I almost missed my deadline this week, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up. After months of trying to confirm an appointment, Lucio Tan finally agreed to meet with us mid-week at his Century Park Hotel. The 19th floor is a complex of suites that the Kapitan uses as his office, the myriad people seeking audience with him “parked” in different rooms.
At exactly two o’clock we went up and were shown to room 1907, where we promptly began to plot out a photo shoot as efficiently as we knew his extremely tight schedule would demand. Taking on the task of photographer was former president of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. Robin Sy, a most distinguished photographer for sure, but about the only one the Kapitan would feel at ease with, the two of them being barkada since high school. Roped in to assist him was Johnny Tan, who saved the day for us low-techies by downloading all the photos with his trusty cardreader.
From 1907 we moved to 1903 at the other end of the hall, to wait for the Kapitan who, it turned out, was still tied up in unscheduled meetings at his Makati office. As the afternoon dragged on, more and more people showed up wanting to meet with him – foreign bankers, a delegation of professors from Xiamen University, business associates and, we suspect, a few favor seekers. Atty. Jose Ngaw, the Kapitan’s friend and trusted special assistant, has the unenviable task of directing this growing traffic of people, and bless his kind and patient heart he accommodated us as best the situation would allow.
Finally, we decided that our best chance for any kind of photo shoot and interview would be to “ambush” the Kapitan. Thus we lay in wait at the helipad, cameras and notebook at the ready. With the afternoon light fading it was with great relief that we saw the approaching speck in the sky that was the Kapitan’s chopper, and our cover photo is the result of the great patience of my star photographers Robin and Johnny.
