Unshakable faith

Her faith was legendary. Back in the ’70s when Pilipino Star Printing (a sister company of The Philippine STAR) would bid for textbook projects under the EDPITAF (Educational Development Projects Implementing Task Force), one of the other printers once joked: “Pag mag bid yan si Belmonte, huwag na kayo magaksaya ng panahon (If that Belmonte is bidding, don’t waste your time),” indicating she would surely win the bid, because “kukuha lang yan ng lapis, tapos dadasal, tapos susulat na ng bid. Sinasabi ng Diyos sa kanya kung anong i-bid (she picks up a pencil, prays, then writes down her bid. God tells her what to bid).”

While it was certainly true that she did nothing without prayer, Betty Go-Belmonte coupled her faith with hard work and an astute mind. Her pencil did not just write out the bid by itself; Betty spent time carefully computing printing costs, and was a whiz at estimating paper usage and minimizing wastage. She would punch away at her little pocket calculator and scribble her calculations on paper (often the backside of a letter or form) with, yes, a pencil. She personally called paper and ink suppliers, checked flats and plates, supervised the printing, then checked on the workers who would come in to gather the printed pages for binding. Quite incredibly, she knew many if not all of the gatherers – who was whose daughter, why this other sister was absent...

That was another remarkable thing about Betty. She may have walked and supped with presidents and prime ministers, captains of industry and movie stars, but she was equally at ease with and her door was always open to the guys manning the presses with ink smeared all over their clothes and body (there was one particular guy called Taba – quite a character, really – who was a regular in her office), mothers with sick children, and the widow and children of the man beaten to death for wearing yellow that was the headline of The STAR’s first issue on July 28, 1986. She really took to heart the admonition of Christ to take care of widows and orphans and those in need.  

Last Tuesday The STAR family joined the Belmonte family in marking the 20th death anniversary of Betty, our founding chairman. An intimate celebration of her life was held for family and friends – just a few of the thousands that this remarkable woman had touched during her all-too-short life – at the garden of their home in Quezon City, the place where she and Sonny set up home and raised their four wonderful children (and where Sonny, former mayor and now Speaker, still lives), where their daughter Joy got married, where many wrap-your-own-lumpia dinners were held, where guests jumped over the bonfire (a roaring one for the nimble and brave, a tiny one for kids and cowards) during many a Chinese New Year’s eve celebration... It was a wonderful and heartwarming way to remember a wonderful and remarkable woman whose legacy and memory are a treasured inspiration, a guiding light for all whose lives she touched and influenced, for us here at The STAR who strive to continue what she started and strive to practise what she lived.