Ongpin: Tycoon, technocrat, int’l businessman and visionary

WHEN I woke up last Sunday morning, my daughter told me she received a text message that Bobby Ongpin (RVO to his associates), my good friend and former student at the old Ateneo de Manila High School, died. I was shocked.

Later that day, news came out that Bobby Ongpin died in his sleep, “cradled in the arms of his beloved Balesin” as the Philippine Star columnist, Iris Gonzales, put it.

Bobby Ongpin died at 86, survived by his wife, Monica Arellano Ongpin, and children Stephen, Anna, Michelle and Julian, daughter-inlaw Laura, son-in-law Frank, and grandchildren Sebastian, Benjamin, Lia and Maya.

Bobby lived a full life and was in fact an international businessman.

As my former student at the Ateneo High School, Bobby was an extrovert and friend to all his classmates. His late brother, Jaime Ongpin, who was also a student at the old Ateneo High School, was an introvert.

Bobby finally graduated from the Ateneo, cum laude, and went on to take up a postgraduate course at Harvard University in the United States.

When he was 45 years old, Ongpin became the youngest manager partner of the famous Philippine and international auditing firm SGV (Sycip, Gorres and Velayo).

It was at that time when Ongpin met international personalities, like Saddam Hussein.

Bobby in fact was very proud showing me a photo of Hussein towering over him at over 6 feet, and Ongpin at only 5 ft and six inches.

Bobby was soon called by the late strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos to serve as Minister of Trade and Industry.

As Bobby used to recall, “When the President says you serve, you serve” I was then a broadcast journalist during Martial Law.