go to work everyday that's why I have decided to just be in charge of taking care of the house. I also complement my physical activities with healthy  food choices such as  preferring  to eat fish, chicken (minus the skin), fruits and vegetables. 

My "sharpening of the saw" is a work in progress and I intend to slowly but surely incorporate and achieve each and every aspect of self-renewal in my daily routines.

Work-Life Balance

The Author (Photo taken on June 9, 2017 at the Diamond Hotel)

I have encountered this terminology  of work-life balance five years ago when I started  working  with my current company as Head of Sales and Marketing  and working directly under  a Norwegian Sales Director. It was my first time to work in the shipping industry so I had to learn a lot of new things in the process. I found this job very interesting, intellectually engaging, socially fulfilling and financially rewarding that’s why I got hooked on the work itself. Later on,  I will be declaring to myself that  -  this is  my dream job as I am being paid for the work that I love doing!

Client visit at Cardiff  Filipinas Crewing.

As Head of Sales and Marketing,  I conduct client visits and meetings with our existing client companies, look for new ones and revive the inactive clients. After my meetings, I return to the office to check and sign   all the Confirmation of Bookings for each and every client that books with us, prepare the Letters of Invitations for all our foreign trainees  so they can apply for visa at the nearest Philippine Embassy or consular general’s office near their place. I also prepare quotations and Training Agreements for those clients that require these.

Due to the load of work that I have, I usually stay late  at the office every day,   sometimes up to 9:00pm just to catch up and finish the work load.  That’s why, one  Friday, I was still at the office at past eight in the evening, I sent an email to my Norwegian boss for approval of the budget that I have prepared  for our participation to an international exhibition in Manila and I was surprised that after five minutes, he replied, “ Approved!”

I was so amazed that he was still monitoring his emails even at night and that he read and gave his approval right away to my proposed budget. He was  so efficient that’s why  I saluted him for that. Thus, after learning about his approval, I closed my computer right away and left the office to go home.

On Monday morning,  when I opened my computer, I read an email from my boss which he sent after his approval last Friday night at almost 9:00pm which said: “ Hi Anne, you should go home now. It is Friday night. You should be with your family and friends. You should learn how to live a balanced life.” To this I replied: “ Thank  you very much for your kind concern. Yes, from here on,  I will learn how to live a balanced life.”

This was the first  time that  I heard about living a balanced life.   Looking back,  at  age 19, I was already working  with the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA),  a government  corporation and studying at night. I was given a full  scholarship grant by the PTA that’s why I was able to study at the De La Salle University, Manila.  I was a working student then.  After work and school then I go home right away.  Even after getting married and  had three  children, I still continued working so I can help provide for the schooling of my kids.  Later on my husband  worked as a Systems Engineer in one of the biggest banks in Jeddah, KSA, then we separated.  Thus,  I became both mother and father to my children. And so, hearing about  living a balanced life was new to me. I don’t know what it means.

In hindsight,  my Norwegian boss leaves the office at exactly 5:00pm. Sometimes he will leave early and inform us that he will be attending a birthday party of a friend together with his family or will be meeting with his Norwegian friends for  a drink after work.  He goes on a vacation leave for a month in July and goes to  Norway with his family  and another month long vacation in December for their Christmas family reunion. So I think that this is his way of creating a balanced life.

Christmas 2016 with my family.

As for me,  from the time that I read about it from my boss’ email,  I researched about it and learned that it is about having time for everything that’s important to you  i.e., you, your family, your  faith,  your  friends and your work.   Since then, I tried very hard to achieve a work-life balance. 

Currently, I’m pursuing  my Master of Business Administration  at De La Salle University while still working at our maritime training center.  My classes are every Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon.  

My family is my priority that’s why during weekends and on special occasions  I get together  for lunch or dinner with my eldest son (with wife and daughter) and youngest son  (with his girlfriend).  As a family, we travelled to the United States for two months,  and went to visit relatives and friends  in the East Coast and the West Coast.  We also went to Hong Kong and  Guangzhou  in China.  Sometimes I take a leave of absence from work and   visit my nurse daughter  in Singapore.  Last year, we visited  Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Visited my nurse  daughter in Singapore.

I also find time to meet with my two  high school best friends and have travelled with them locally to Puerto Galera, Boracay,  Batangas, Tagaytay,  Baguio and overseas to Hong Kong, Macau and Bangkok. I was also invited by some colleagues to travel to Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) and  Shenzen (China).

Lunch get together  with my  best friends at Italiani's

On my spare time and to  further sharpen the saw,  I do gardening, cooking,  reading  John Grisham’s  legal thriller books,   watching  and collecting  CDs of   English love stories (with happy endings), shopping and eating in new restaurants in malls. Likewise,  I  always pray and thank God for all his blessings.  With all of these activities on top of my family, work, school and faith,   I think I know now  how to live a balanced life.  Cheers!

BAHAY ARUGA

 Our De La Salle University  (DLSU)  Master of  Business Administration (MBA) Class – BUS560M Team’s unanimous choice for our Service Learning (SL) Project  is  Bahay Aruga.  It is a  half-way house for pediatric cancer patients who are far away from home.

Bahay Aruga was established on January 31, 2014 by Ms. Mayette Bonilla, Founder and President. It is located at  1131 San Marcelino St., Ermita, Manila. Since its founding, Ms. Bonilla has  dedicated  her life  to the care and support for children who are fighting cancer. Her  simple prayer  is  for the  children’s cancer to get healed and  for them to live a normal life again.  Her purpose is to provide free accommodations and food for these  pediatric patients  while they are undergoing  treatments. 

 At Bahay Aruga,  Ms. Bonilla only accepts children who are referred to her by the  Pediatric Oncologist doctors  from the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Cancer Institute in Manila.  This house is only a few minutes walk or is just  a one ride away  from the PGH. The families  come from  different provinces in the Philippines and when they get to Manila, they don’t have a place to stay.  Lucky for those who have relatives and friends in Manila where they can stay for the meantime that the patient is undergoing treatment. But for those  who are not as lucky, then, Bahay Aruga is a home away from home place for them.

 

These children patients can be accompanied by one parent or guardian for the duration of their out- patient  treatments and medications  from the  PGH.   They can stay at the Bahay Aruga  and save their money for more important medical expenses as everything is not free at PGH. Even radiation  therapies  and laboratories all come with a fee.  Thus, staying at this house  is a big help to all patients and parents considering that they also have to purchase medicines and medical supplies during the various related treatments.  There are also other provisions at this house such as free bed per patient,  complimentary  light and water, diapers, medical supplies, donation of toiletries, food and other stuff.

Through the Bahay Aruga’s Facebook account, there a lot of  companies, associations, civic organizations,   private and public  personalities, hospitals, schools  and other kind hearted people and institutions who helped the patients and their families through the conduct of their  outreach programs. There are also lucky patients who were able to get sponsors to assist  them with their treatments and these helped them a lot.

 

Our BUS560M Group’s decision to help Bahay Aruga was brought about by one member who was able to carry out a community service event at this house before and also due to the current and past personal experiences of our  two other members. One member’s husband is currently undergoing chemotherapy for his brain cancer, while another member had an ovarian cancer at age 19, had one of her ovaries removed and was encouraged by the doctor to marry already and have a baby.   However, since she was very young at that age to bear a child, she rested and  tried her best to recover after  the surgery.  Now, she’s 26 years old already and good thing the cancer has healed and has not returned. Thus, our choice of Bahay Aruga as our Service Learning Project was really one closest to our group’s heart.

In the photo from left to right: Zyrine Joy Rosales, Anne Silva and Marichu Laroga

I was one of the three  volunteer members  from our group of nine,  who  joined our two other available members, i.e., Marichu  and Zyrine to do an ocular and site visit of this facility in San Marcelino, Manila on June 6, 2017. It was a Tuesday, so I took a leave of absence from work in order for me to accompany my group mates. I was really interested in Bahay Aruga  as this was my first time to visit a facility for pediatric cancer patients.

In the past, I have already experienced  joining   two  medical missions and feeding programs of the Lions Club and Philippine Air Force in a  depressed barangay in Cavite City; an outreach whole day activities  at the  Chosen Children Village Foundation  in Silang, Cavite,  a home for physically and mentally  challenged children and at   Elsie Gaches Village, Muntinlupa City,  a refuge for children with special needs;

Photo taken during our site visit at Bahay Aruga. From lef to right: Ms. Mayer Bonilla, President and Founder of Bahay Aruga,  Marichu Loraga, Anne Silva and Zyrine Joy Rosales

We were able to have a meeting with   Ms. Bonilla and she  advised  us  that she prefers  cash donations. However,  we informed her that we are just students and our purpose is to help cheer up and inspire the kids to be more brave in their fight with cancer.

Understanding our position on this matter, Ms. Bonilla then  suggested  for our group to  conduct a gardening activity and  help her create a vertical garden. Our team can interact with the children  and plant herbs and vegetable which they  can grow with their parents and  harvest later on to be used in cooking for their daily food at the house.

Ms. Bonilla also suggested for us to host a birthday activity for the June and July celebrants  with games, prizes and simple healthy food for the kids and their parents. She said that fast foods,  hot dogs, chocolates, food with preservatives are not allowed. So we agreed on her suggestions and set June 25, 2017  as the date of our activity.

We then informed our group mates  through our Facebook group page about the suggested activities of Ms. Bonilla. We also met several times before and after our classes just to finalize our groupings, respective assignments, amount of contributions will be at P500.00 per person which was   the suggested amount of our BUS560M Professor,  Ms. Pia Manalastas for this project.

We were all excited and  looking  forward to the execution of our planned activities for the pediatric patients of Bahay Aruga.  We all want to see and meet them in person as we want to share our  care, love and  blessings to them in our own small and humble way.

REFLECTION ON THE LIFE OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE

Photo credit: http://www.lasalle.org/en/who-are-we/st-john-baptist-de-la-salle/

                                                   

St. John Baptist de La Salle  was born in Reims, France on April 30, 1651,   with a silver spoon in his mouth. He had parents who were influential and wealthy.  He became a Canon of the Cathedral of Reims at the age of 16 and entered the seminary at 19.  When his parents died one year apart  from each other, at 21, being the eldest son,   he became the head of the family and legal guardian of his surviving siblings (i.e., four brothers and two sisters), was ordained as a priest at 27  and finished his Doctorate in Theology two years later.  

RISK TAKER

St. Lasalle was a risk taker  in spite of all these achievements at a young age, He left his ancestral home to move in a rented house  with the teachers (whom he will later call “ Brothers”),  resigned his post  as Canon (after serving for 15 years,  with a high  income) of the Cathedral of Reims,  gave away the greater part of  his parents legacy  and left a little just enough for him   to live on, this time joining his Brothers in absolute  poverty and forming the community now known as Brothers of the Christian Schools.

INNOVATOR

St. La Salle was an innovator because he founded  the first Catholic teaching  institution with no priests at all among its members. The Brothers  were fully devoted only to  education  and schools, with no sacramental functions. 

Furthermore,  when running their schools,  St. La Salle and his Brothers welcomed everyone  who wanted  to attend their free school, be it poor or well-off students.  This resulted to  infringement law suits and  breach  of generally accepted  regulations filed  by those business minded teachers on their school businesses.

Moreover,  instead of using Latin as their medium of instruction, St. La Salle started teaching his students in French. His students were grouped according to their ability. He integrated religious teachings with secular subjects. He conducted pioneering training programs for lay teachers. He started Sunday Classes for young working male students.  He opened the first school in France for young delinquents. He wrote a lot of materials for the use in school of his Brothers. He wrote  a lot of the Brother’s  internal prayers

SERVANT LEADER

St. La Salle was a servant leader because he wanted to serve first the poorest of the poor by uplifting their station in life  through the gift of free quality education because he knows that education is the great equalizer of men.

As a servant leader during his younger years, St. La Salle  was  a chaplain and a  confessor to the Sisters of the Child Jesus, which was then a new order whose primary  function was the  education and care of young girls. His aspiration in life was to really be of service to as many people as possible.

He was  a servant leader because he puts the needs and well -being  of the poor people  first which was shown when he gave away his inheritance to the poor and just left a little for himself to live on, not thinking of his own future.

St. La Salle manifested his being a servant leader,  in the movie that we have seen when he said: “Real wealth is better than you think and feel, not being possessed by possessions. To give, to receive, to reason, children know these. There is no class distinction among men. If I can open their minds and let the sun into it, if enough of these can do this. If we  can open their minds to these lights, the world would become a brighter place, closer to peace, closer to human fraternity.” His detachment to material things was very evident in this statement and this only shows that all men for him are equal.

MENTOR

Being a mentor was  very evident with  St. La Salle when seeing that the teachers in Reims were  poor uncultured men, with no skills and   not well schooled,   he invited them to his home initially  for meals, but later on requested them to live with him in his home so that he can personally train and equip them with teaching and leadership skills.

St. La Salle was considered a mentor by his Brothers because they value and respected  his leadership of the  Brothers of the Christian Schools. During their first assembly,   St. La Salle was  elected as Superior  twice despite  his wish for another Brother to be voted into this office. Thus, he saw this as God’s will and so he accepted  the appointment. However,  he requested the Brothers to put in writing that “henceforth and for all time no priest or person in sacred orders is to be accepted into our Society or elected as Superior, and that we shall never admit as Superior anyone who has not associated himself with us by the same vow as we have pronounced.”  This only shows that St. La Salle was so well loved and respected  by his Brothers that they want him to be their Superior even though he has signified his preference for  another Brother to be elected.

St. La Salle wrote a lot of teaching materials for the Brothers to be used in the conduct of their  school teachings and for  their interior prayers.

LASALLIAN BUSINESS LEADER

As a La Sallian Business Leader, I value  and would like to emulate all the traits of St. Lasalle, i.e.,  a risk taker, innovator, servant-leader and mentor.

I usually take calculated risks especially if I know that it’s worth taking  and that the result  in case it is successful will redound to my benefit. Just like when my former boss (a Chinese Filipino  who’s also a La Sallian)  invited me to join an international maritime training center   where he was serving as  President at the time of our meeting in August 2012. He  offered me the position of Head of Sales and Marketing Department and he also said that I will be under a Norwegian Sales Director, who was  a navy Captain.

In short,  I put on hold my dream of having a business and gambled  on joining this maritime training center first,  as this was a new  and interesting industry (shipping and offshore oil and gas) for me to explore. In short, on my 5^th month in the company, my Norwegian Sales Director has evaluated my performance and he gave me a grade of EXCELLENT! Thus, I was so happy that  I texted our President and he congratulated me for a job well done.

I enjoy doing this job tremendously and all the everyday challenges that I face. Thus, I didn’t notice that time flew  so fast that I will be celebrating my fifth year in the company this coming September 2017 and I’m excited to receive the company  Loyalty Award with corresponding  cash gift that the management will give.

As an innovator in the work place, I find ways and means to simplify our work processes  so that we can all be efficient and effective in  the performance of our work and the  achievement of our goals. I also encourage my staff to think out of the box and be creative in the way they do their work. However, we should continue to focus on the big picture, i.e. achieving our sales target as planned.

Being a servant leader in the work place is not easy as you put the well-being of your company and staff above your personal interests.Sometimes you have to go beyond your official function and assist the staff with their personal concerns if they seek your help on this level. You become one family in the process of trying to achieve company goals.  However, in spite of all of these hardships, I will still endeavor to become the best Lasallian Business Leader I can be!