Perpetuo “Boy” de Claro

Portrait of a Man

Boy with granddaughter Aria

Introduction

To honor our “boy” on this special occasion of his 60th birthday, the children and I thought of giving him something that we feel he would truly appreciate. Knowing how much he enjoys reading letters and notes coming from the people he loves, we thought a book about him—a small record of his vibrant personality and the colorful life he’s lived—would be the best gift.

Through this book, we share with you Boy, God’s greatest gift to our family. We hope it captures the various ways in which we know him—as a kind and loving family man, a trailblazing professional, an exacting boss and mentor, a loyal and generous friend, and a passionate civic leader. We also hope it reveals to Boy certain things that he doesn’t know about himself.

Boy has always said that the measure of success lies not in the awards or riches you have earned but in a happy family life. He

has consistently been able to live by this mantra. He has also been able to give of himself to people other than his family. This book is a testament to the many lives he’s touched. It is also our little way of showing our appreciation for all the love and support he has given us.

Corito de Claro

Contents

A Family Man ........................................... 1

The Midas Touch ..................................... 19

A Teacher By Example ............................. 35

Friendly Fire ............................................ 51

The Lives Of Others ................................. 71

The de Claro family: Boy, Corito, Maia, Rammy, and Jill

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Chapter One A Family Man

When Boy de Claro decided on a rare whim to skip work and head to Punta Fuego in Batangas with his wife Corito one morning—“let’s play hooky,” she said—he hadn’t the slightest idea he was in for a big surprise. It was a treat in itself to take his Sunday car—a sports car he used only on weekends—out on a weekday morning with his wife on an impromptu trip. They sped down South Expressway, stopped for breakfast in Tagaytay, and finally, made their way to Punta Fuego to visit the beach house of Corito’s cousin, a gorgeous place that, according to his wife, Boy really ought to see.

They got to the house around midmorning, and Boy refused to park on the driveway, settling instead for the street—“nakakahiya naman,” he said. The place was idyllic and the house itself, a spacious five-bedroom adorned with a view comparable to the

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Portrait of a Man

French Riviera, seemed drawn from the pages of a dream. As they went from room to room, delighting in its design and ambience, Corito held her breath, thinking Boy would recognize certain things in the house that were their own possessions—an old beat-up treadmill, a painting from Bali given to them as a farewell gift by friends from Jakarta—only to end up amused by his obliviousness to what she thought were obvious clues.

That is, until they arrived at a room where a Peck Piñon painting of a sailboat was on display. It was a dead giveaway. Boy stared at the piece, clearly befuddled, and hesitantly stated a fact—“This is my favorite painting.”

“I could no longer contain myself,” Corito recounts, laughing. It was time to reveal the surprise she had worked on in secret in the last year, taking a string of day trips to Punta Fuego, overseeing construction, selecting tiles and panels and fixtures and fittings, the whole enterprise kept a secret because of a comment Boy made about the ridiculously expensive lots in Punta Fuego—“Sino kayang gago bibili dun?”—after she had already bought the land and right before she could tell him about it. As they stood before

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the Piñon painting, she turned to her husband and said, “This is your house!”

Boy was thrilled, of course—“he even congratulated me for building a beautiful house,” Corito says—but the first thing he said seemed straight out of a sitcom—“Ay, buti na lang, kelangan ko na magbanyo!”

Now known as the “I-love-my-husband house,” Corito’s gift to herself in the guise of a surprise for her husband, the beach house in Punta Fuego is where the de Claros—Boy and Corito, daughter Jill and husband Dave with their two boys, Marco and Nico, daughter Maia and husband King with their baby girl Aria, and son Rammy—gather on holidays and special occasions. The story of the surprise house is a favorite to recount, one that portrays hilarious caricatures of Boy as the dense, clueless husband and Corito as the wife who can get away with anything.

Perpetuo “Boy” de Claro is anything but dense and clueless when it comes to work. The lighthearted husband is nothing like the

A Family Man

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Portrait of a Man

President and General Manager—and now Chairman of the Board—of Wyeth Philippines, a brilliant marketing executive and relentless perfectionist who keeps employees on their toes and pushes them to become nothing short of excellent. It is to the credit of Boy’s staunch work ethic that companies like Wyeth Philippines, Colgate-Palmolive Philippines, and Johnson & Johnson Philippines (J&J) enjoyed their golden ages. He runs a tight ship, one governed by his legendary vision and cunning, as well as his infamous temper.

The Boy with the thunderous voice and sharp tongue is a far cry from the grandfather who dozes and does crosswords beside his sleeping months-old granddaughter Aria. The calculating professional is hardly like the homebody who prefers to spend most of his free time in what Jill calls his “horizontal position,” lying in bed or on the couch and watching sitcoms or movies. The Boy of the brash and brazen nature, never one to shy away from controversy at work, barely resembles the man who turns childlike with anticipation over the prospect of a mahjong session with friends, or the man who exclaims melodramatically—“I died a thousand deaths”—upon entering a store filled with what he

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loves to collect—wooden boats of various styles and sizes.

Described by his family as malambing, Boy is the kind who openly shows affection for his wife and children. As a father-in-law, says Dave, he is supportive—“he leaves us to chart our own lives, but always assures us he’s there to help our family.” He is also particularly sensitive to the needs of his loved ones. Boy’s younger sister, Cora Aycardo, says, “I have always felt Boy and I had a special bond. To this day I could swear he was psychic. Whichever corner of the world Boy would find himself in, he always seemed to sense when I was in trouble or problematic in my young adulthood as I would almost always get a phone call from him.”

It takes a workaholic to achieve Boy’s level of success as a groundbreaker in his field. And true enough, recalls Corito, “When the kids were young, he didn’t like weekends. He was excited to go back to work.” When Corito gave birth to Jill, it was her mother who took her to the hospital because Boy was working late. By the time he got to the hospital, their first child was already born.

A Family Man

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Portrait of a Man

In the early 1980s, when Boy moved his wife and two small daughters (Rammy, who is ten years younger than Maia, wasn’t born yet) to the United States for his stint in New York as Associate Director for Colgate-Palmolive Philippines, Maia remembers the long days and late nights her father would spend at the office. “It was a game with me, my mom, and Jill: ‘Guess what time daddy will be home?’ He’d come home late and we’d pick him up at the train station because he would commute to work. He was really a workaholic then. He was still building his career.”

Not that Corito, a working woman herself, ever minded Boy’s long hours at work. Theirs is a relationship with ample room for independent choices and pursuits. “He allowed me to grow, to do what I wanted to do. He did not have that macho attitude,” explains Corito. “He realized I was better at certain things than he, and that is mostly in managing our financial affairs. I would go into big investments without him even knowing. I don’t even have to ask him. He has complete trust in what I do. May iba na I’d call usisero… they’d always ask, ‘What are you doing?’ Always asking and asking questions. But siya, no.”

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Boy may be a workaholic, but he belongs to the rare breed that manages consistently to put family first, regardless of the insanely rigorous demands of the workplace. “He knows his priorities, and his priorities are me, the kids. I always felt I was number one in his life,” says Corito. “He always tells his secretary, if any of my family calls, no matter what I’m doing, I have to take the call.” It doesn’t even have to be an emergency. He adheres to this policy so strictly that he would interrupt an important meeting to take calls from his family or talk to them if they happen to drop by. When the kids were growing up, he would exert extraordinary effort to fix his schedule around their school activities, to the point that Corito would occasionally tell him, “No, it’s okay, I can go. Your work is more important.”

An expert compartmentalizer, Boy is not one to take work home. Corito says she doesn’t even know much about the goings-on in his office, the politics and problems. The kids know of his reputation in the workplace mostly through stories and not through actual exposure. The office and the home are two different places, and

A Family Man

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Portrait of a Man

it seems, as much as possible, Boy enters these vicinities as two separate men. As a father, Corito recalls, he was never the type to carry the children or change diapers or help out with homework. But when the family was living in the US, far from the many social obligations of life in the Philippines, Corito and the girls enjoyed quality time with Boy, so much so that Corito thinks of their stay in the US as an ideal time in their family life. “Ang kulang na lang nun, si Rammy.”

It was in their Greenwich, Connecticut home that Corito and Boy literally got down on their knees and scrubbed the floors of their new house together. It was there that each night, he made his girls chew red tablets (then a Colgate product) to test their teeth for plaque, sending them off to the bathroom to brush their teeth again if they displayed red smiles. It was there that he told his daughters made-up bedtime stories with characters like The Witch of Dundelock, that he and the girls named themselves the nonsensical “Kissing Gurami Family.” It was there that he played Bingo and Monopoly with his family over virgin piñacoladas and mushroom canapés made and served by Corito. It was there that he took his family on trips during weekends to New York, Boston,

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Hershey Park, Montreal, and Quebec, where they would go to restaurants and eat, the family’s favorite pastime.

“With people in the office, he demands excellence. With us, his kids, he takes us for who we are. Syempre, unconditional love yun, wala na siyang choice!” says Maia. “He lets us grow and find our own wings. He doesn’t push us to do what he wants us to do.” Between Corito and Boy, it is actually Boy who is far more lenient with the kids, while Corito, jokes her daughters, can be “Hitler” or “The Wicked Witch.” When the girls would have disagreements with their mom, Boy would step in as mediator. “He’d talk to my mom,” Jill recounts. “I know there were a lot of times they would fight. So many times my dad intervened for us.”

The home is clearly Boy’s sanctuary—when he has time in his hands, “he’s not maalis,” says Jill—and this is perhaps why he is easygoing when with his children. “He laughs at our mistakes,” says Rammy, remembering the time he got caught with cigarettes in his bag. He had forgotten his bag was transparent and so there it was, a pack of cigarettes, in full view for his parents—who didn’t

A Family Man

Boy and Corito with grandchildren Nico, Aria, and Marco

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approve of smoking—to see. Instead of getting angry, his father struggled so hard against laughing at his son’s blunder. “Di siya makatawa kasi feeling niya magagalit si mommy sa kanya!”

Although it took some time for Boy to warm up to both Dave and King, as is typical of fathers with the men dating their daughters, King recalls an incident when Boy treated his first boo-boo without much fuss, and even a bit of humor. The family was going to watch a show at Music Museum in Greenhills, and since there was no driver available, Maia volunteered King, then her boyfriend, to drive for the family. It was a simple enough task, but King was nervous anyway. “I was probably doing 30 km/hr on Ortigas,” he narrates.

King’s nerves notwithstanding, they got to the show without any hitch. Going home, however, was a different matter. Once they were all in the car and King started the engine, “there was an awful sound from under the car! Holy Kamote! That was my end!” he exclaims. When they all got out of the car to see what was causing the ruckus, “there it was, an electronic device of the high-tech Lincoln Continental hanging from under the car.”

A Family Man

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Portrait of a Man

“It took me about thirty minutes to figure out what to do and say to Mr. de Claro,” King continues. “He said never mind, he’ll be the one to drive na lang. And thankfully he still allowed this now dirty and sweaty guy to ride beside him. He was cool about the whole thing. He would even joke about it but you cannot imagine what I was feeling the whole time!”

To his kids, Boy is confidante and champion. “He says to us, ‘There’s never a problem too big that you can’t tell me,’” Jill recounts. When in need of advice, he is the one they turn to, without fail. He is also matanong, says Maia. “He always wants to know what we’ve been doing. You feel special when you talk to him.” He likes to reminisce about his own childhood, how much things cost back then, the simple life of his family when he was growing up. Boy is a dog lover who would’ve taken care of German Shepherds if it weren’t for Corito’s objections, and Jill recalls, “When dad was young, his dogs were always named Rex.” Rammy, who shares Boy’s interest in basketball, chuckles as he remembers his dad saying, “Nagbabasketball raw siya dati tapos sobrang dungis kapag natutulog kaya raw ata siya nagkapimples.”

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A Family Man

Boy is so easy with his kids that he rarely asks them to do anything for him. It was back when he was around seven years old that Rammy was made to do something regular with his dad—go out for breakfast during weekends, just father and son. The ritual lasted until Rammy was around Grade 6. They would go to Ima or Jollibee, and Rammy would listen as his dad talked about, of all things, the birds and the bees. As for Jill and Maia, Boy takes pride in the fact that his married daughters, their husbands in tow, continue to indulge their dad by spending Valentine’s Day dinners at home with him and Corito. Little does he know that his sons-in-law—who get to save rather than spend money on Valentine’s Day—are only too happy to oblige.

“The only thing he requires from us is a card or letter every occasion,” says Maia. Despite evidence to the contrary, Boy is quite the sentimental person, a devoted collector of letters written by his children, which he stores in a briefcase. “When he’s old, what he wants to do is just take out all the letters from his kids and read them all,” Maia adds.

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Portrait of a Man

King, who happens to be a chef, is sure of one thing: “There’s a saying, ‘The way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach.’ That’s also true with Boy de Claro.” A devoted fan of Mr. Poon, the siomai and mami of Ma Mon Luk, and chicharon, which he never fails to buy when he takes his sports car out on weekends, this is one man who loves to eat. “As long as my pasta is al dente, my steak is never overcooked, and my scrambled eggs are malasado, I’m OK with Boy de Claro!”

To his wife, Boy is and continues to be the ideal husband and family man. “Life with Boy is never dull,” says Corito. As newlyweds they spent each evening after dinner playing cards, and so competitive were they with each other that many times, the games would end with tampuhan, with Boy getting on Corito’s nerves especially when he introduced new ideas into the game that were hard to refute. Their married life is filled with laughter because of his great sense of humor. He is also always the first to say sorry and make peace after a fight. Corito and the kids bask in the comfort of knowing that whenever they need Boy, he will always be there. He even tells them that anyone can call a “family council meeting,” where they can sit down, talk, and help each other through any

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A Family Man

problem. To cap a life well-lived, says Corito, “Boy and I look forward to spending our old age sitting on our rocking chairs, paugoy-ugoy na lang.”

If Boy has a suitcase-full of letters received from his children through the years, not to mention the countless family pictures taken during birthdays, Christmases, and other special occasions, the same cannot be said of his own childhood. There are hardly any pictures of Boy as a child and young man. But there are good memories and important lessons from his youth. The son of Ramon de Claro, a lawyer, and Felicidad Martinez de Claro, a homemaker, Boy is the third of seven children.

“One of the stories mum used to tell,” recounts his sister Cora, “was that when she told Boy off for some misdemeanor, this would usually involve a long and detailed discussion about said misdemeanor and Boy’s attempt to explain himself and defend his actions. In mum’s words: naka-isang salita ka, naka-100 na si Boy. But the end result was he would end up doing what she tells him to do—granted of course that she was right. One of Boy’s

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Portrait of a Man

strongest traits is that he knows how to listen.”

“Our parents tried to teach us a great many things,” continues Cora, “and on hindsight, Boy must have been listening intently. They taught us about integrity, honesty, fairness, the value of hard work. They allowed us to be who we innately were, they gave us a lot of latitude, taught us about love, about caring for other people, about being generous to those who had less than we did. They taught us not to compare ourselves with others, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than we are, that education was supremely important if we wanted success in life.”

Boy has undoubtedly taken many of his parents’ lessons to heart. His professional success is so astounding that, says Cora, “I think he even exceeded our parents’ greatest hopes and expectations.” The downside of such great heights career-wise, of course, is the overwhelming amount of pressure, and in Boy’s case, it seems, rage is one outlet for him to let off some steam. While his family has never been the target of his notorious temper, Corito and the children have witnessed his road rage many times. He’s transparent

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A Family Man

when angry, Maia notes. “He spits out his words. He enunciates every word so you know it’s really serious.”

When choosing restaurants, Jill and Rammy say they prefer going to places they know their dad already likes, except their mother and Maia like to suggest new places. “Recently we had lunch at an Italian restaurant,” Rammy recalls, “and the moment we entered the restaurant, I knew it wasn’t his type. I had a feeling magkakaproblem. I think he didn’t like the food that much, pero di na rin siya nagcomment. I think he knows we get scared. Ang nangyari dun, we were trying to pay pero ang tagal. He tries to mellow, pero pag di na niya kaya…” Rammy drifts off but it is easy to imagine the outburst that is the inevitable end of the story. “If I get the chance, I’d tell my dad, ‘please, relax lang,’” Rammy says. “Let it go sometimes.”

Fortunately, at this stage in his life where he is cutting back on work, Boy has mellowed in his dealings with people. Rammy says Boy’s mahjong group has also been instrumental in helping him keep his cool. “At least now meron siyang barkada, patext-text na.”

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The flip side of Boy’s rage is his passionate nature. Corito describes his passion as very physical, evident in his every gesture—the way he speaks, laughs, drives, eats. Boy looms large, literally and figuratively. When he enters a room, he becomes its center of gravity—he of the boisterous laughter, the booming voice, the stinging retort, the impressive repartee. Passion for passion fits Boy to a T, and whether it be steering a company toward success, or uplifting the poor, or tending to his family, Boy is unshakable and wholehearted in pursuing endeavors that matter most to him.

At the end of the day, however, there is an elusive quietness to the man who loves to look at the model galleons he’s acquired through the years and who still has in storage boxes of wooden ships he has yet to assemble. There is an intriguing simplicity to the man who enjoys listening to music while shining his shoes, and whose ideal day would be spent driving alone in the morning and watching television all day. Boy loves to drive alone on early morning weekends, hitting 200 mph, not heading anywhere in particular. No one is privy to his thoughts on such occasions. The most he’d reveal to his children about those drives is his love for one sensation—the feel of shifting gears.

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Chapter Two The Midas Touch

It began with an accident that didn’t happen: a slab of concrete broke loose from the ceiling, fell, and landed smack on an empty chair. Fortunately, the chair’s regular occupant, a Wyeth employee, was outside doing fieldwork. Minus the misfortune of bruises and broken bones, the incident could’ve been written off as a minor inconvenience, something to be solved with a quick repair. But Boy de Claro, or PMC, as he is called in the workplace, is not one to go for the easy fix. Not contented with treating the matter as an isolated case, he not only ensured that the Wyeth office was free from safety hazards, but he also drew up an extensive renovation plan meant to provide his staff with the finest work environment possible.

Despite his perennially hectic schedule, PMC monitored the renovation closely and made sure it transformed the Wyeth office

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into a world-class facility. “He devoted his first thirty minutes each day being the unofficial foreman, architect, and project manager all rolled into one,” says Elvie Guzman, former Chief Financial Officer of Wyeth. “No job is too small for him to get passionately involved.”

And when it comes to taking care of his people, PMC leaves no stone unturned. “A good business manager must fully and acutely realize that people are the most important assets of any organization,” he explains in an interview for the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) alumni magazine. “We have to nurture and reward this resource, as well as train and develop it. We have to make sure this resource is happy where he or she is, and that they’re not costs to lop off at the first sign of a crunch.”

It was during PMC’s first “Barangayan” (town hall meeting) in Wyeth that he uttered the words “Create the bounty and we will share the bounty.” Since then, he has done everything in his power to remain true to these words. Their first National Sales Conference (NASCON) in Bangkok, recalls Elvie, was the first major test to PMC’s credibility. And of course, he delivered, successfully

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rallying his people to hit their sales targets and overcoming the skepticism of HQ over the effectiveness of NASCON as a tool to reach corporate targets. When PMC finally touched down in Bangkok, it was in the company of some 300 employees, majority of whom had never set foot in a foreign country prior to the trip. From initiating the annual half-day workday, aptly dubbed “Work-Life Balance Day,” to engaging in a three-year battle to update an otherwise obsolete hospitalization plan for Wyeth employees, it is beyond question that PMC never misses an opportunity to safeguard the well-being of the company’s greatest asset.

Wyeth is not unique in its experience of a golden age under the leadership of Boy de Claro. Two other companies share this distinction: Colgate-Palmolive and Johnson & Johnson (J&J). He entered Colgate in 1976 as a product manager and worked his way up, eventually becoming Associate Director in the Strategic Planning and Worldwide Business Development Group in the New York office in 1982, and relocating to Jakarta as Marketing Director of Colgate’s “biggest proposed capital venture outside of the United States.” He entered J&J in 1998 and stayed with the

The Midas Touch

Boy at a dinner with former President Corazon Aquinoduring his stint with Colgate in Jakarta

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company for almost a decade, starting out as Marketing Director and making his way up to Executive Vice President for Sales and Marketing.

The facts are staggeringly impressive. PMC seems to have the Midas touch. An AIM case study notes that “during de Claro’s watch as Colgate Marketing Manager, they overtook their two largest rivals, Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Unilever, in toilet soaps and detergents—categories where the two had been the perennial leaders. These two categories joined toothpaste, shampoos, toothbrushes, scouring cleansers, deodorants, and other products where Colgate was already number one.”

Jem Bengzon, a fulltime entrepreneur and former head of trade marketing under PMC in J&J, waxes nostalgic when he recalls the company’s heyday. “Those are what I fondly refer to as the Camelot years. They had a fantastic management team. Fred Rodriguez was the Managing Director. He had Boy for marketing. Although it was a subsidiary, they ran it the way a company should be run.”

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Fred and Boy were not only leaders; they were visionaries. Together, they steered J&J toward new directions and uncharted territories, at times provoking the ire of regional management. The risks, as the results proved, were well worth the trouble. “Some of the stuff we pulled off in J&J were world-class,” Jem says. “They were never done anywhere else in the J&J world. Modess with wings first came out of here. Johnson’s Isopropyl Alcohol first came out of here. Those happened under Boy’s watch.” The tandem of Fred and Boy managed to come up with a machine to manufacture Modess with wings for P300,000—a pittance compared to the USD 3 million they were told they needed to spend for a machine that could do the job. Under their leadership, the company survived a drive to become worth USD 100 million; it also survived what could’ve been a crippling six-week internal strike. In plain and simple terms, says Jem, “It was a really good time to be in J&J.”

“He had initiative. He planned. And that’s important. He controlled. And that’s important. He engaged himself in the work. And that’s important. What I’ve just given you is the definition of management. Those are the elements of management,” says Joe

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Guerrero, former ambassador and former Ateneo teacher. Though it may seem like it, he is not describing Boy as the man he is today; instead, he is describing Boy the teenager, a student he got to know pretty well during his stint as the moderator of 4-F, Boy’s senior high school semi-honors class in the Ateneo. The young Boy did not particularly excel in academics, but he stood out, nonetheless. “He was exuberant and he had much to say,” recalls Joe. “He was like a master sargeant. He was not the official one. In class we had a beadle, a monitor. He wasn’t that but he acted like a beadle.”

Based on the trajectory of his career, to say that Boy has evolved is an understatement. He goes down in history as the first Filipino General Manager of a multinational, one among the top 100 largest companies in the Philippines—a feat that is testament to his taking to heart the arête—the quintessence, the excellence—that his Jesuit education sought to inculcate in him. This achievement and many others cannot go unnoticed. In 2006, he was the recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award (Triple A) from the AIM, where he received his MBA in 1973. A year later, the Philippine Marketing Association honored him with the Outstanding Achievement in Marketing Management Agora Award.

The recipient of the 2007 Agora Award for OutstandingAchievement in Marketing Management

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In a newspaper feature on the Agora Awards, Boy says, “A leader must know the way, show the way, and lead the way. A leader who at certain times may not know, may not show and may not lead the way should get out of the way.” Boy may be known for “tough love” when it comes to his staff, but his philosophy reveals that he is toughest on himself.

Elvie describes PMC as “a master planner and strategist.” “Early in the year, he would sit down and do an inventory of the year’s upsides and downsides to hit the year’s Sales IIBT targets,” says Elvie. “He begins to plot them notwithstanding the variability of external factors. You can always suspect he has a crystal ball stashed somewhere as more often than not he takes the company results to where he plotted it.” PMC does not have a crystal ball; however, his capacity for coming up with fresh ideas and being two, three, five steps ahead of everyone else, combined with marketing instincts he can count on, make for far superior substitutes. “Boy is brilliant, to begin with,” says Pinky Laurena, who worked with PMC at J&J, working her way

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up from Marketing Management Trainee to Regional Franchise Manager. “He has all these ideas na parang oo nga ’no, why didn’t we think of that? Even my direct bosses would say the same. He did out-of-the-box things. We were joking one time, siguro naiisip lang niya yan pag nasa banyo siya. He’d give you one direction today and tomorrow he’d say, ‘You know, I thought of this. Why don’t you try this?’ And after a while, you think, oo nga ’no, it makes sense.”

“Brainstorming and mind-mapping were favorite activities,” says Grace Soyao, who worked as Marketing Director for Boy at Novartis Consumer Health. “He leads by enabling his staff to lead. It was never just about him. He makes his people visible to everyone in the business.”

And while each member of the staff is expected to hold his or her own in the workplace, working as a team is equally important. “Boy has that uncanny way of making people work towards a common goal and steer them to action, difficult as it may be,” notes Elvie. He gets his people to support rather than outdo each other. “His basic philosophy was, ‘If you have an enemy, a

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common problem, that should be me, not other people. Lahat kayo dapat magkakampi. Wala dapat magpopormahan, wala dapat magsasaksakan,’” explains Jem.

It takes no less than consistent excellence to impress PMC, but once you earn his respect, he is more than eager to entrust you with responsibilities. “He’s a firm believer in delegation,” says Jem. He may be the company’s top man, but he has no qualms about turning to the expertise of others when the situation calls for it.

Neri Calimon, Medical Director of Wyeth and member of its Executive Management Group (Excom), says, “Boy deferred to my judgment when it comes to medical and regulatory issues that the company has to deal with. He always says, ‘Ikaw ang doctor, mas alam mo yan kaysa sa’kin.’” PMC himself is a team player, who is in constant dialogue with his Excom regarding company concerns and issues. “We usually have very good, even explosive discussions—more often over lunch with his favorite chicken bacolod or with him providing my favorite comfort food, pilipit—after which we will come up with a common stand. There is mutual respect and trust, and an honest, straightforward relationship,”

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says Neri. “This became more evident when the company had to face numerous issues last year and survived it with good numbers and the continued respect of people in government, healthcare professionals, and the consumers.”

Caught in the midst of a controversial breastfeeding debate which put Wyeth and its billion-peso brands under fire, PMC held his ground, seeing the company through not only the best of times but also the worst of times. It was a given that the company survive the controversy; it was simply unthinkable for failure to become an option. “Even from the start while addressing the issues,” Neri points out, “he was already planning on ways to recover.”

PMC’s brilliance as a marketing man has gained him fame and recognition in the corporate world; his aggressive—to say the least—approach to leadership, on the other hand, has gained him notoriety. He is more than aware of this perception, and in an interview for an AIM case study says, “I’m the hired hand and I may prove to be difficult to deal with, especially insofar as HQ personnel are concerned. So for me, it’s always been performance

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that matters—results are what will save me from myself. I am so acutely aware that if I had not been performing in my current position, many people would love to see my head on a platter. Thankfully, performance prevails over egos—even over politics. Without performance, I wouldn’t have a life vest in a raging ocean.”

A man whose stature in his field approaches that of a myth, of course, comes with his own set of urban legends that the storytellers—generations of marketing and sales people ranging from rank-and-file to top management—insist to be true. These horror stories, if you will, are as colorful as their central character, repeated again and again over merienda, on the phone, in the hallways, from one company to another, one office lounge to another, one ladies’ room to another.

One story that got to Jem had to do with the launching of Ovaltine Smart, when PMC was still working in Novartis. The word out was that all the preparations for the launch were done—except for the product. The launch was going to push through with no stock available, obviously a no-no. “The product manager was updating

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Boy. This is Boy very subdued,” narrates Jem. “He says, ‘You know, your product is Ovaltine Smart, which means the advertising has to be smart, the execution has to be smart, the packaging has to be smart, the delivery has to be smart, the promos have to be smart… even the product manager has to be smart.’” Jem pauses and laughs. “That’s tame de Claro.”

Not-so-tame de Claro figures in another story, this time from J&J. One of PMC’s marketing men launched cloth diapers, and to make the long story short, says Jem, “It tanked. Ang dami-daming stocks, hindi naman gumagalaw.” PMC, of course, made sure his displeasure over the poor performance of the product was heard loud and clear. He didn’t do this by yelling or breaking one pencil after another with one hand. Instead, one day, the marketing man arrived in his office and “yung room niya literally punong-puno ng cloth diapers na hindi siya makapasok sa kwarto,” recounts Jem. No harsh words were spoken, but the sheer volume of unsold diapers dumped in the man’s office was a far more severe reprimand. “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to get the signal.”

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The Midas Touch

Right before Boy ended his acceptance speech during the Triple A Awards, he did the unexpected: he pledged a million pesos to the AIM alumni scholarship fund. It was his way of giving back to the school that played an instrumental role in making him the marketing legend that he is today. Boy knows he owes much of his smarts to his education, and although he is tough on his subordinates, at the same time, he makes sure they’re equipped with the necessary tools to face up to his grueling demands.

“His passion for work excellence gave birth to the emphasis placed on training and made WAP (Wyeth Academy Philippines) what it is today—a hub for the development of its employees and business partners, and later, a regional training facility,” says Elvie. “He is a staunch believer in training that improves the employees and strengthens the company.”

Jem recalls that at some point during his stay in J&J, sales and marketing were integrated under Boy. Jem was then asked to cross over to sales from marketing. “The sales side had evolved so much in terms of its technologies so what Boy wanted me to do was go over to the sales side and help define what those technologies

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were,” he explains. This move led to Project Phoenix, which Jem describes as “a re-education of the sales people, a training program that made the sales people move from being the sales people to becoming business managers of their own territories.” The project struck a chord in Boy that he pushed Jem to design a program and work it out with the Ateneo Business School. Project Phoenix was eventually formally taught in the Ateneo.

“The long and short of it is his basic philosophy in marketing: there are no career APMs, no career Associate Product Managers. Meaning, when you’re in marketing, you’re expected to be the General Manager of your business. If you’re performing just as Associate Product Manager or that’s what your talent level is, then this is not the place for you,” says Jem. It is no wonder that Boy’s top three lieutenants in marketing in J&J eventually became vice presidents or heads of companies, and they are just a handful among many others who once served under Boy who are now holding key positions in various companies. Boy may be the toughest boss around, but he is the first to root for those working under him—if they have the mind, heart, and stomach for it—to be bosses themselves.

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Chapter Three A Teacher By Example

If you work for PMC, then there are two words that surely send shivers down your spine: business review.

Hear those two words and your heart skips a beat, or beats a little faster. Suddenly, what you know yourself to be—a confident, intelligent individual with respectable marketing abilities and more than a couple of years’ worth of experience on the job—comes into question, and you squirm in your seat, oddly feeling a little unsure of yourself. Exhausted from a busy day at work, you still find it hard to sleep at night. You think of calling your mother to request for a novena. You might even drop by the neighborhood church to say a novena yourself.

For the quarterly business review, your task is to provide an update on the performance of your brands, to report on and assess your

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projects for the balance period, and to determine whether you can meet your targets or not. A fifteen-minute presentation is all you need to prepare for the occasion. Fifteen minutes is half the time you spend eating lunch, a quarter of the time you spend driving to work, an eighth of the time you spend watching a movie. And yet, no matter how many times you’ve gone through a business review, those presentations always feel like the longest fifteen minutes of your life.

The objectives of the business review are fairly straightforward, yet the experience of fulfilling them is far from painless, especially when your main audience is PMC. Not only is he difficult to please, to say the least, but he is also transparent in expressing his dissatisfaction.

“You knew he wasn’t pleased when his ears turned red and he started breaking pencils with one hand,” says Jojo Ocampo, one of PMC’s top three marketing lieutenants at J&J. “He could get really temperamental, especially when your brands weren’t doing well,” adds Pinky Laurena, also a former J&J employee. In such cases, the reasons for falling short of targets had better be good,

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and the presentation should offer a convincing assessment of the situation.

PMC expects comprehensive knowledge and quick thinking when he interrogates his staff about their brands. He is short-fused and sharp-tongued, making it doubly necessary to have one’s wits about throughout the review. “He checks if you believe in what you’re saying,” Pinky continues. “If he sees you’re iffy, he’s gonna swoop down on you and start giving you a hard time.” He has no patience for even a moment’s pause before responding to questions, and he does not appreciate any indication that you do not know your presentation by heart. “When he asks, for example, what’s the GP of Johnson’s Baby Cologne Blue? Or Regular? You have to memorize. You can’t say, ‘Wait, I’ll check my notes,’” says Pinky. The fact that PMC is “a walking calculator” adds to the pressure. “He’d say, ‘Okay, if you get this multiplied by this…,’ you’re getting pa lang your calculator, he knows it na. When you press equals, sabay kayo. He is accurate to the first decimal point.”

Keeping up with a man whose mind can work faster than anyone else’s is what PMC’s staff members always attempt to do, putting

The J&J and Lintas staff, including Pinky (seated, far left) with Boy

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in long hours and enduring sleepless nights to ensure they are a hundred percent ready to meet the man. Some attempts are more successful than others, but every shortcoming is also an opportunity to learn. “When you prepare three weeks for a fifteen-minute business review and you prepare maybe 60 sheets for those 15 minutes, you think that you have everything covered,” says Jem Bengzon, who once worked with Boy in J&J. “Not with Mr. de Claro. He always had this habit of coming out of left field. He always finds something. And more often than not, those comments would be good. They’d be very insightful.”

PMC is a teacher primarily by example. It is fascinating to watch him locate the gem of an idea amid a chaos of possibilities, or discern and plot the web that holds seemingly unrelated elements together. Those who consider PMC their mentor have learned the most from him by observing his inquisitive and inventive mind in action. He, in turn, pushes his subordinates to learn by knowing when to take charge and when to let them take the floor.

“The quarterly business review is an event I really appreciate,” says Andrew Santos, the new President and General Manager of

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Wyeth. “These reviews encourage people to fully understand their assigned business, clearly identify the issues, and provide proposals to solve these issues.”

In business reviews, notes Andrew, “even if one does not know the solution to the issues he faces, PMC is more than happy to roll up his sleeves to help work on a solution. However, he provides just the right amount of inputs, providing the right level of ‘space’ to people.” This space, of course, is filled with high expectations, one that a brilliant boss demands of what ought to be an equally brilliant staff. “One thing he didn’t like was if you had no position,” Pinky points out. “He’d say, ‘Do you think you can hit this’ and if you say, ‘It depends,’ naku, patay ka na talaga. You can either say, ‘No I cannot hit it because it’s like this’ or ‘Yes, I can do it because I’m going to do these things.’ Ayaw niya ng fencesitter.”

When Jem arrived at the J&J office for a job interview with PMC, he wasn’t nervous at all. The year was 1992 and he knew he could easily impress, what with his newly acquired AIM education. It helped that he was fifteen minutes early for his 1 pm interview. It

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also helped that he knew nothing about PMC.

For some reason or another, Jem was made to wait in the lobby until a little after 1 before being ushered into the office. When he finally came face to face with PMC, who was sitting at his desk, Jem extended his hand. PMC stood up, walked past Jem—frozen in an awkward pose with his hand in the air—and toward the sitting area, where he settled on the couch. “You’re late,” he said.

Throughout the interview, PMC constantly referred to Jem’s tardiness, despite Jem’s persistent clarification that he was actually early and was made to wait. “That’s typically Boy,” says Jem, visibly amused by the memory of that first encounter. “Some of the stuff that he did back in the day, he did to test your mettle. To see the kind of stuff you were made of. If you would withstand it or if you would fold.”

It can be a challenge to see past PMC’s reputation as a terror boss. After all, in many ways, it’s true. “I first met Boy when I interviewed with Metro Pacific for a brand management position,” recalls Jojo. “He was a real terror and I never felt as small as I did during the

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interview. I vowed I would never work for him!” Unfortunately, Boy came in as the new Marketing Director at J&J, where she was working. “I had no choice but to work for him,” she says. What seemed like an unfortunate event turned out to be a lucky break. Jojo sees PMC as a mentor, one who “really pushed you to the limit and stretched you to your fullest capacity.”

“He’s a son of a bitch as a professional,” Jem adds. “He’ll exact and exact and exact and he’ll exact some more. But if you can withstand it, if you cut through all the bull, the mind games, and you really focus on the heart of the matter, what you’ll see is somebody who really wants to get the best out of you.” PMC is particularly tough on agency people, but as Jem explains, “he believes that a service provider will give you the kind of service that you demand. So kung di mataas ang standards mo, basura ang ibibigay sa ’yo.”

For those who managed to withstand PMC, many of whom are now top management themselves, the will to endure was worth the training they gained in exchange. Many are quick to admit that they have PMC to thank for who they are as leaders today, whether in dealing with their own staff or the higher-ups. They

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are unanimous in saying that because of PMC, they are made of sterner stuff. “Kung di Boy de Claro ang boss ko o chairman ng company, hindi ako natatakot. Basta di sila si Boy de Claro, di ako masyado masisindak,” says Pinky.

If there is a fundamental lesson PMC impresses upon those privileged to work under him, it is think big. Vision is what triggers the birth of new ideas and allows the unimaginable to enter the realm of the possible. Vision is what transforms achievements from memorable to historical. “If you’re in corporate, you have to think as the next level. If you’re a product manager, you have to think as head of marketing,” Jem explains. “Your opportunities are as big or as small as you envision them.”

Perhaps this is why PMC handles a company as if it is his own, which, according to Pinky, is a lesson that she continues to take to heart: “If you were the owner of this business, what would you do?” This is a question she asks herself when making crucial decisions; it insists on answers that are of the highest quality, based on thorough market research and instincts sharply attuned to the

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needs of the company. It is a safeguard against mediocrity. To stay true to your vision is to resist the lull of complacency, and it is this commitment on PMC’s part that has paved the way for companies like J&J and Wyeth to enjoy their golden ages. Pwede na has no place in the vocabulary of those who work for PMC, and he would be the first to send anyone with such an attitude out the door. He can be meticulous to the point of stubbornness at times, but better to push rather than settle.

Once, Pinky recalls, they had to present to PMC a commercial—a storyboard put to life—for Johnson’s Baby Lotion. As they were watching the girl in the ad apply lotion to her skin, “he went straight to the screen and said, ‘Don’t you see she has a moustache?’” No matter how closely they looked, there was simply no moustache in sight, but PMC was insistent. “He was the only one who saw it,” says Pinky, “and we’re like, ‘Oh no, what are we gonna do with this imaginary moustache that Boy sees. We have to remove it and we don’t even see it!’”

They dealt with the problem by airbrushing what PMC saw to be a moustache, and when the commercial was shown to him again, he

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approved it. “What I learned from him was if you’re uncomfortable with something, you have to say it. Don’t say ‘pwede na ’yan,’” says Pinky. “The littlest thing that’ll make something almost perfect, or really good overall, don’t let it go. That’s what I teach now the people who report to me. If there’s something that makes you uncomfortable, you have to try to fix it.”

On quite a number of occasions, PMC’s refusal to budge has driven his people to tears. For a time in J&J, Pinky says, he made it clear that he wouldn’t approve any television commercial that cost more than a million pesos. This, of course, posed problems, especially in light of his extremely high standards. When Pinky and the account executive (AE) from the agency presented a proposal to PMC, he questioned them so aggressively about costs that the AE broke into tears and had to step out of the room. It took a lot of willpower for Pinky not to cry herself. She continued to defend the project, and they eventually arrived at a compromise budget. “There are times that he really pushes. Siguro when he feels it’s the right way to go. But the thing is,” Pinky clarifies, “he’ll really listen to you. And it’s not listening for the sake of hearing you out. There would be exchanges. He won’t just say ‘yeah yeah.’ He’d ask, ‘What do you

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think? And if you do this, do you think it’ll be this way?’ He can be convinced.”

Tessa Artadi, Assistant Vice President and Creative Director of Adformatix, Wyeth’s sole agency, agrees. “He never leaves a meeting na hindi ka tinanong o tatanungin, ‘What do you think?’ Nararamdaman mong may respeto at nakakatuwa na iniisip niya anong tingin mo.”

There lies the paradox in the mentoring of PMC. Because he can be single-minded and uncompromising, convincing him to think otherwise when he has already made up his mind can be the most futile of exercises. On the other hand, he expects no less than the same kind of conviction on your part, the same kind of commitment to what you believe is a good idea. Tessa learned this lesson when her team presented to PMC an ad that had gone through countless revisions because they accommodated the comments of all the offices prior to PMC’s that had a say on the matter. By the time the material got to the top man, the original idea was mangled beyond recognition.

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There was some hemming and hawing on her team’s part as they were presenting the ad. They were clearly not confident enough and PMC was getting impatient. Finally, they showed the ad. “PMC sees it and asks Clients A, B, C to J for their comments. Then he asks me, ‘What do you think?’ I didn’t know what to say!” Tessa recounts. She herself could no longer see the vision behind the material they created. PMC then said to her, “Man, they’ve really worked on you.”

The experience was an eye-opener to Tessa, who got the message loud and clear. Compromise is a reality, but too much compromise isn’t worth it, not when you yourself no longer believe in the material. Although pleasing the client is part of the job, it shouldn’t prevent the team from defending what they believe to be a good concept against a skeptical client. After all, they weren’t hired to agree with the client, but to provide their expertise.

Tessa considers PMC her best client in her many years of advertising because he knows what he wants and he will fight for an idea. The agency, as she points out, is only as good as its client lets it, and some of her team’s best work is the fruit of their efforts to meet

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PMC’s demands.

PMC may be the boss, but he is the ultimate worker. Everything he has, everything he has done, he can—without exaggeration—attribute to the fact that he worked hard. “He’s not a political person. He just goes to work. He does everything he can for the company to make it better but doesn’t hobnob just to get what he wants or to move up. He’s not scared of the regional people or the foreigners,” says Pinky.

“I think you admire his courage largely because he didn’t accept the regional bull that always comes the way of multinationals. He fought for what he believes in, even if, many times, it was to his own detriment in terms of career advancement. There were several jobs I think which he could’ve gotten but they passed him up because he was probably tagged as somebody difficult to manage, not a team player,” says Jem. “He wasn’t afraid to call a spade a spade. If a white guy comes in here and tells us to raise quotas by 20 percent and we know that the market can’t take it, he wasn’t afraid to do battle with the person and not accept it simply for the

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sake of accepting it. I think it’s a trait you find sorely lacking in today’s managers.”

No matter how intimidating, ruthless, sometimes even offensive PMC can be in the workplace—in fact, people have resigned over feeling assaulted by what they consider his cutthroat demeanor—there is a soft side to him that still manages to reveal itself to those who stick around. Back in J&J, he would take the staff out after business reviews and during Christmas. He would attend parties organized by the staff, where “he’d be really quiet and let us be, let us do our own thing,” says Pinky. “Sasali rin siya pag may game. He was like the father. He’d be the last to eat kasi he’d make sure everybody’s okay.”

One thing PMC would never admit and may not even be conscious of, according to Jem, is he is harder on the men than the women in the workplace. “Boy has two daughters,” Jem speculates, which to him is reason enough for the boss to go easier on the women in the team. Whether this is true or not, some of the women who have worked for PMC—Pinky and Tessa, to name a few—undoubtedly

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have a soft spot for him. Both of them speak of PMC with fondness and view him not just as a mentor but a father figure.

While there are countless lessons to be learned about marketing from PMC, one important value he possesses that stands out to his colleagues and staff is his devotion to family. However grueling the load may be, PMC ends each workday on the dot, walks out of his office, and heads home. “He has touched my life most with stories of family,” Jojo says. “How important it is to be together for each other, how everything is of lesser consequence once a family member needs help, how family meetings are important.”

Pinky agrees. She recalls how PMC once told her, “With my kids, when they were growing up, if they decide to eat out together, then it’s on me, even if I’m not there.” When she asked him why, he explained that it was his way of encouraging his children to bond, to know each other and be together. Pinky pauses upon this recollection, visibly moved. When she speaks up again, she says, “I think I’ll do that too. When my kids get bigger, I’ll tell them.”

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Chapter Four Friendly Fire

“Meron siyang friends, pero wala siyang close friend. Di ko kilala kung sino best friend niya, someone to hang around with most of the time.” When Rammy makes this observation about his father, his tone is without judgment. More than anything, he is curious about his father’s choice—and with Boy, it must be deliberate, nothing is the way it is “just because”—not to maintain close ties with people other than his family. He is all the more intrigued when he considers how his father keeps his distance from others while simultaneously encouraging him to go out and spend time with his friends. To Rammy, not having a close circle, or anyone to turn to and say “pare, may problema ako,” would be hell. His father must feel the same way; otherwise, why would he want his son to forge close friendships?

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Boy may be a homebody who enjoys doing certain things—like driving and watching television—alone, but he is not a loner. He may not jump at the first opportunity to attend a gathering—he doesn’t drink (and has long quit smoking), doesn’t play golf or poker—but he does enjoy being in a crowd. As a high schooler, former teacher Joe Guerrero recalls, “he was exuberant and loved to talk,” a quality typical of Ateneans. Ed David, who rode Bus #16—covering the Tondo-Caloocan-Philamlife-Kamias-Loyola route—with Boy back in high school, recalls, “He was always seated somewhere in the first four rows to the right. I was close to the back on the right side as well.” They didn’t become friends then, but riding the bus with Boy everyday allowed Ed to get a glimpse of his personality. “He was very jolly, very gregarious. Maingay. Makwento.” Now that they are both members of Couples for Christ, Ed has gotten to know Boy better. To this day, Ed thinks, Boy is exactly the same.

It is typical for people from his social circles to describe Boy as boisterous and palatawa. His laughter is hearty and infectious, and he can be mababaw, as in biling-bili lagi ang mga jokes. The catch, says Pet Bautista, “is he forgets them so the fine joke is never

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passed around.” He is a smooth talker, and conversations are never dull when flavored by his wit and charm. “He can repartee with the best of them,” says Pet.

Boy can easily be the life of the party, and certainly, on more than a few occasions, he is. People are drawn to his confidence and his engaging manner of storytelling, but this is not to say he is the center of attention. “For all of his being sociable, he’s a very private person,” notes Tony Lorenzana. “You will know enough of Boy on a need-to-know basis. He lets you know only what you have to know about him.”

Put Boy in a room with another person and he would be far more interested in getting to know him or her than talking about himself. Oh, he’s going to do some talking—a lot of it, even—but it is talk geared toward getting the other person to feel comfortable. At work, he may easily forget that minutes earlier, he gave you a hard time over a less-than-satisfactory presentation, but he won’t forget to ask how you are if he’s heard you’re feeling under the weather. “He has very strong EQ,” says Ed. “He’s very good with

The de Claros often play mahjong with friends Ed and Ting Mañalac,and Gus (not in photo) and Vicky Nilo

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people.” Adds Tony, “He would make you feel that he enjoys your company. He’s a very good listener. He empathizes very well.”

”Many people think Boy is an extrovert, but really, he’s not,” says Corito. He is genuinely interested in and deeply sensitive to other people. He is curious about the ideas of others—how they think, what they believe in, and why. It is unusual to find a man so accustomed to power who still treats people as individuals rather than audience. But then again, Boy has never really been less than unusual in many aspects of his life.

Fr. Lennie Sumpaico is one of Boy’s oldest friends, having known him for over fifty years. They were classmates in grade school in the Ateneo, but it was in high school that they spent more time with each other and became close. Together, they were altar boys who worked for the Sanctuary Society. “We’d serve mass in the early morning, around 5:30 or 6:30. We didn’t serve mass because we wanted to be holy but because they served good food after that.” To the two boys with healthy appetites, the American breakfasts—ham and eggs, sometimes even steak—were too

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good an opportunity to pass up. Such was their love for food—something Fr. Lennie and Boy share to this day—that they would even opt to spend their ten-centavo bus fares from school to home on canteen food instead. And then, they would walk the distance home—Kamias for Boy, and Cubao for Lennie.

In high school, Boy was part of 4-F, the semi-honors class, which, former class moderator Joe Guerrero quickly clarifies, has students of practically the same IQ as those in honors class. Those in semi-honors class tended to glide along in their schoolwork because they weren’t under the same pressure as their counterparts in honors class to make it to the dean’s list and graduate with honors. Joe told his students they were just as bright and talented, and encouraged them to compete in the arena of excellence. “Even if you try to motivate people, they may not be able to respond,” notes Joe. “But Boy had the capacity to lead. The important thing is not to depend very much on the moderator but to do the planning with the class and for the class.”

Boy wasn’t the smartest guy in class. He didn’t get the best grades. He didn’t win prizes in literary or oratory contests. He wasn’t

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into sports. In class discussions, he could be laid back or be a livewire. If he felt strongly about the topic discussed in class, he would speak up, “red-faced and all,” says Fr. Lennie. But he was definitely a leader. He took charge of such things as package drives or Christmas drives or concerts with the students’ own bands to raise funds. His big contribution was as editor of the Blue Book, the school yearbook. Another of Boy’s oldest friends, Buddy Braganza, who worked on the yearbook with him, says that even then, “he was a hard worker, goal-oriented and focused on getting the job done.” In fact, they completed the yearbook on time.

A project back then of the Sodality, an organization made up of “the better, brighter, more virtuous boys” of which Boy was part, involved taking care of the delinquents at the Manila Youth Center. Together with students from La Salle, St. Theresa’s, and Maryknoll, the Ateneans spent Saturday mornings teaching kids—from the very young up to ages 13 to 14—reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion. “Boy was a very active leader of the people who volunteered,” recalls Joe. “He was also a social leader.” Boy took the lead in organizing what around 20 to 25 boys and girls would do for fun—their gimiks—after the morning’s service. One

Friendly Fire

Boy with a former teacher and Buddy Braganza

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such activity was going over to Joe’s house to eat. “As a matter of fact I got to know some people from the other schools better because they were friends of his. He had a friendliness which was infectious.”

“The most memorable time of his life I would imagine was when he met Corito through our caroling group,” says Tony. They—together with fellows like Pompey Adamos, Jun Africa, Ernie Co, Peping Mallari, Felipe Diego, Toti Tanchoco, Bert dela Cruz, Tito Santos, Perry Cecilio, Dom Aspillera, Bernie Violago, and Buddy Braganza—were members of Student Catholic Action (SCA), and the caroling group was made up of SCA students of various schools. “Medyo sintunado si Boy. He was part of the caroling but that doesn’t mean he could sing. Pero marunong siyang makisama.”

Girls, of course, were a major preoccupation of Boy and his friends in college. They didn’t take their studies for granted; Boy, an Economics major, always set target grades for his courses and worked hard to meet them throughout each semester, but there was also always time for fun. And fun meant soirees, which Boy

Friendly Fire

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had a hand in organizing. These soirees took place in the houses of the girls or the boys, and the food was potluck or somebody would offer to sponsor it. Thanks to these gatherings, romantic relationships were formed.

To the ladies, Boy was the epitome of a gentleman. “He would attract a lot of girls but he would spend time more in conversation than dance with them,” recalls Buddy. “He was a communicator and he made the girls think and feel that they were special. He always gave them respect and treated them well.” Of course, there was one girl na binakuran ni Boy when he finally got the chance to talk to her in one of the socials. When Corito snagged Boy’s heart, he was relentless in his pursuit—calling her up, asking her out on dates—until eventually, they became inseparable.

Away from the girls, Boy and his friends hung out at Buddy’s house, where they sang and played guitar, called up their girlfriends on Buddy’s phone—even listening in on each other’s conversations—patched up strained relations with their girlfriends, or strategized on how to patch up strained relations. But unlike some people, who were more than eager to spill on the details of their love lives, Boy’s

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lips were sealed when it came to his romance with the “dignified, well-behaved, and mysterious” Corito. They were a sociable pair who enjoyed attending parties with their friends, some of whom were also couples. But, Tony notes, “They kept their romance very private.”

It was in college that the makings of the man Boy is today became evident. In the way he expressed his thoughts and accomplished his academic work, he was clearly an intellectual, although he didn’t parade himself as such. His persuasive skills also grew in sharpness and prominence. “He could convince people,” says Fr. Lennie, “and not convince just to convince but convince people that there was something to be done, a mission to be accomplished, that there were higher objectives.”

It seemed, also, that Boy recognized then the role his education would play in charting his life. He wanted certain things—to make his parents proud, to have a successful career, to drive fast cars—and he knew that if there was one place that could serve as a laboratory from which he could emerge more capable of achieving

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his goals, it was school. “He worked hard,” says Fr. Lennie. “All that he had in his life was his brains. Some people sit on their brains. It’s a good thing he didn’t sit on it.” Boy milked his Ateneo education to the fullest.

“And then, of course, if you get married to a girl like Corito, there’s no way but to excel because Corito comes from a well-heeled family,” says Fr. Lennie. There was double the pressure to prove himself, but the fact is, Boy was his own toughest critic and fierce motivator. Any external source of pressure was simply subsumed under the already enormous expectations he had of himself.

This single-mindedness registers in the way he carries himself even in situations that are not work-related. Pet, a friend of Boy from the eighties, when they and their families were living in Jakarta, recalls being struck by Boy’s forthrightness during a meeting with parents to talk about changes in the curriculum of the Jakarta International School. “Naturally the questions were asked mostly by the Americans until Boy raised his hand and asked a question which directly affected the Filipino community. The question made a distinct impression on me and told me that here was a

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person who thought quite clearly and communicated his thoughts well.”

“When he speaks to you, it’s almost like he’ll nail you first to the wall so you’ll listen to him. That’s how engaging he is,” explains Fr. Lennie. “He’d stare at you, say ‘ganito ’yan pare, ganyan.’ Literally, if he had big thumb tacks, he’d pin you on the wall so you won’t move and then he’ll talk to you and convince you.” Boy is persistent in seeing an idea through its articulation, and seeing that it is communicated effectively, convincingly. He won’t tire until what he has in mind is translated into concrete terms, whether it be in the form of more clarity in the curriculum of his children’s school or understanding—better yet, agreement—in a person he is trying to convince.

This relentlessness is a key quality that makes Boy an exceptional marketing man. “Some people get successful because they’re entitled to it, because they’re anak-mayaman, they have contacts,” says Fr. Lennie. “Pero si Boy, pure hard work yan. Kayod yan. Parang Batangas yan, talagang purong kape yan.” He was fueled by ambition, and it took him very far. “Boy was able to plan his

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career very well, to his satisfaction,” adds Tony. “He never lost focus. He never pretended to be what he was not. He never also bragged about what he was.”

Given Boy’s stature in the marketing world, it is easiest to refer to his accomplishments in the workplace as what most vividly defines the man. Even those who know him in more informal settings cannot help but turn to his reputation on the job when speaking about him. It is precisely because of their friendship, however, that his peers’ admiration for him goes far deeper, beyond his identity as boss and colleague and into his particular humanity.

“He loves to eat,” says Pet. “His girth is proof of that.” He devours desserts—despite being diabetic. He and Corito throw the most spectacular parties at home, where the food always lives up to the couple’s exquisite culinary tastes. Fred Dael, a former colleague of Boy and a friend for over forty years, notes that Boy and Corito are amazing hosts with such a passion for food that they would go to extraordinary lengths to indulge their friends’ dining needs. “When I returned to the Philippines the first time, I missed Pinoy

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food very badly that Boy went out of his way to pick me up and drive me to Santo Tomas, Batangas—at lunch—just so I could have the best bulalo. And this happened about twice a week for three months!” A true-blue Atenean, Boy is a huge basketball fan. He can shout himself hoarse watching UAAP games with son Rammy. His zest for life is irrepressible.

He is a spiritual person who, with Corito, has raised his family to be God-fearing and socially aware. “His children are evidence that a good tree will bear good fruit,” says Pet. “They are so nice, respectful, and loving.”

All his friends attest to Boy’s generosity—how casual and discreet it is. It comes naturally to him, so when Boy helps out, it really is no big deal. “How many times have we been invited to stay in their various homes, both here and abroad, to their parties, where the fun and food never disappoint?” says Pet. Gus Nilo, another expat like Boy in Jakarta in the eighties, recalls that when his family first arrived, they were looking for a secondhand car for his wife’s use. Without any fuss, Boy came to the rescue, volunteering a company car that was for sale. “He delivered it to us without

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asking for payment, trusting we would settle at our own time,” says Gus.

“As a priest, if I need help, I know who to go to for help,” says Fr. Lennie. “I’ve never been disappointed. Even if I don’t need help, he’d sidle up to me and ask me if I needed help. Sometimes I’d say no. He’d just get something out of his pocket and put it in my hand or my pocket. He says you might need something in the future even if you don’t have any needs now. He’s always been like that. He doesn’t want to be seen doing it.”

“I consider him as my brother more than a friend,” says Fred, who describes Boy as extremely loyal. “He typed out my first resignation letter in May of 1970. He was barako even then. In fact, I gave that nickname to him.” He is not only generous with his resources, but also with moral support and compassion when his friends need it. “When I was too naïve in the ’70s when a colleague was busy trying to destroy my reputation,” recalls Fred, “it was Boy who stuck by my side, went to war beside me, and counseled me.”

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Now that he’s moving toward retirement, Boy has more time to spare, and he is more than willing to spend this time on worthy causes, which are educational in bent. Fr. Lennie has tapped Boy to be part of the Board of Advisers of the Xavier Institute of Technology, knowing fully well that he can contribute greatly to revitalizing and marketing the program. His work with Ed as one of the members of the Professional Schools Committee in the Ateneo is valuable in pushing the university’s already excellent programs to greater heights.

And then, as Gus points out, “Boy is concerned about the poor, the country, and the future of both.” He is proof that a person can make a difference, as shown by Boy’s current passion, Operation Big Brother, a project that makes quality high school education accessible to the brightest underprivileged students. “One has to have an advocacy that will somehow, no matter how small, change people’s lives for the better,” explains Pet. “Boy attacked his Operation Big Brother with so much zeal that people around him couldn’t help but join in the crusade. OBB took a lot of his time but he didn’t care—too much was at stake. During the course of its execution, when corrections had to be made, he made them,

The young Boy and Corito

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showing that he was a listener, and that nothing was sacrosanct and that one had to come to terms with reality.”Buddy sees Boy’s advocacy as an outgrowth of his spirituality. “He shared with me that joining God in heaven is the ultimate goal, but we can also have heaven on earth. As long as we love God and our neighbors and live a life for the greater glory of God, this is possible. And we do it in our own little way, not by saving the country or the world, but helping and loving the people around us.”

When Rammy wonders if his father does have a best friend, he’s looking outward at the members of Boy’s various social circles. Maybe he is simply so used to their closeness that it doesn’t occur to Rammy to look for the answer closer to home—inside it, in fact. After all, when Boy found his best friend, he married her. Even as a young woman, Corito believed she and Boy were destined to spend their lives together. There were convergences so uncanny, she couldn’t help but read them as signs. “First of all, he’s Perpetuo and I’m Socorro. His birthday is July 20 and mine is July 21. I met Boy the year my brother died. The birthday of my brother is the

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same as his,” says Corito. “When my mother heard about those things, even she thought we were meant to be.”And what a wonderful team Boy and Corito are. They balance each other out—she’s the tough one at home, while he’s the kunsintedor. She keeps her cool when they’re in public, and so she’s able to rein him in when his temper flares. They love to eat together (Pancake House is a favorite haunt), and are looking forward to traveling leisurely together—a big step up from the many years of work-related traveling (Boy’s work, mostly) that they’ve done in the last couple of decades.

At the end of the day, Boy’s pleasures are simple. He wants to spend time with his wife, to talk and toss ideas with friends. His friends, meanwhile, appreciate the simple pleasure that is knowing Boy. “Boy and I have shared so many lunches and dinners, just shooting the breeze, talking advocacies and pet peeves and there is nothing I don’t like about him,” says Pet. “Except maybe that he owns a sports car, and the he doesn’t play golf. But hey, nobody’s perfectly likeable.”

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Chapter Five The Lives of Others

Ruby Capulong knows she has it good. She has a stable job as a medical representative at Wyeth Philippines. She drives her own car, a luxury she never dreamed she would enjoy when, just a few years earlier, she could barely afford the pamasahe to and from school. She is a spirited young woman with many dreams ahead of her. She knows it’s tough to make a living, let alone emerge successful in her career, but with a good education under her belt—Ruby graduated with honors with a degree in Biology from De La Salle University—she is confident that the odds are in her favor.

Ruby goes down in history as the first college graduate of Operation Big Brother (OBB), an ongoing project that is the brainchild and pet project of Boy. OBB works on the simple premise that education is the best enabler. It also acknowledges the reality that the public

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school system in the Philippines leaves much to be desired. If the brightest among the underprivileged children are given the same quality of high school education as their counterparts in good private schools, then they actually have a fighting chance of getting into the top three universities in the country: the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, and DLSU. A good college education translates into better opportunities upon entering the workforce, and better opportunities translate into, among other things, better quality of life and increased productivity as members of society.

The bounty that arises from a good education is as boundless as the loaves and fish in the well-loved Bible story. Boy is a firm believer in this and living proof of it. It is no wonder then that when he rounded up a group of friends who shared not only his desire to help the poor but also his willingness to transform the desire into concrete action, education was the hands down choice, and the public high school system was a good place to start. Unlike dole-outs which come with an expiry date, there is no shelf-life attached to the benefits of education. To invest in education is to level the playing field for children of various backgrounds. To help one

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generation is to help the generations to come.

OBB may very well be the first of its kind in the country, says Marshall Valencia, DLSU professor and Project Director of OBB. Other programs typically focus on a single facet of education—teacher training or facilities, for example—but OBB, which follows an “adopt-a-school” concept, is far more ambitious in scope and covers all bases necessary to simulate private school education in public schools. Offered in cooperation with La Salle, OBB takes the top 40 students of a public school and places them in a special honors section beginning freshman year. Throughout their stay in high school, these students are taught the same curriculum, given the same facilities, and provided the same materials and resources as students from La Salle Greenhills, on whose curriculum the OBB program is based. “Kung anong meron sa La Salle, linalagay namin dun sa public school,” Marshall explains. The students even attend a weekly values-formation class, and are sent to youth and discovery camps.

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The best teachers from the public school are made to take their master’s degrees in La Salle and trained to administer the program. They undergo an intensive training each summer, and their teaching is overseen by the OBB staff. Everything, down to the exams they give, is monitored closely for quality control.

OBB was first launched in three schools, a section each in G. Perfecto High School and Arellano High School, and two sections in V. Mapa High School. Halfway through the pilot program, three schools were added: Bagong Silang, Bagong Silangan, and Kalayaan High School. Since its inception eight years ago, OBB’s tally of graduates has reached 800, of which around 25 percent make it to the top three universities, a huge leap compared to the handful who made it to the same schools prior to the program. Granted, not all OBB students who gain admission into the top three universities get to attend college because they have no resources. OBB, in its limited capacity, has tried to solicit funds and find scholarships for these students. Much remains to be done, but much has already been accomplished.

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This year, Leo Sarion of Arellano High School made victory for OBB so much sweeter. He graduated summa cum laude from DLSU with a degree in Biology. His honor proves that there really is no glass ceiling; with some assistance and their own drive to help themselves, underprivileged students can compete with the best of them and make it to the top.

There is a book whose hero, a man named Gideon, is very much like Boy, says Ting Mañalac, a good friend of the de Claros. “Gideon was an ordinary bloke who one day had an extraordinary vision of the path to heaven as a huge river flowing toward its source instead of away from it. You could jump in any time, but you could also stay back on shore or get hold of overhanging branches to linger where you were. Needless to say, the vision changed Gideon’s life in many unexpected ways.”

“Boy knows where he’s going,” continues Ting, “and it’s to the source of that river of life. He may not see the end, or rather, the beginning of the river yet, but he’s made a decision to get there. And getting there he is. He’s in that river, paddling as fast as he

The young members of Gawad Kalinga mentored by Boy

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can and he’s shouting to everyone who can hear him—this is the right way! I’m shining the light, he’s saying, watch and listen, and we’ll get there together!”

In other words, “he’s a visionary,” says Marshall. “He has a way of making people move towards what he’s imagining. His passion for that vision is contagious. Kami, nadadala.” From personally accompanying Marshall and the OBB staff to fundraising endeavors—“madalas, mga kaibigan niya rin hinihingan namin,” says Marshall—to facilitating meetings of the OBB staff, Boy is a hands-on leader and participant, eager to put in time, thought, and energy to push his advocacy.

It is easy to turn a blind eye to poverty, its prevalence notwithstanding. Those with the privilege of wealth can literally erect barriers between themselves and the poor by entrenching themselves in their gated communities. Out of sight, out of mind. Those more exposed to poverty, on the other hand, can slip into numbness, a general detachment from tragedy seen everyday. The problem of poverty in the Philippines is so huge, so overwhelming, that it can be difficult to imagine any role one can play to alleviate

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it. “Honestly, when I started, it was simply a project for me,” says Marshall of beginning his stint with OBB. “But it altered even my own personal vision. My life aim became different sa kakakausap ko kay Mr. de Claro. I realized that there’s something bigger there that we can all contribute to.”

And OBB is Boy’s own attempt at addressing the complicated matter of poverty. Far from sitting back and basking in the fruits of his success, he sees his stature and resources as opportunities to uplift the lives of others. This outlook can be quite inspiring to those around him. “My life vision became bigger in scope,” Marshall continues. “My love for country became really strong. Nakikita ko kasi sa kanilang mag-asawa. Pilipino talaga. They’re so nationalistic. They’re doing this to help build the country in their own way.”

Despite the scope and success of OBB, Boy continues to push the foundation to expand its service to the poor. A recent project initiated by Boy is Tambayani, a community-based program where learning centers are set up and people from the community trained to teach the youth in the area. The program is administered by

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OBB and Gawad Kalinga.

Tony Meloto, founder of Gawad Kalinga, first met Boy and Corito as members of Couples for Christ. In 1996, the couple took a great interest in the work Tony and some others were doing for the out-of-school youth and the rehabilitation of gang members in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City. After a short visit in which they met the young people being helped and heard their stories, Boy and Corito responded in a manner that amazed Tony. “They asked to meet with me the following day, gave me a check with zeroes that I couldn’t count in one hand,” he recalls. At the time, the work they were doing with the poor was still informal, and this prompted Tony to return the check, saying he didn’t want to receive money he didn’t know yet how to spend. He expressed hope that once the project’s needs were clarified, the donation of Boy and Corito would still be available.

“What was important to me,” notes Tony upon telling the story,” “was not the money but the sincerity of Boy and his wife to help. Not just help by giving charity but by investing a significant amount

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Gawad Kalinga aims to build 700,000 homesin 7,000 communities in 7 years

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of money for something that was meaningful and sustainable. Even then I realized that the couple knew what they wanted—not just to give charity because they were kind-hearted but to invest in the potential of the poor to learn, to help themselves and one another.”

As members of the board of Ancop Foundation, which oversees GK, among other programs, Boy and Corito have always been supportive of projects such as Sibol, a preschool program, Sagip, a program for grade school children, and Siga, a program for the youth. Certainly, education continues to top the list of their advocacies, but Boy and Corito also know that empowerment begins at home, and when people live in slum areas under subhuman conditions, they cannot begin to recognize their potential as human beings, and may even turn criminal and predatory. GK dreams of “land for the landless, home for the homeless, food for the hungry,” and its own contribution to this ideal of social justice is to uplift the living conditions of the poor. In fact, its central project is GK777—700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in 7 years (2003-2010). In building communities, GK is playing a direct role in nation-building.

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“The impact of GK that Boy saw first of all was that when you do social engineering and you restore human dignity, you have peace,” explains Tony. True social justice means the squatters will have land and decent homes, which in turn allow them the space to have dreams and aspirations for their children that would motivate them to work. “The beautiful environment is an antidote to crime. From ugly communities, we turn them into beautiful GK communities. From the dangerous areas, we are now building safe communities. GK paints houses, landscapes gardens, puts pavers because we want the impact that the squatters are no longer squatters, the barong-barongs are now beautiful homes, former drug addicts are now in school, gang members are now working and becoming peaceful citizens of their own communities.”

Tony sees in Boy a sincere and loyal friend, one whose remarkable generosity he has experienced personally. “He offered me, several times, because he knows my limited means, to send my daughter to Ateneo. He also offered to buy me a car because he saw how much time I was putting into GK,” says Tony. He refused both offers; his daughter was already on scholarship and he himself had long ago made the decision to live a simple life.

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Aside from his generosity, Tony admires Boy’s vision. The two have in common a passion for and dedication to the dream of a better Philippines, and they often exchange ideas and formulate plans to achieve this ideal. “As a CEO Boy understands vision. We click because we’re both marketing people. And we also both believe that we have the best marketing product in the world, that’s the Filipino. And that we also have the most beautiful country in the world, and that’s the Philippines. It’s all a question now of coming up with the right product formulation and better packaging.”

Boy currently heads the Partnership Management Group of GK, which oversees partnerships of GK with over 350 companies that help and sustain the project. GK is moving toward becoming a global brand; as a vehicle for nation-building, it hopes to build a first-world Philippines and a first-class Filipino, to attract both Filipinos and foreigners all over the world to support the ambitious endeavor, and to serve as a template for other developing countries.

“I think Boy likes challenges and he is bored with the run-of-the-mill, the conventional,” Tony continues. It is only logical then that

To Boy, boats represent collaboration—teaming up with others on ajourney out to sea, where the conditions are unpredictable and challenging

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he be involved in GK because it has been a major disruption to conventional thinking, a radical alternative to comfortable charity. “He loves ideas. He loves people with ideas. Being a person of great passion, he also likes other passionate people,” explains Tony. “We share the same vision for a better society and we’re both not afraid to be different. When people would go for the safe projects—feed the children, take care of the women—we go for the rehab of gang members. We go to the lair of the akyat-bahay. Bagong Silang is the biggest university for criminals being the biggest slum in the country that’s home to some of the toughest gangs. So when people go for the safe places, we go for the most dangerous.”

Boy is a regular fixture in the GK office; he is there at least twice a week. “He has told us that he will make himself available anytime for us—and he is really true to his word,” says Issa Cuevas-Santos, who works for GK. “We have asked for meetings at 6 am, in the middle of Holy Week, in between his foreign trips when we know he needs to rest. When he says anytime, he really means it.” Tony echoes this observation, noting that Boy, “being the very passionate and sometimes impatient person that he is,” has been

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nothing but patient with the GK staff, nurturing them through various mistakes and lessons learned.

A true mentor to the younger top leaders of GK, he is there to offer encouragement when the going gets rough, and there to offer expertise when the situation calls for it. “His humility shines through in every meeting,” says Issa. “He always tells us that he is only there to facilitate and to guide, but we have to make the difficult decisions. When we meet, he is the one who takes down notes, acts as the timekeeper, and basically puts order to the organized chaos of GK.” Unlike the temperamental boss that he is known to be in the corporate world, Boy is a much gentler figure in GK, someone that those who’ve come to work closely with him can view with tenderness and amusement. For such a formidable man, Issa muses, “he just learned how to text this year. I don’t think he knows how to read nor answer his emails without Ms. Net.” And of course, amid the voluminous tasks that need to be accomplished to meet GK’s goals, there is always time to take a break and enjoy Boy’s favorite pleasure. “He loves food,” says Issa, “which is a perfect match for GK workers.”

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Like mahjong, Boy’s favorite game, “life is really a game of chance, but skill counts and luck, and your personal attitude about how to live it,” says Ting. “When Boy plays mahjong, he is totally absorbed in the machinations that define the game: there are risks to take, strategies to map out, other players to read, choices to make, expressions to behold, and most of all, a game to enjoy. Win or lose, it’s the journey that counts—it’s the trying, and the helping others to try, the victories to savor, the losses to learn from, the food to eat along the way, the good companionship to relish, the pleasure to be grateful for, and the satisfaction to feel at the end of a game well played.”

And when Boy plays the game, these are the staples: integrity, vision, and passion. As he begins his 60th year, there are bound to be significant changes in his game, particularly in the way he spends his time and the amount of time he can spend on various interests. The thought and energy he used to expend in the workplace, where he developed the career he loved to the fullest, can now be devoted to other matters close to his heart. Now there are hours spent at

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The de Claro family todayStanding (left to right): Marco, Rammy, Dave, Jill, Maia, King

Seated (left to right): Boy, Aria, Nico, Corito

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his own leisure, building his model boats or driving around alone. There are days consumed by playing mahjong with friends or enjoying the company of his children and grandchildren. There are weeks to spare for extended trips abroad with Corito, meeting up with family and old friends, or taking in the many sights the world has to offer.

But there are things about him that remain the same, and rightly so. Boy is still the man who practices what he preaches. He is still the man who walks his talk. He is still the man who will pursue what he believes to be important fervently and single-mindedly, regardless of the inconvenience it may cause, controversy it may stir, or disapproval it may elicit. He is still the man who recognizes in his life both the fruits of his hard work and the luck of his fortune. And each day, as he gives back what he has gained, he is constantly reminded that it is simply not enough to thank God for his beautiful life.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the following people whose generosity with their time and thoughts on Boy made this book possible: Tessa Artadi, Cora Aycardo, Pet Bautista, Jem Bengzon, Buddy Braganza, Neri Calimon, Ed David, Fred Dael, Joe Guerrero, Elvie Guzman, Pinky Laurena, Tony Lorenzana, Tony Meloto, Gus Nilo, Jojo Ocampo, Andrew Santos, Issa Cuevas-Santos, Grace Soyao, Fr. Lennie Sumpaico, and Marshall Valencia. Thanks to Net Rull for compiling the photos used in this book.

We would also like to thank Jojo Gisbert and Ting Mañalac for their valuable comments and suggestions during the writing of this book.

Text by Conchitina Cruz * Layout by Adam David * Cover Photograph by Levi Lacandula