Respectable social climbing

Don’t even bother calling Smart Communications marketing head Anastacio Martirez at his office before 11 in the morning. It’s the only concession (admittedly a big one) Boy Martirez has gotten from PLDT Group president Manuel Pangilinan, who lives right above his office so he doesn’t waste working minutes.

Like everybody else who wants to impress Manny Pangilinan, Mr. Martirez keeps long hours. He can still be reached at his office at 11 in the evening. And, yes, he is already working – using the latest cell phone model, of course – while being driven to work in a European car.

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Imagine that. Customs Commissioner Antonio Bernardo is the subject of a positive editorial from a newspaper which normally slashes and burns its subject.

Hosannas were written about Tony Bernardo’s working habits (from 7 a.m. to heaven knows when) and his Horatio Alger-like rags to comfortable story as well as his Christmas message to his employees that, holiday or not, there should not be any slackening in tax collections.

As everybody knows, the full-year collection targets of the Bureau of Customs as well as the Bureau of Internal Revenue were revised downward in September when it became clear to Finance Secretary (and Tony Bernardo’s high school classmate in Don Bosco) Jose Isidro Camacho that those "fighting targets" were not going to be met.

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Here’s a respectable way to do some social climbing without having to gate crash to the right parties and spending money to have your picture come out, of course, in the society pages.

Do some volunteer work for, say, Hands On Manila, which has Gianna Montinola as chairman and president. Ms. Montinola is the daughter of Lourdes Reyes-Montinola (whose family owns Far Eastern University), the sister of Aurelio Montinola III (who is the senior executive vice-president of Bank of the Philippine Islands) and the sister-in-law of Gizela Madrigal-Montinola.

Her board is made up of equally pedigreed do-gooders like Federico Lopez (an executive of First Philippine Holdings Corp. subsidiary, First Gas) and Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez, president of a publishing company.

Hands On Manila, an affiliate of a US-based foundation, has a list of organizations which would dearly appreciate some extra hands and free. It serves as some sort of traffic control for those who want to volunteer their time.

There is no set time for the volunteer work. You do it when you feel like it or when you are available. There are also no skills requirement. If you can play basketball, then you are referred to an organization where you can perhaps teach boys how to play the game or play a round or two. If you can cook, then you can teach cooking to, say, unwed mothers.

And if all you have to offer are two hands and an open heart, Hands On could assign you to cuddling a baby or two.