TODAY we celebrate the 80th birthday of the founder of the BusinessMirror, former Philippine Ambassador to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Antonio L. Cabangon Chua.
We often try to learn about a person we do not personally know from reading his or her curriculum vitae, which, appropriately enough, means “course of life” in Latin.
Ambassador Cabangon Chua’s impressive course of life includes graduating from the University of the East with a degree in business administration. His business interests are diverse and successful. These include real estate; hotels; car dealerships; memorial parks; radio, television and print; banking; health care; and insurance. His ALC Group of Companies directly employs over 15,000 people and more when you take into account sales personnel and those at his security agencies.
Last year the Philippine Council of Management named Ambassador Cabangon Chua as its Management Man of the Year.
His philanthropic endeavors have helped countless people through the programs of the Roman Catholic Church. The late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin named the ambassador president and chairman of the Catholic Mass Media Awards. He was involved in the national movement for the canonization of Lorenzo Ruiz. He helped establish the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue.
However, his biodata does not tell us who he really is and what has shaped this man.
Ambassador Cabangon Chua’s life is an exemplary representation of what is, perhaps, the greatest Filipino generation. Like so many of his peers, his father died during the war. As a young boy, he had to grow up very quickly. These Filipino men and women, who came of age following the war, were the ones who had the overwhelming task of rebuilding a newly independent country.
There was no colonial power that could build schools and roads for us, like what happened after the first Philippine independence. In fact, it was almost the opposite with the terms and conditions of independence that nearly made Filipinos second-class citizens in their own country.
But he had, like his generation, only a force of will, combined with an immense amount of hard work, in order to succeed. For this man, the central force of his life was his mother, Dominga Lim Cabangon, to whom he promised that they would never live in poverty again, like they did during the war.
“Whether you’re rich or poor, everyone has 24 hours in a day,” he likes to remind people. “It’s what you do with your 24 hours that counts.”
We would add that, if you have been fortunate enough to spend time with the ambassador, and you haven’t learned anything from a prosperous man who has a great love and concern for others, then you have not been listening well to the ambassador at all.
The BusinessMirror Editorial
Image credits: Jimbo Albano