Why I need a facelift
April 4, 2004 | 12:00am
One Sunday morning I had to decide which was more urgent – writing an article (as I had not written for the past 60 days), or getting a facelift. I figured that not writing an article would get me ejected from the list of columnists of this paper soon, which I should be more concerned about than my face.
Why a facelift? Because for the first time in my life, in a very short span of time, I was mistaken as the mother of my twin sisters, Faith and Hope. And to think that I am older by only nine years! One was at the immigration line at the Bangkok airport. I had gone ahead of them, and when it was the turn of Hope, the immigration officer told her, "Oh, your mother just went ahead of you."
Two weeks after, at a formal store blessing somewhere in Caloocan, my other sister Faith had entered another store across and the supervisor there told her, "Nakita ko yung nanay mo doon sa kabilang tindahan." Nanay was not with us that day; she had mistaken me for nanay.
When you’re 43, there are certain things you have to expect. You have to expect being called to help in your high school 25th year homecoming activities. You expect a call to be "ninang sa kasal." You expect your husband to spend more time devouring FHM Magazine. But you don’t expect being mistaken as mother of your sisters especially when they’re 34.
But as I mentioned earlier, I should be more concerned about my employment at the Star.
I had not written for the past 60 days because I didn’t know what to write about. I never use "being busy" as an excuse because I think that when you enjoy doing something, like watching movies, there is always time to do it. Likewise, when you don’t like doing something, like exercise, there’s never any time to do it. On my part, as much as I had wanted to send a piece earlier, I didn’t know what to write about. I think I lost my sense of humour when I flipped through the Bangkok Post the day I was mistaken as the mother of my sister, and saw stories on the Philippines given prominence on the International Pages. At one glance, you’d think it looked good that our country was given a big space in the news – until you read the stories.
Story No. 1 was about a ferry that sunk. Story No. 2 was about three policemen who were shot dead in an ambush in the south. Story No. 3 was about three military officers being detained on suspicions of recruiting reservists for an anti-government rally. Nothing more. Oh, and there was one big photo – of three women in a bikini. They were contestants at a local beauty pageant. Sexy women isn’t exactly the best thing we’d want to show people about our country, but it’s still better than a photo on garbage.
On top of the articles was a blurb, "Philippines/Ferry Explosion, Separatist Violence, Politics." This made a friend comment, "This just about sums up what’s happening in the Philippines." Not to forget the beauty pageants as an escapist route for all of us tired souls.
It was very refreshing, therefore, for SGV Foundation and its partners to bring to the Philippines for the first time, the "Entrepreneur of the Year" award in recognition of deserving Pinoy entrepreneurs. The awards night was held last month and the winner, the Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines, will participate in the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 awards in Monte Carlo in May this year.
I think a lot of people forget that it is these entrepreneurs who create jobs. Without them, people would not find work. In fact, Cesar Purisima, Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry, and still the most eligible bachelor in the Philippines along with senatorial candidate Mar Roxas, acknowledged the importance of entrepreneurs when it comes to job creation. He told the audience during the awards night that the companies run by the 18 awards finalists employ 45,000 people and generated P42 billion in revenues in 2002. He also said that small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which number 800,000 throughout the country, comprise 99.6 percent of the total number of business enterprises. They contribute 30 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) BUT employ 70 percent of the country’s total workforce. On the other hand, large enteprises comprise 0.4 percent of total businesses in the Philippines, generate 70 percent of GDP and employ 30 percent of the totla workforce. So shall we say, hail to the SMEs!
The Entrepreneur of the Year Award went to none other than the very unassuming and yet immensely successful Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee Foods Corporation. The audience agreed with the choice and gave him a standing ovation. When CNN’s Lorraine Hahn, host of the awards night, asked Tony what the secret of his success was, he said, "Make your employees happy, just like the jolly bee." Some people asked for his autograph. Below his name, he signed, "Bee Happy."
Jollibee has become so large that out of the P42 billion revenues that the 18 companies generated , almost half, or P20 billion came from Jollibee. That’s a mountain of burgers and Chicken Joy. Out of the 45,000 employees in these 18 companies, almost half, or 22,000 people, also work for Jollibee.
Now what was I doing in that awards night anyway? My sister Lisa, publisher of Summit Magazines (Preview, Cosmopolitan, FHM and Good Housekeeping, among others), was one of the 18 finalists. I’m trying hard not to make this article sound like an advertisement, but when you need good advice from how to go through a meaningful spiritual journey...to how to achieve a great orgasm... to how to not look like the mother of your sister... you ought to read a Summit magazine. The other finalist from media was Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. As I write this, one of my favorite columnists, Tessa Prieto-Valdes, has written about the event in her column and I must ask for her forgiveness if my column ends up sounding like hers. We were seated across each other and my only wish that night was that I had the body and form to carry a gown like hers.
The invitation said, "Black Tie or Formal Barong" for men and "Formal Filipiniana" for women. I don’t know why the men had a choice what to wear while we women had to wear Filipiniana. But I had to stop complaining. I told myself that I should be embarrassed not to have owned a single Filipiniana dress. On the other hand, I did have one – a "ninang sa kasal" dress I wore last year. I had asked the couturier to add in a piña shawl just in case I had to come in a Filipiniana dress one of these days. My high school classmate and SGV partner Betty Siy- Yap, one of the members of the awards working committee and who verified all the figures I just mentioned above (as I was an accounting flunkee), went one step further. She borrowed the gown of the grandmother of a friend. Maybe that’s one good business to think about for start-up entrepreneurs –classic Filipiniana gown rental.
Why a facelift? Because for the first time in my life, in a very short span of time, I was mistaken as the mother of my twin sisters, Faith and Hope. And to think that I am older by only nine years! One was at the immigration line at the Bangkok airport. I had gone ahead of them, and when it was the turn of Hope, the immigration officer told her, "Oh, your mother just went ahead of you."
Two weeks after, at a formal store blessing somewhere in Caloocan, my other sister Faith had entered another store across and the supervisor there told her, "Nakita ko yung nanay mo doon sa kabilang tindahan." Nanay was not with us that day; she had mistaken me for nanay.
When you’re 43, there are certain things you have to expect. You have to expect being called to help in your high school 25th year homecoming activities. You expect a call to be "ninang sa kasal." You expect your husband to spend more time devouring FHM Magazine. But you don’t expect being mistaken as mother of your sisters especially when they’re 34.
But as I mentioned earlier, I should be more concerned about my employment at the Star.
I had not written for the past 60 days because I didn’t know what to write about. I never use "being busy" as an excuse because I think that when you enjoy doing something, like watching movies, there is always time to do it. Likewise, when you don’t like doing something, like exercise, there’s never any time to do it. On my part, as much as I had wanted to send a piece earlier, I didn’t know what to write about. I think I lost my sense of humour when I flipped through the Bangkok Post the day I was mistaken as the mother of my sister, and saw stories on the Philippines given prominence on the International Pages. At one glance, you’d think it looked good that our country was given a big space in the news – until you read the stories.
Story No. 1 was about a ferry that sunk. Story No. 2 was about three policemen who were shot dead in an ambush in the south. Story No. 3 was about three military officers being detained on suspicions of recruiting reservists for an anti-government rally. Nothing more. Oh, and there was one big photo – of three women in a bikini. They were contestants at a local beauty pageant. Sexy women isn’t exactly the best thing we’d want to show people about our country, but it’s still better than a photo on garbage.
On top of the articles was a blurb, "Philippines/Ferry Explosion, Separatist Violence, Politics." This made a friend comment, "This just about sums up what’s happening in the Philippines." Not to forget the beauty pageants as an escapist route for all of us tired souls.
It was very refreshing, therefore, for SGV Foundation and its partners to bring to the Philippines for the first time, the "Entrepreneur of the Year" award in recognition of deserving Pinoy entrepreneurs. The awards night was held last month and the winner, the Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines, will participate in the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 awards in Monte Carlo in May this year.
I think a lot of people forget that it is these entrepreneurs who create jobs. Without them, people would not find work. In fact, Cesar Purisima, Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry, and still the most eligible bachelor in the Philippines along with senatorial candidate Mar Roxas, acknowledged the importance of entrepreneurs when it comes to job creation. He told the audience during the awards night that the companies run by the 18 awards finalists employ 45,000 people and generated P42 billion in revenues in 2002. He also said that small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which number 800,000 throughout the country, comprise 99.6 percent of the total number of business enterprises. They contribute 30 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) BUT employ 70 percent of the country’s total workforce. On the other hand, large enteprises comprise 0.4 percent of total businesses in the Philippines, generate 70 percent of GDP and employ 30 percent of the totla workforce. So shall we say, hail to the SMEs!
The Entrepreneur of the Year Award went to none other than the very unassuming and yet immensely successful Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee Foods Corporation. The audience agreed with the choice and gave him a standing ovation. When CNN’s Lorraine Hahn, host of the awards night, asked Tony what the secret of his success was, he said, "Make your employees happy, just like the jolly bee." Some people asked for his autograph. Below his name, he signed, "Bee Happy."
Jollibee has become so large that out of the P42 billion revenues that the 18 companies generated , almost half, or P20 billion came from Jollibee. That’s a mountain of burgers and Chicken Joy. Out of the 45,000 employees in these 18 companies, almost half, or 22,000 people, also work for Jollibee.
Now what was I doing in that awards night anyway? My sister Lisa, publisher of Summit Magazines (Preview, Cosmopolitan, FHM and Good Housekeeping, among others), was one of the 18 finalists. I’m trying hard not to make this article sound like an advertisement, but when you need good advice from how to go through a meaningful spiritual journey...to how to achieve a great orgasm... to how to not look like the mother of your sister... you ought to read a Summit magazine. The other finalist from media was Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. As I write this, one of my favorite columnists, Tessa Prieto-Valdes, has written about the event in her column and I must ask for her forgiveness if my column ends up sounding like hers. We were seated across each other and my only wish that night was that I had the body and form to carry a gown like hers.
The invitation said, "Black Tie or Formal Barong" for men and "Formal Filipiniana" for women. I don’t know why the men had a choice what to wear while we women had to wear Filipiniana. But I had to stop complaining. I told myself that I should be embarrassed not to have owned a single Filipiniana dress. On the other hand, I did have one – a "ninang sa kasal" dress I wore last year. I had asked the couturier to add in a piña shawl just in case I had to come in a Filipiniana dress one of these days. My high school classmate and SGV partner Betty Siy- Yap, one of the members of the awards working committee and who verified all the figures I just mentioned above (as I was an accounting flunkee), went one step further. She borrowed the gown of the grandmother of a friend. Maybe that’s one good business to think about for start-up entrepreneurs –classic Filipiniana gown rental.
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