I was so sad to learn that my dad was giving me away. Little did I know, that it was the advice of Senator Ping to my dad. To prolong the conversation, so they can find us. After seven days, they found us. That was how good Senator Ping was, and to think there were no mobile phones then. By the way, I did not realize that the good senator had already disclosed this in this Twitter account.
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When my dad turned 60, he held a party and announced his retirement. Of course, we all know he never retired at 60, nor did he retire at 70, or 80. He retired at 90. Henry Sy Sr. was a guest and Mr. Sy told him: “John, you are going to face three problems when you retire. One is what you are going to do after working for 50 years. Two is who is going to succeed you. Three is the worst problem of all—how to deal with five sons-in-law.”
In his speech in 2017, when he received the Management Man of the Year Award from the Management Association of the Philippines, he said, “I would say that the best sign of my management skills has been to manage my sons-in-law, most of whom are businessmen working with their own family businesses, and a lawyer. Guess who is the most difficult to manage?
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My dad was always known to be a sloppy dresser and cheap when it comes to dressing up. His tie always had a stain from ice cream or coffee. When I got married in Hong Kong in 1993, he did not even bring with him a new suit. But my wedding ninong, the late Geny Lopez Jr. said that he was wearing a tuxedo. My dad got kind of embarrassed and said he had to upgrade his outfit. He also would like to wear a tuxedo. He did not even think of buying a tuxedo, he decided to rent one! And he was so happy that the rental company had his size—double XL shirt and size 44 pants.
My dad was a man always in a hurry. He can finish a meal in five minutes, and if you notice that his children do the same thing, you know where our genes came from. He was always in a hurry that at the age of 60, he was asking why I was not yet married, as the children of his friends were already all married.
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Finally, when my dad turned 67, I decided to get married. He was so excited that during the wedding ceremony, he walked ahead of me and my mom got mad at him and said, “Please wait for the bride!”
As I became more involved in the business, he continued to encourage me not to be afraid of making mistakes. By this time, I already had so much to eat because I was working a lot. I liked his words of encouragement, congratulating me for simple wins. But this year, he had other reasons for congratulating me. He had forgotten about the business and was now congratulating me for the UP men’s basketball team entering the Final Four for the second year in a row. He knew what his daughter really loved the most. That’s why I loved him for that.
(I hope the beloved priests from Ateneo officiating the mass tonight will pray for U.P.’s win on Wednesday).
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Get some rest, dad. We will look at the financial statements for you.
By the way, we did not rent his outfit for today. Somewhere along the way, he decided to buy himself an expensive suit, and we made sure that the tie did not have a stain.
Before I end my talk, I would like to thank a few people who took care of my dad all these years until his last days: Uncle Antonio Go, bodyguards Macoy and Bong, nurses Jeny and Delphin. Thank you very much for staying with dad.
[This story first appeared on Esquiremag.ph]