Part Three
By the ipra family
This column is our final tribute to our Ipra colleague Rene Nieva, and frequent PR Matters contributor, who recently passed away.
We began our tribute to Rene with our colleagues Charisse Chuidian, Karen Villanueva and Bong Osorio leading the way. Last week two of the PR industry’s most respected practitioners, Max Edralin, Jr. and Romy Virtusio shared with us their memories of Rene, and with it a glimpse of growth of PR in the Philippines, and their shared contributions to it. His story, after all is part of Philippine PR history.
Here, four of his Ipra colleagues Joy Buensalido, Jingjing Romero, Malou Espina and Millie Dizon share with us their memories of Rene, and why he was for most of us and many practitioners, a mentor and model in PR and in life.
Adviser, mentor and Advocate of PR by Joy Lumawig-Buensalido
So many good things have been said and written about Rene Nieva, but I would like to add my personal insights on this man who was a quiet but great influence to me in the professional practice of public relations.
I consider Rene as my kuya (older brother) in more ways than one. First, he and I share the same birthday and ever since we found out, we immediately had a secret family bond.
Second, we both have roots in the province of Marinduque where my father was born, so Rene thoughtfully took time to trace our family trees and he eventually told me that our grandfathers were indeed related, so I’ve fondly called him “cousin” since then.
Third, Rene was responsible for inviting me to become a member of the local chapter of Ipra when he was still the chairman. I appreciated the fact the he and Romy Virtusio whom I both respected and looked up to as PR veterans had singled me out to join them, so I accepted their kind invitation and have been an Ipra member for 18 years now. With Rene’s guidance and advice, I also served as chairman for two terms from 2006 to 2009 following my kuya’s footsteps. He was a good mentor.
Rene loved the PR profession and our industry strongly supported our “PR for PR” advocacy because we all believed that PR has often been misunderstood, maligned, or underappreciated. As proud and active practitioners, we in Ipra wanted to give our profession the good name and reputation it deserves.
One of our early efforts to give PR the proper recognition and respect was to collaborate on a book called How To Make it in PR, which was our way of encouraging younger and future practitioners to pursue PR as a career. At the same time, we in Ipra conducted PR seminars for students to share our knowledge with them. This column “PR Matters” was also an initiative to sustain the information about PR.
In all these activities we sponsored to promote PR, Rene was a leading force and advocate of PR.
One genuine trait of Rene was his being a true gentleman with a keen sense of humor. In all our years together, I never heard him utter a mean word against anyone, even if, perhaps, the event or person we were talking about deserved a criticism. Rene would just give his trademark jokes or witty comments that would make us smile, but he was never negative or malicious.
Even on Facebook, his posts were always about something humorous, inspiring, uplifting or memorable. We will miss his love for music, his jokes, his descriptions of his favorite foods and most of all, his warm and touching anecdotes about his family and grandchildren, whom I also now adore.
Soft spoken, kind, positive, an ideal family man, a perfect gentleman. That’s my kuya in PR whom I will never forget. Thank you Rene, and Maligayang Byahe!
The quintessential man by Jingjing Romero
I met Rene through his cousin Marissa Elizalde-Foo, a dear friend during my OFW days in Singapore. It was in the wake of Marissa’s mother that we formally got introduced.
I immediately knew that he was a warm and caring person when he walked into the chapel with a big smile for his grieving cousin beside me. Her face lightened up after he gave her a warm embrace, and we hit it off instantly after the first handshake.
Our paths crossed from time to time when I was still an IT journalist, but I got to know more of the man when I moved into the PR industry full time, full steam. While we would bump into each other in functions occasionally, it was only when I decided to join Ipra that I fully discovered this wonderful person we now sorely miss.
My colleagues have heaped praises on him as a PR expert, and I agree with all the accolades. But I choose for this piece, to focus on four things I lovingly shared with Rene:
- Our love for music. He was not only a crooner, but also a pianist of the first order. I loved all his video posts on FB, of songs I happened to have grown up with, having parents that loved music and sang so well. It ticked me pink when he granted my requests to include fave songs in his almost daily repertoire. He thought I was just teasing him every time I suggested that he should have a concert just for MY listening pleasure.
- Our inclination for the arts. He was actually the first artist in the Ipra group. He started experimenting with colors and images when he discovered this computer application that allowed portrait paintings in various styles. He portrayed me in sometimes hilarious artworks, and I loved them all. He even featured in his FB page a beautiful rendition of me and my friends wearing colorful hats. And I didn’t have to prod him on this.
- Our devotion to Mama Mary and Padre Pio. Rene was not one to brag about his achievements nor his deep spirituality. We found ourselves kindred spirits after we learned that we were both Mama Mary and Padre Pio devotees, our intercessors for the big and small miracles that happened in our life. We had health challenges and prayed for each other incessantly. I cannot help but imagine that he is now enjoying his endless cups of coffee in between piano concertos in heaven.
- Our 24/7 attention for “apo” stolate. Among the many things Rene and I agreed upon, our claim to have adorable apos topped it all. We loved posting pics of our grandkids, and without fail, heaped praises in each other’s comment box. He was proud of them, doted on each one, and his prose about them were heartwarming reads.
To Genny, Noel, and Winnie, your pain is immeasurable and your grief, unimaginable. Please find solace with the thought that his friends celebrate with you his life well-lived. We remember him with love and gratitude. His easy smile, his wit and humor, his writings, his advocacy on PR ethics make him the quintessential man.
The compleat PR professional by Malou Espina
Rene Nieva is the compleat PR professional. Beneath his unassuming demeanor is a very sharp intellect that can break complex issues into bite-size realities that his audience will understand. He has a wonderful ability to find common ground amid divergent views—whether in our Ipra meetings or in the many award-winning campaigns he has rolled out. But it is his integrity and work ethic that have brought success to him and the agency he founded.
Beyond his professional persona, Rene is one of the most beautiful, kind-hearted persons I have met. He is an eternal optimist and never bears a grudge against anyone. He is generous is spewing advice and unabashedly shares his victories and failures. His zest for life was evident in his music, his humor, his love for good food.
Rene was already a respected name in the PR industry when I met him in my first Ipra meeting a decade or so ago. I am grateful our paths crossed for even a fraction of an eternity. The positive impact he has left on me and those whose lives he has touched will be passed on to others.
Our Rock by Millie Dizon
When I joined IPRA in 2006, Rene welcomed me with a warm smile and open arms. This immediately quelled my nervousness about joining a professional organization for the first time, and being in the midst of pillars in the PR industry. At that time, there was a lot of talk about globalization, and I felt that joining Ipra could give me a more global perspective about PR and give me the opportunity to learn more about it from the experts.
So eager to learn, I volunteered to be the group’s secretary, and Rene encouraged me as our photographer for our monthly meetings, sending his photos with delightful commentaries about the food, venue and host. There was a bon vivant quality about Rene—when he hosted our monthly meeting in Beijing, he researched on the best restaurant that served Peking duck, and brought us there. He also brought us to the wonderful restaurants of his brother, which had beautiful interiors by his sister-in-law.
Amid all that lightheartedness, not just only practiced but lived public relations. Many of our colleagues have talked about his kindness and sincerity. PR for him was not just lip service, he lived it every day of his life. In an industry where shamelessly stealing accounts was practiced by some unscrupulous practitioners, he was extremely ethical, choosing not to bid for accounts handled by his colleagues.
When he started our PR Matters column, which the BusinessMirror so generously granted to us, he was among those who unselfishly shared his knowledge and expertise through the many columns he contributed. Rene was our rock—he not only wrote, but would call for contributions and edited to works of our colleagues amid the realization that not everyone had the same level of commitment to our advocacy.
While his illness minimized his contributions to the column, he continued to work with us for the PR Matters book, which was a compilation of our columns. This gave Joy, myself and later Bong the opportunity to bond with him and Genny, who was frequently with him further. He never made a big deal about his illness, which he described as a medical condition, but I realized its gravity when he joined me for coffee with a peg on his neck. This also made me realize his commitment to our project. We will miss Rene, but as we celebrate his life, we know this is not good-bye. He lives on in this column and the lives of the many people he has touched.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the UK based International Public Relations Association (IPRA), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.