o baka sabihin nyo masyadong bias 'to si silver_corolla.... slight lang naman.... hehe...:D this is an inspiring message from John L. Gokongwei, Jr. para naman mawala nang bahagya ang tensyon sa thread na 'to.

I'm not against SUN.... I'm just someone who takes the worse side and challenge things just for the sake of argument.

Anyway....most Filipinos get an education to have an opportunity to be employed in big business ....

Others get an education to have an opportunity to own their own business ...

Read on guys ... think great thoughts.....

Commencement Address

Ateneo de Manila University

March 27, 2004 By

John L. Gokongwei, Jr.



I wish I were one of you today, instead of a 77-year-old man, giving a speech you will probably forget when you wake up from your hangover tomorrow. You may be surprised I feel this way. Many of you are feeling fearful and apprehensive about your future. You are thinking that, perhaps, your Ateneo diploma will not mean a whole lot in the future in a country with too many problems. And you are probably right. You are thinking that our country is slippingno, sliding. Again, you may be right. Twenty years ago, we were at par with countries like Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Today, we are left way behind. You know the facts. Twenty years ago, the per capita income of the Filipino was 1,000 US dollars. Today, its 1,100 dollars. Thats a growth of only ten percent in twenty years. Meanwhile, Thailands per capita income today is double ours; Malaysia, triple ours; and Singapore, almost twenty times ours. With globalization coming, you know it is even more urgent to wake up. Trade barriers are falling, which means we will have to compete harder. In the new world, entrepreneurs will be forced to invest their money where it is most efficient. And that is not necessarily in the Philippines. Even for Filipino entrepreneurs, that can be the case. For example, a Filipino brand like Maxx candy can be manufactured in Bangkokwhere labor, taxes, power and financing are cheaper and more efficientand then exported to other ASEAN countries. This will be a common scenarioif things do not change. Pretty soon, we will become a nation that buys everything and produces practically nothing. We will be like the prodigal son who took his fathers money and spent it all. The difference is that we do not have a generous father to run back to. But despite this, I am still very excited about the future. I will tell you why later. You have been taught at the Ateneo to be a person for others.Of course, that is noble: To serve your countrymen. Question is: How? And my answer is: Be an entrepreneur! You may think I am just a foolish man talking mundane stuff when the question before him is almost philosophical. But I am being very thoughtful here, and if I may presume this about myself, being patriotic as well. Entrepreneurship is the answer. We need young people who will find the idea, grab the opportunity, take risk, and set aside comfort to set up businesses that will provide jobs. But why? What are jobs? Jobs are what allow people to feel useful and build their self-esteem. Jobs make people productive members of the community. Jobs make people feel they are worthy citizens. And jobs make a country worthy players in the world market. In that order of things, it is the entrepreneurs who have the power to harness the creativity and talents of others to achieve a common good. This should leave the world a better place than it was. Let me make it clear: Job creation is a priority for any nation to move forward. For example, it is the young entrepreneurs of Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore who created the dynamic businesses that have propelled their countries to the top. Young people like yourselves. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, progress is slow. Very little is new. Hardly anything is fresh. With a few exceptions, the biggest companies before the warlike PLDT, Ayala, and San Miguelare still the biggest companies today. All right, being from the Ateneo, many of you probably have offers from these corporations already. You may even have offers from JG Summit. I say: Great! Take these offers, work as hard as you can, learn everything these companies can teachand then leave! If you dream of creating something great, do not let a 9-to-5 job even a high-paying onelull you into a complacent, comfortable life. Let that high-paying job propel you toward entrepreneurship instead. When I speak of the hardship ahead, I do not mean to be skeptical but realistic. Even you Ateneans, who are famous for your eloquence, you cannot talk your way out of this one. There is nothing to do but to deal with it. I learned this lesson when, as a 13-year-old, I lost my dad. Before that, I was like many of you: a privileged kid. I went to Cebu's best school; lived in a big house; and got free entrance to the Vision, the largest movie house in Cebu, which my father owned. Then my dad died, and I lost all these. My family had become poor poor enough to split my family. My mother and five siblings moved to China where the cost of living was lower. I was placed under the care of my Grand Uncle Manuel Gotianuy, who put me through school. But just two years later, the war broke out, and even my Uncle Manuel could no longer see me through. I was out in the streetsliterally. Looking back, this time was one of the best times of my life. We lost everything, true, but so did everybody! War was the great equalizer. In that setting, anyone who was willing to size up the situation, use his wits, and work hard, could make it! It was every man for himself, and I had to find a way to support myself and my family. I decided to be a market vendor. Why? Because it was something that I, a 15-year-old boy in short pants, could do. I started by selling simple products in the palengke half an hour by bike from the city. I had a bicycle. I would wake up at five in the morning, load thread, soap and candles into my bike, and rush to the palengke. I would rent a stall for one peso a day, lay out my goods on a table as big as this podium, and begin selling. I did that the whole day. I sold about twenty pesos of goods every day. Today, twenty pesos will only allow you to send twenty text messages to your crush, but 63 years ago, it was enough to support my family. And it left me enough to plow back into my small, but growing, business. I was the youngest vendor in the palengke, but that didnt faze me. In fact, I rather saw it as an opportunity. Remember, that was 63 years and 100 pounds ago, so I could move faster, stay under the sun more, and keep selling longer than everyone else. Then, when I had enough money and more confidence, I decided to travel to Manila from Cebu to sell all kinds of goods like rubber tires. Instead of my bike, I now traveled on a batela boat so small that on windless days, we would just float there. On bad days, the trip could take two weeks! During one trip, our batel sank! We would have all perished in the sea were it not for my inventory of tires. The viajeros were happy because my tires saved their lives, and I was happy because the viajeros, by hanging on to them, saved my tires. to be continued po.....