Roman T. Yap, 83

The Silliman University community mourns the passing of its board of trustees chairman emeritus, Roman T. Yap, last week, September 23. At the necrological services held at the Sanctuarium at Araneta Avenue, Quezon city, the messages were full of praise for the kind of person he had been — a devoted husband, father and grandfather, a generous giver, a concerned alumnus and trustee for the well-being of the university, a grateful student to the end, a real friend. His devotion to his alma mater was evident in his telling his daughter, Natalie, shortly before he said goodbye, that one night of prayers be reserved for the Silliman group. What happened was that Sillimanians, the Yap family agreed, should take charge of two nights.

On the second night, Ben S. Malayang, Silliman president, told of how the late chairman had given him and his new bride Gladys in the 1970s two checks to tide them over, and demonstrated in many ways his being “a humble person.” Incumbent trustee chair Leonor Briones also spoke of his generous spirit. And trustee Juanita Amatong, of his refusal to be placed on a pedestal.

On the first night, former President Angel C. Alcala spoke of his late good friend. (His remarks, by the way, were read by lawyer James Raterta on the second night.) “Despite his philanthropy, he remained a simple, humble person,” said Alcala, “shunning publicity and refusing to be honored for his good deeds. I once wrote a citation for a university honor for him, but he rejected it, refusing to be placed in the limelight, and preferring to be known simply as Roman T. Yap.”

He did not want to be considered for the Silliman Outstanding Alumni (OSA) award, said Briones, but he accepted it only after he learned that the board of trustees voted in his absence to give him the award. A video presentation at the second vigil showed him looking very happy — plump-faced and gentle in mien — as he received the award in 2006 — with his gracious wife, Mary Consolacion, standing behind him.

To be sure, Roman loved Silliman. It’s that kind of loving that many who had studied at the university nurtured, and continue to nurture.        

Roman’s story begins with his father, Yap Jin Huat, leaving Xiamen, China, for the Philippines in 1913, and returning there years later to fetch his wife, Chaya Tan, by whom he would have a number of children, the eldest of whom would be Roman, born August 24, 1925, in Cebu.

Yap Jin Huat took his family to Dumaguete to work as a warehouseman with the SyCip family. Roman attended the Chinese schools in Dumaguete and Cebu, but came to Manila to finish at the Chiang Kai Shek High School. The Second World War interrupted his studies. When the guns of war had cleared, he finished high school, and then got his associate in chemical engineering, at Silliman in 1949, and completed his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at National University in Manila in 1951.

The war years had been particularly unkind to the young boy. He washed clothes in an uncle’s laundry shop in Binondo, Manila where he was beaten up by Japanese-Korean soldiers when he made a mistake in counting their clothes. He resolved to become a military man not to exact vengeance but because he thought a military man can defend himself and his country. Even during the war he did his bit for the country by revealing to the liberating forces the route he and his companions took when they were forced to deliver goods and supplies to the Japanese soldiers in the hills.

He took his ROTC training at Silliman under such officers as Oracion, Estacion and Paralejas seriously. He would later be awarded Best Philippine Army Reservist of the Year (Colonel, PA), in 1996.

He was grateful to his father for teaching him the value of hard work. While in high school, he sold Soyalac milk early in the morning, and bought and sold goods, from cigarettes to garments and other items — which required him to fly to Manila on weekends. During the week, he made sure that he was missing only the subjects he found easy — geometry and algebra.

In 1952, he married Maria Consolacion Tan. “We started from scratch,” Roman said. She was taking tailoring jobs to augment her husband’s income from buying and selling goods. Then fortune smiled on the couple. A former classmate of Roman — Wilfred Uytengsu — asked him to join his company, Cebu United Enterprises, Inc. as a salesman. What started as a company of five expanded to hundreds of employees. When the company became engaged in manufacturing, Roman became general sales manager for Manila of General Milling, including Alaska Milk.

His business involvements were with Central Marketing Corporation, Makati Agro Trading, Busco Sugar Milling Co. Inc., Grand Family Association of the Philippines, General Milling Corporation, and Bayview Hotel Development Corporation. His children are now helping run these companies.

At the time of his death, he was president of the Silliman University Foundation Inc. (SUFI). He had been elected to the board of trustees in 1976 up to 1998 then chairman of the board in 1990, until 1998, during which time he was conferred the highest honor bestowed on a trustee — chairman emeritus.

Amatong said Mr. Yap always wanted his financial donations kept secret. But what couldn’t be kept secret is his having been responsible for the building of the Uytengsu Computer Center and the Angelo King Allied Medical Science Building. He also invited many friends to invest and get involved in Silliman projects. One of his closest friends and business partner is Julio O. Sy Sr., whom Roman invited to join the board of trustees and who is also a generous contributor to university endeavors.

His many contributions include his helping set aside a modest endowment fund, the earnings of which would cover the administrative expenses of the Center for Research and Environmental Management. Under the direction of Angel Alcala, the center has improved the lives of cosstal communities in many parts of the country.

How true, what Amatong said, that “No amount of words can convey how grateful we are to Roman Yap for showing us how to love and serve unselfishly, earnestly, and humbly.”

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