Power, recognition, international awards and local honors have been accorded to this Wharton graduate who is now the Secretary of Trade. Mar pauses to reflect on his nightmare, the gentle humming of air-conditioners and being greeted by his dog, Barney.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Extra hours of sleep.
What is your most fervent wish?
I truly want to be relevant. I have gone through many of the luhos and now I want my life to be meaningful. I don’t want to just pass through.
How do you resolve your conflicts?
Some types require simmering – a long resolution.
What sports do you like most?
I enjoy and engage in solitary sports. Scuba diving – just looking at the corals, tinkering with my tank regulator; swimming twice a week. Chess. Even when I do play golf, I am by myself, just hitting balls.
Where would you like to live?
I’m happy where I am. It’s an island of peace, tranquility in our compound in Cubao. The trees that I used to climb are still there.
What film influenced your life?
Finding Forrester. It’s the mentor-student relationship. I also have been lucky with a series of mentors. Growing up, I was my grandfather’s (Don Amado Araneta) carrier of his briefcase. In Congress, the elders, who were colleagues of my father, taught me the ropes and took me in committees.
Which hero of fiction can you most identify with?
I always invest myself emotionally in films with characters that have these tremendous struggles to overcome and prevail over, whether in cartoons like Antz or Bruce Willis saving the world in Armaggedon.
What is your greatest fear?
A nightmare that recurs is that I am strapped to a hospital bed with dextrose and I’m struggling to get out and stand up. I’m pulling these tubes because I have not completed everything that I want to do.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Being over analyzing.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Kaplastikan.
How do you start your day?
Talking to radio stations at 6 a.m.; not every day but a lot. They call my mobile when I am just about to get up.
What is your current state of mind?
Engaged. Involved. Participative.
If you were to die, who or what would you like to come back as?
I thought when you die, you go to purgatory, heaven or hell. My gut answer would be to come back as I am. Then I realized that I’ve done that, so I’d like to come back completely different and have a whole new adventure.
What sounds do you love?
The regular, steady, nurturing humming in the background like the air-conditioner’s.
Name a moment that brings back happy memories.
I took my grandmother and her barkada to lunch two Saturdays ago in Aling Rosa’s near Eastwood, Libis. There were about 30 of us.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being here today. It’s not about a position. It’s about my total being – having gone through and evolved in my level of understanding and wisdom.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being here tomorrow.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Being useless.
What did your dad often say to you?
Study hard. Do good.
Who greets you when you get home?
When I’m hungry and am on my way to the compound, I call my sister’s or cousin’s house and ask what’s their food. Then I’ll make maki-kain. In my house, Ronillo opens the door and Barney, my yellow Labrador, greets me.
What is your motto?
Walk fast.