From Newsboy To Newsmaker: A life story of Rep. Neil Benedict Montejo of An Waray party-list

Every centavo is valuable, says Representative Neil Benedict Montejo of An Waray party-list, as he recalls his boyhood days when he sold newspapers for his baon and counted every centavo he earned from his enterprise.

"I thought that if I make 20-centavos on one newspaper sold, and I sell 10 copies then I'd make P2, which can already buy me snacks," he told businessmen gathered at a recent conference held at the family-owned Hotel Alejandro in Tacloban City.

This lesson gets ingrained in his heart and habit as he took over the family business of newspaper distribution, in which he conceptualized a system that was later on copied by other distributors.

Neil's father owned a thriving newspaper distribution business, which Neil got to manage while he was still in college. It was not his "dream job" though because what he wanted then was to be like his father who was the manager of Coca-cola plant in the city at the time, as he was enamored with the "cool" shirt jacks that the firm's employees were wearing at work.

Another thing was that Neil did not know anything about the business, except that they sold newspapers and comics. But the good son that he was, he rose up to his father's challenge to manage it. After all, what can be hard with such a simple business, or so he thought.

So Neil, who was not even in his 20s then, began his hands-on training, while studying, on a business that he realized was not hard to manage at all, using his lesson of taking every earned centavo of great value.

The beneficial side was that he became a good and efficient time manager. He would be up at 4 a.m. to be at the airport for the 4:30 a.m. Bulilit flight from Manila that carried the newspaper copies, be at the newspaper store by 5 a.m. to supervise the newsboys, take a bath afterwards and off to the university for his studies.

The business also provided him a daily treasure trove of reading materials, while honing his political consciousness and acumen. He went on to become Student Council president during his senior year at the Divine Word University in Tacloban City.

After he graduated, he embraced fully the role of a businessman on newspaper distribution, but later on in the late 90s, he sensed trouble in the horizon for his business. With the advent of more TV channels, newspapers and the popular Tagalog comics were folding up. Soon, sales were dwindling, prompting him to think hard on ways to stem the tide of dire consequences.

Neil however believed the printed word was here to stay. So, he began on a crusade to talk with national publishers to reinvent themselves. He also lobbied for magazine companies to expand their markets and give provincial dealers enough copies for distribution to the towns.

As such, he expanded his news distribution system from major centers in the city to one seller in each town. His strategy worked because people in these towns responded well by buying the publications he brought there.

"If I would concentrate my business in Tacloban, this will not grow. So, I started opening outlets in towns, institutional outlets. The more copies I sell, the better," he says. Soon, his strategy became a byword in the newspaper distribution business. "My formula was copied by Summit who tell its distributors to copy the strategy of a Tacloban dealer."

Now, Neil is a congressman representing An Waray party-list. He says that politics however is passing episode, compared to business. "Your business is there for the rest of your life," he says.

He shared his knowledge to his fellow businessmen: "Times are always changing. Always take note that demand changes over time and you have to adapt to it especially with competition. Know your connection, tap all resources, and learn the advantages and downside. Furthermore, sharpen yourself and know your product. Understand the needs of your market and take care of them. Deliver substance and quality. Business must be micro and macro managed. Know what single tasks your people do. You are not only the owner, you are also the troubleshooter."

Neil ends his speech by singing, in his rich baritone voice, a line from a Disney favorite: "... even though your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, your dreams will come true." - THE FREEMAN