TOYM 2006: A Humbling Recognition By Miro Quimbo
Also posted on Good News Pilipinas - Inspirational Views
(TOYM Acceptance Speech of Atty. Romero Quimbo on behalf of fellow awardees at the Rizal Hall, Malacañang Palace, December 6, 2006)
It is an honor to accept this recognition as one of the outstanding young men for this year. It is an even greater honor to speak here on behalf of my fellow awardees.
For the twelve of us, conferment of these awards: (a) represents a humbling recognition of the hard work we have done and the contributions we have made in our different fields of endeavor; and (b) the hundreds, if not thousands, of hours we have devoted to look for the solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems, to overcome obstacles often perceived as insurmountable.
Yet more importantly, these awards serve as a reward for the countless sacrifices our parents and our spouses have had to make if only to allow us to pursue our missions in life. While it may be our names that are etched in these Abueva sculpture-trophies, they truly belong to our beloved parents whose unbridled self-sacrifice we unfortunately learn to appreciate seldomly: in our youth, we appreciate them only when we ask for money and in our mature years, we start appreciating them again when they are at the throes of death. Kaya sasamantalahin na po naming itong okasyon para magpasalamat sa inyo. Maraming Salamat po sa inyo aming mga magulang lalu na po sa aking mga magulang na si Romy at Lydia. We promise to take you to a hearty lunch today after this ceremony. Just please don’t forget to bring your credit cards.
This award also belongs to our beautiful spouses, who are our number one cheerleaders and archest critics at the same time. Their constant encouragement and positive reinforcement makes us believe that we can do the impossible. To our spouses Theresa, Kai, Maria Angelica, Marissa Rowena, Kay, Melannie, Anivel, and Uriel and to my very most beloved Stella, we thank you for making us ignore our limitations and helping us overcome our weaknesses. We feel like superheroes when we are in your company.
While the TOYM is truly significant for all of us awardees today, let me stress that for most us, the TOYM was the farthest thing in our minds while we pursued our respective careers and causes. This award is not an end to itself rather it is the natural result of an untiring and unrelenting work ethic, doing things we passionately love to do. The lifestory of each awardee represents a constant commitment to serve the public at large and to do it with unquestionable zeal and passion for one single objective: to achieve excellent results. Such has been the character of my co-awardees:
1. Receiving the TOYM was certainly the farthest thing from Dr. Windell Rivera’s mind when he would continuously go to depressed areas and mental institutions to collect fluids and saliva samples in his quest to develop a reliable scientific tool to accurately diagnose harmful ameobiasis;
2. Neither was awardee Dr. Raffy Consunji motivated by rewards when, fresh from Johns Hopkins, he founded a community-based, non-government organization in pursuit of his obsession to keep children safe from accidental yet preventable injuries;
3. When sculptor Mike Cacnio started developing a unique style in his field, his motivation was purely to use his beautiful and much sought after sculptures as a vehicle to show his love for God, our country and family.
4. Mountaineer Romy Garduce braved all adversity and even practically exhausted his own finances if only to put the Philippine flag on the highest peak of the world in trying to bring support to his environmental causes.
5. Bro. Bo Sanchez on the other hand continues to provide the soothing balm of his teachings to the weary souls in our society purely for the purpose of carrying out God’s work;
While rewards such as the TOYM have not been foremost in our minds, its conferment today is significant for it validates the many difficult and often unpopular choices as well as sacrifices many of us had to take in our obstinate pursuit of our beliefs.
6. Braving almost three years of separation from family, Leo Oracion survived the most difficult conditions nature offered and indelibly etched his name as a true pioneer as the first Filipino to have climbed the highest mountain in the world;
7. Awardee Vivienne Tan, in her conviction that the country needs an entrepreneur revolution to truly develop, refused to take the expected course of putting up her own business like her predecessors, and instead devoted her time to help others become entrepreneurs by putting up the first true entrepreneurial college in the Philippines.
8. On the other hand, awardee Rico Hizon, wanting to do what no other Filipino broadcast personality has done, accepted the grim reality of being away from his beloved country in order to become another pioneer in his field. He stands today as the only Filipino to have become a news anchor of the world’s most prestigious news organizations, CNBC and BBC.
9. It was certainly a leap of faith too when Dr. Yella Castillo chose to turn her back on a lucrative Pediatrics practice in the US and instead co-found a unit at the PGH that would become a refuge for thousands of abused children.
Aside from being living testimonies of sacrifice and hard-work, it is our fervent wish that the story of this year’s TOYM awardees may serve us a humble reminder to pessimistic Filipinos that there is so much to hope for in our country.
10. Take the case of awardee Benedict Hernandez. He has stood at the forefront in the development of our sunshine industry- the BPO/call center. From a non-existent industry six years ago, it passionately believes that it will become a $10B per annum industry by 2010 employing 500,000 Filipinos.
11. Or the triumph over financial adversity by awardee Sammy Soliven who spent most of his childhood in the mountains with his Kaingero parents scavenging for Rattan in the forests of Nueva Vizcaya to be able to send himself to school. He is today a multi-awarded teacher and serves as the principal of one of the biggest schools in their town.
12. Like with the rest of the awardees, it has been my obsession to restrore our people’s hope on our country and its trust in our government. Under the guidance of the President, we have time and again striven to succeed at the Pag-IBIG Fund if only to show to our people that this government can work and that when run properly it in fact can be at par with or even be better than the private sector. We are motivated by our desire to show that despite the unrelenting attacks government is getting, people should never give up on it. We should never give up on it.
In conclusion, on behalf of the awardees, allow us to express our deepest appreciation to the Philippine Jaycees, Inc. specially to the JCI National President ISMAEL P. PENADO, the Chairman of the Board of Judges Mr. Rey David, and the entire board of judges, 2006 TOYM Chairman Mr. Fulbert Woo, TOYM Foundation President Mr. Butch Jimenez and the rest of the TOYM search committee. We salute your ability to have carried out an awards program that has remained untainted and significant since 1959. We laud the JCI’s advocacy to promote the positive in our society and hope that this can be a start in removing the blanket of negativism covering our land.
The 2006 awardees humbly accept this TOYM not simply as reward but rather as a challenge to commit ourselves to do even better than what we have done and to surpass even the highest standards set by those who came before us.
Thank you very much and good morning.