As a Businessman  ^{(Excerpt) – Triunephant}

I worked under Smith Kline & French pharmaceutical division until end of February 1987.

The company has a newly created biological division engaged in selling human vaccines. The division was not officially operating in Cebu, but the pediatricians who knew the products would always ask me if I could facilitate the availability of these products to their group because they needed them for their patients. Since two of these doctors were my children’s pediatricians, I said, I would help them.

The two pediatricians placed their orders worth Php 5,000.00 which was already a big amount at that time. I called up our office in Manila and the one in charge told me that they could process the orders but had to be paid in cash and I had to deliver the stocks personally to the doctors. So, I told the doctors about it and they fave cash and I sent the payment to Manila through telegraphic transfer, picked the stocks in the evening of Saturday at the airport, and delivered them on Sunday. It was quite a messy, time-consuming, and energy-zapping endeavor but that was the great beginning of where our business is right now.

The Php 5.000.00 weekly orders became regular and the better news was the rest of the pediatricians in Cebu learned about it and started placing orders. Sales increased and started placing orders. Sales increased to a whopping Php 50,000.00 monthly for three months. The not-so-good news was that the process of serving these doctors in good faith was already taking toll on my job and personal time with my family. So, one day, I called up the division manager and told him that I could no longer carry the extra load.

Before we ended our telephone conversation, he told me to pick him up at the airport the morning of the following day. In the car, he requested that I help him look for a qualified and credible dealer or distributor for Visayas and Mindanao. I honestly declined and told him that although I knew some distributors, I would not recommend anyone because I did not want to be responsible for what might happen in the future, especially since the products are highly perishable.

He bluntly told me that his purpose for coming was not really to look for a distributor because he already knew one. I asked him whom he had in mind in particular and he told me. “He is the very person driving the car right now, sitting beside me.” I was surprised and asked him, “Why me?” He told me that I had been the one doing it, the doctors had trust and confidence in me, and I was very dedicated in serving the doctors.

But something was not tight, I did not have the money, the facilities, or the people to do the job and the worst thing was that I was still connected with the pharmaceutical division of the same company. How could I do business with another division in the company while I was still employed by the other division? Amazingly, he had ready answers and solutions to all my questions and potential business problems.

He told me to get a dummy and just do what I had been doing. Get the orders and the payments from the doctors, open a checking account, and pay the company at the end of every month and I would get a 20 percent distribution fee, which is internationally accepted as industry and company standard. My mind was playing with numbers. What is 20 percent of more than Php 150,000.00 worth of sales I had already delivered to the company for three months? The amount was more than my salary for one whole year, so I thought that this was probably what they call “business.” The manager read my mind and told me to forget the commission from the previous sales and concentrate on the proposal.

So I started the ball rolling. We successfully handled the distribution of all the vaccines under the human biological division of the company having Php 500,000.00 average monthly sales in the Visayas and some parts of Northern Mindanao for more than three fruitful years.

Lesson in business: Do not depend on one supplier or one type of business.

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As a Family Man  ^{(Excerpt) – Triunephant}

Trying my best to be a good husband and a better father after learning from imperfect models is truly very difficult. At least I tried and am still trying to be the best dad and hubby despite my hard experiences.

I would like to believe that I am a naturally loving and protective husband, and a nurturing and caring father.

I hope Ellen and my children, Janvier, Sharlene and Mutya see me exactly as I see myself. But I do admit, I have not been loving all the time. As a husband, I used to verbally and emotionally hurt the feelings of Ellen probably a hundred times or more.

Ellen is one person who has seen how much I have already changed from what I used to be. As a husband and a father I am pretty sure that I have a good provider. I work very patiently and give my best to earn enough money to provide my family with good food, comfortable cars, a house and beds, and send my children to good schools.

As a son-in-law to Tatay Johnny Viniegas, I was so close to him because I treated him as my real father and he treated me like his real son. It was easy for me because I had been looking for a fatherly love and relationship having missed these from my biological father.

I learned a lot of things from Tatay Johnny, especially about how to be a family man. He was a very simple man. His thirty years of dedicated service to his company taught me what commitment to work and loyalty to the company really means. I also learned the value of honesty and integrity from him. He had the authority to appoint dealers and distributors in the areas of his responsibility in Visayas and Mind-anao. Dealers and distributors from Cebu, Ilo-ilo, and Davao cities had the same praises for my father-in-law. They all told me that despite the attractive offers from different established distributors in their respective areas, my father-in-law still appointed them even though they were in disadvantageous positions compared to these well-known dealers.

When he retired, his thoughts, words, actions, apprehensions, and experiences inspired me and made me more interested about the life of a retiree.

As a retiree, I noticed that my father-in-law still clamored for the things he missed as an employed person, including all the perks and the good life such as spending time with friends and business contacts in the coffee shops of expensive hotels.

He got sick with thyroid and lung cancer of his thyroid and lungs, but I had the opportunity to journey with him until his last day. It was my fortune to learn the true meaning of the word “death” directly both from his verbal and nonverbal actions.

He whispered to me to ask if it were possible for him to see all his children and grandchildren even if he was in the hospital. I told him he could not because they were too many and I saw the sadness in his face when he said, “It’s okay, I just thought I could see all of them in one place before I die.” Of course it was possible. I planned to surprised him. I told Ellen about it and we gathered everyone, all the way from Baguio in Northern Luzon and Binondo in Manila, and brought all of them to Cebu Plaza, now Marco Polo Hotel.

You may be wondering why I talked a lot about good things about my father-in-law and my biological mother, with no mention of my real biological father. Honestly, I was not and never been very close to my real father. As I mentioned, I silently hated him for what he did to me and to the whole family.

Six years before his death, I sensed that my father wanted to make up for his misdeeds and shortcomings. He made efforts to be closer to my family and me.

On his sixtieth birthday, one of my sisters requested that I throw a party in his honor. It became a family reunion and it was a very memorable one for all of us. Part of the culmination was for each of us to give our father a big hug while we were all singing a birthday song for him. I had mixed emotions. I was not sure whether I was prepared to do it but with all my sisters prodding, I did. I couldn’t believe it; I gave my father a big hug after more than thirty years.

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As a Medical Representative  ^{(Excerpt) – Triunephant}

One day, I received a telegram from my brother, Rey, who was then working in a multinational drug company as medical representative assigned at Philippines General Hospital. He asked me to come to Manila as soon as possible to apply in a British pharmaceutical company. We didn’t expect that I’d be hired.

After three days, I received a call and was asked to report for an interview the following day. When my name was called at around 10:00 A.M., I entered the room, opened the door, and, when I was almost inside, I heard something hit the wall. It was a pencil. Then, I heard a very loud voice. When I looked up, I saw a short, dark, stocky Indian-looking make interviewer who shouted at me, “Okay, pick up that pencil and sell it to me.”

This was my first time to be interviewed and I had no formal training and experience in the field of selling, but I picked up the pencil and walked toward the interviewer. I could not talk. It took quite a long time for me to utter a word. I was overwhelmed. Finally, I was able to open my lips and talked. As to what I said and how long it took me to sell that pencil, I couldn’t remember anymore after I left the room.

It was a unique interview and I liked it very much. I did not expect that it would be followed with a unique training. Eleven days later, I was called to report immediately. I went to the office and I was told that I would be on training. There were twenty of us all in all and I thought it would just be a simple classroom training. When the secretary gave me a piece of paper, I was surprised when I read the instructions. We were instructed to read all of them thoroughly and follow them strictly …

The headmaster then asked one of us to read one instruction at a time. After reading the name of the item or items on the instruction sheet, we were asked to put these items in front of us. When the reading was finished, all the things listed on the instruction sheet were separated from all the items not included in the list, which we were not supposed to bring.

This was the thick. The headmaster told all of us to carry and tuck with us all the excess creative. Not a single excess item must be left on the ground. We were given only five minutes to do everything and when we were all finished, we were asked to jog around the quadrangle with all the things attached and tied to us.

Just imagine if you brought thick clothes and bed sheets. Some brought extra food, junk food, and drinks in bottles. Others brought big bags and attache cases. Some did not bring rubber shoes as instructed, so they were wearing their leather shoes while jogging under the extreme head of the summer sun.

For a while, it was fun as we laughed at one another and the training staff also laughed with us. We thought it was okay until we completed the tenth round of nonstop running when we realized that they mean business. We were waiting for them to tell us to stop running but nothing happened until one trainee collapsed at around 11:25 A.M.

Lesson: Follow instructions strictly

…

One of the activities we were told that we could not go back to our rooms and sleep in the comfort of our beds. We were instructed to sleep outside, not on the ground but up on the tree, and no single part of our bodies must touch the ground. I found pieces of wood and ropes and climbed up a tree. I put the wood between branches and tied myself tightly. Dead tired, I fell asleep fast. When I woke up, I found myself hanging from the tree face down like a pig but safe.

Lesson: Be resourceful

When God created us, He provided us everything we needed in life.

Before I forget, I would like you to know that throughout the training, the staff kept on shouting at us, calling us names, bad-mouthing us, always telling us that we are good for nothing and that we better go home and plant kamote(which means good for nothing) every time we commit mistakes. Lesson? I don’t know: I did not learn anything from the shouting. Benefit? Oh, yes, definitely. My earwax was gone. Honestly and in fairness to all Glaxo trainees, Bob Garon and all the training staff, the training and experience were all good and beneficial …

After another three long weeks, the training was completed. That very same day, they announced our territorial assignment. I was sent to Cebu to cover Cebu City and the whole province, including Bohol. It was my first time to be out of Luzon. It was also my first time in Cebu and first time to take a plane ride. My senior representative, Mr. Danny Velasco fetched me. I was billeted for a month at YMCA. I had with me a pair of shoes and slippers, a denim, two shorts, three pairs of working pants, five pieces of underwear, seven long and short polo shirts, four handkerchiefs, and six pairs of socks, and every piece of all these things was old.

During my first week at YMCA, I would cry every night and have thoughts of leaving my job to go back to Manila. If not for Danny Velasco’s brotherly advice and his wife Pura’s sisterly love and care. I could not have stayed in Cebu for more than a year. The couple became like a brother and sister to me. They sustained me during one of the most crucial and critical times of my life. After one month at YMCA, the canteen owner, Benjie, his grandmother, and his brother became my friends and family, They invited to stay with them in their apartment near YMCA.

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