Points Of View

Race begins in a single step!

Born on May 5.

A Taurus, builder or producer.

Under the Chinese zodiac, a Pig, sign of contentment. Intellectual with a strong need to set difficult goals and carry them out.

Under Christianity, it is Jesus Christ, the Judge, his glorious coming. Messiah coming to rule in the person of the Redeemer whose wrath is breaking forth on his enemies while he shepherds his redeemed to safety.

I like the third one because i’m a Christian.

I was 20 when I started serving for the Lord. I became a pastor at Pasay Church, one of the many notorious cities in the Philippines, as they say.

The experience was fun and pain. It was fun because I know that all the effort that I am doing was not done in vain for the reason that I am doing it for the Lord. It was pain because in the pocket, there was no monetary satisfaction. The church was giving me P1,000 per month, that is around $32 during that time when others are earning $7 a day. This was my training ground and my battlefield.

I struggled.

It was a training ground indeed. I was young but most of the members of the church was quite a bit more matured so to say (I don’t want to call them old since I am the one they approached to when personal problem arises, that makes me feel much older). I learned how to communicate effectively with people of different ages and cultures. Being a pastor requires not only speaking eloquently and clearly in front of many members, but also listening. Lots and lots of it. This was also my battlefield because each day was a new challenge. There was no room for mistake because at battle, one mistake could cost you your life. Luckily, or so to say gladly, I stayed as a pastor for 4 years (of course, with the pain by my side, you know what I mean).

Year 1995 when some of my batch mates shifted their course in life. Some studied criminology, wants to be a policeman. Some married and stayed as a plain housewife or a plain house-band. Some became farmers but others stayed on the course pasturing churches. I admired them.

I opted to become a salesman.

It was a tough decision because I have no knowledge about how to sell and the first selling experience I had was selling cook books. Everyday I will go house to house, office to office to offer my product. The pain came back. But it is different now. It is the pain of rejection.

Once again, I struggled.

My mentor was a Canadian. He was good. He was very good. He taught me how to sell. He showed me the difference between buying something because you need to and not because you want to. There is an old adage that says, ‘if the master is good then the outcome would be a good student’.

Soon enough, I was handling promotions and sales of books, teaching and training new recruits, computing consignment invoices and balancing inventories, assisting in jeepney and territory organization and motivates new people in the company.

I still continued selling cook books because I was earning about P2,500 for just working 4 days in a week. That is around $25 a day. My earning was very good but the work was so draining.

After about a year, I shifted my course in life again simply because the company closed down. I became a message handler, an operator in a telecommunication company. It is a very challenging work since I do not know how to type and the job was to get client’s message accurately while he is talking and I am typing.

I began to love challenges.

And began to love my present job. I learned how to type. I can even finish typing client’s messages before they can finish the sentence. Also, through this job, I met She.

She was slim.
She was reading most of the time.
She was charming.
She was intelligent.
She enchanted me.

I married her, January 5, 2002 then married her again, March 22, 2003. Those were the happiest days of my life.

Before becoming a regular employee in every job in the Philippines, there is a probationary period of 6 months. If you pass the evaluation period, then you will be a regular employee. After 3 months of work, they made me a supervisor/trainer and I accepted the job.

For just about a month of supervising, the company merges with a much established telecommunication company and seeing that I am still under the probationary period, they sent me back as an operator. I humbly accepted.

When I have done my 6 months in the company, they promoted me again as a supervisor. I accepted the job, again. On my 5th year in the company, they made me a retail shop officer handling one of the company’s retail shops. I was assigned at Tutuban Centermall I, Divisoria.

Year 2001 when the company offers an early retirement. This is because pagers are not selling anymore. Cell phones are now the new trend. I accepted the offer.

I became a Financial Executive, an insurance agent assigned in bank branches and reporting directly to the Branch Manager. I deal mostly with the bank’s Valued Clients and High-end Depositors. Giving them free Financial Planning Service to identify, quantify, and prioritize their needs; study, design and present the tailored-fit solutions whether it be an insurance product or a bank product.

This is my first year in the company. I received 2 awards. A rookie (for achieving a minimum of 500,000 worth of dollar account and a minimum of 200,000 peso account) and a president’s award (for achieving a minimum of 1,500,000 dollar account and a minimum of 700,000 peso account).

On writing, I agonize over it—every word, every sentence, every period, every comma, and every punctuation. But, when I finally put the last period, I make sure that it is pleasing to read and readers can learn something from it.

I like strong words. I like to show emotions. I like to use short sentences.

On books, I like books. I like to read. I like books by Charles Swindoll, Charles Stanley, Stephen Covey, Stephen King, Scott Turow and many more.

Reading a book, any kind of book, I believe is a learning process.

The book that I love most is the bible because it is not just a book but the word of God. It is the source of all knowledge and learning. Here are my favorite verses:

‘Grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.’ Isaiah 40:8.

‘God’s blessings and calling are irrevocable.’ Romans 11:29.

Life now is still fun with my wife beside me. Everyday is a learning process. The pain? Well, it still comes every now and then but I always remember what my friend and pastor Larry Arienzano told me, ‘Reality is different from the truth. Reality says, we are lacking but the truth says, God will provide’.