A true Christmas story

It’s Christmas Day and the perfect time to look at what Christmas really means. There are many in this country who are blessed, but definitely a lot more who are not. And those who have worked hard to be where they are now most certainly deserve all their blessings. Fortunately, those are the people who have managed to continue to receive blessings because they give more than they should. One such story is about this man whom I will just call "Mon." He prefers to remain anonymous.

Mon came from a lower middle class family. He had to work to be able to go to school because he had five other younger brothers and sisters, who also had to work to help out in the family. His mother was a modista who occasionally took on sewing jobs for children’s clothes from neighbors and friends. Mon’s father was a clerk at the Elizalde-owned Yco paints – but didn’t earn enough to support his children through school.

Even at a young age, Mon had to take on numerous sideline jobs to help bring food on the table. He had to work doubly hard to be able to finish grade school and high school at a nearby parochial school. He did not want poverty to hinder him from going to school, so he worked his way through college by getting a job as a janitor-messenger. He would sweep floors by day and hit the books at night. Such hardship would have made others give up, but Mon firmly believed education was the great equalizer and decided it was the only way he could change his life and bring his family out of the difficulties in making ends meet.

Today, Mon is one of the most successful businessmen in the country. A great success story. He has put up a lot of foundations and his favorite, which he supports with millions of pesos, helps children get education. He believes that education is the best capital that you can give to a child because it gives him a fighting chance in this difficult world. Mon’s conviction reminds me of my own father who often told me – "Money you can make or lose, but education can never be taken away from you."

Admittedly, this country has a real problem in terms of education, especially in the public school system. For every 1,000 elementary school graduates, only six are prepared to go to high school. An average of 32 percent of students graduate from public high schools with only two out of 100 qualified to enter college. In the past, the Philippines had one of the best English-based education in Asia, but now the Philippines is lagging behind its neighbors. In a 2003 survey released a year ago, the Philippines ranked 41st in high school Math and 42nd in high school Science among 45 countries. Students in the rural areas are the ones who are most affected by the deteriorating quality of education. Worse, they don’t even have classrooms or teachers.

The reason for this is simple – we have more people today at 85 million. Of the estimated 21 million students in all levels, 17 million elementary and high school students are dependent on public schools for their education. There is also a shortage of 10,000 public school teachers. All these can be traced to the lack of government resources. Obviously there are less government revenues and this means less resources. In spite of the EVAT’s implementation, there’s still not enough resources to go into education. We just simply have no money for it and that’s why we need more generous people.

It’s precisely this dismal situation that makes people like Mon and his foundations really welcome, because there is really an enormous lack of resources for good education in this country. Mon’s foundation has even gone to the provinces to set up grants especially for school houses and teachers. This man is totally low-key; he refuses to be identified and, to this day, he continues to quietly give millions to those who have very little in life. This is the kind of generosity we need to turn the lives of the many poor people around us.

Just like Mon, an executive from a top telecoms firm also gives what he can to make life a little better for others. Every year on his birthday, he would go to the PGH to donate a substantial amount to provide for the medical needs of the poorest of the patients there. He gives particular attention to the children. He believes that his money would be well spent if it is used for the benefit of others who need it the most. Like Mon, this telecoms executive goes about his charitable work without any fanfare, preferring to be anonymous to those who have been receiving medical aid because of his generosity.

The Philippine STAR itself has been doing a lot of charitable work for the less fortunate through Operation Damayan. This was started by the late Mrs. Betty Go Belmonte, the founding chairman of this newspaper. One of the many major projects of the Philippine STAR’s Operation Damayan is "Adopt-a-School" project. They have spent millions in the past year, and in fact they have received so many citations from the Department of Education for this laudable generosity. In fact I told Miguel Belmonte, our PhilStar president, that in my unbiased opinion – the Philippine STAR has become successful not only because it is the best newspaper, but more than that, its success can be traced to the goodness and generosity started by his mother. It is now coming back tenfold.

Most successful businesses that are now doing well share the fact that more often than not, those who started or founded it have been generous in sharing their blessings especially to those who are less fortunate. As they say in Spanish, "Amor con amor se paga" – in simple terms, love can only be paid back by love. We need more people like Mon and others like him who continue to share their blessings. It is this kind of selfless giving that makes for a true Christmas story.

* * *

E-mail: [email protected]