The right formula: Heart, will and integrity

Getting the right people for any project can be a tiring frustration. It can also be an enervating joy. But it is absolutely the key to getting anything done.

The ABS-CBN Foundation is an organization focused on making a difference in the life of the Filipino. We have programs on the child, on the environment, and on education. A sister organization is Bayan Microfinance which lends out money to grass roots entrepreneurs. Bantay Bata has 141 employees nationwide. E-Media has 40 and Bantay Kalikasan has 162. Bayan Microfinance has 473. Sagip Kapamilya, the part of the organization focused on disaster relief, rehabilitation and preparedness has six.

I have dreams. I have hopes. And I have ideas. And they would remain that way, entombed in the heights of flight and fancy, if there were no human receptacles as implementers or co-conspirators to make things happen or enhance those ideas further. I have repeatedly found that when I finally get the right person for the job, or get the right mix of people together, things fly. Take for example Bayan Microfinance. It was heaven-sent when Prof. Ed Morato agreed to head it three years ago. This started over 10 years ago through a $1 million grant from the Lopez Group of Companies. Under the leadership of Ed, it has blossomed into so much more than just microfinance. Just visiting his office on EDSA, one can feel the effect of his leadership: from the crisp barongs and uniforms his staff wear (a different prescribed color each day) to the passion and commitment his people have. Bayan Academy is his latest baby and it’s a baby I really like! To me — in its endeavor to teach entrepreneurship at the grassroots level — it’s an evolution of sorts of the Asian Institute of Management that my grandfather started.

Just recently, Bayan launched the Entrepeskwela Bus, which was built by Joseph Lim. The bus goes around teaching culinary arts to its borrowers. Now, how cool is that?

Oh, I have stories and stories that would far surpass the column allowance of this article. But let me cite the latest ones that I find totally heart-filling.

Currently my sons go to I.S. — and I am totally sold on Inquiry, which is their curriculum methodology. It’s out of the box. It’s holistic. And, as the name implies, it ingrains in the student the habit of intellectual curiosity and discipline. I love it.

Because one of my key passions is education, I thought, is there any way we can manifest this kind of consciousness in the public school system? My observation is the public school, even the private school system, runs in a more traditional mode — largely academic with a focus on memorizing and regurgitating data. It was an idea that I expressed to Delfin Lee, to Zen Dimalanta — my program director for E-Media — and to Mylene Locsin, the owner of Beacon (a school which also uses the Inquiry methodology). I talked to Sec. Lapus and got the permission to cut classroom size and choose the principal and teachers. Zen then talked to Mario Ramirez, the regional director, and Linda Luna, the superintendent. They bit and the idea was on its way. It was an inspired idea, no doubt, but in a few months, it blossomed beyond expectations.

Xevera, which is a low-cost housing project in Bacolor, Pampanga, now has a school that is equipped with a multimedia room that has a SMART board (a huge board that acts like a computer screen). There is a computer room with 25 computers so every kid that goes there gets to have a computer. Zen went around and, in her trademark charm, linked up with great partner companies to come with up with state-of-the-art facilities.

The pre-test was taken before the kids started school on June of this year as baseline data. After three months, in their first periodical, their scores jumped more than 30 percent! In three months! What’s significant is the consistency and the universality of the progress. It’s at all grade levels and covers all subject matter. And as of today Zen tells me that second-quarter results showed a further increase. I choked up on the phone, I was so elated.

It doesn’t stop there. By October the kids started winning awards, as the next chart shows. There were several fourth- and fifth-placers but for purposes of space, I will just put the first and second placers.

Now, doesn’t that fill your heart? It certainly fills mine. It’s having idea and then finding the right mix of people. Actually, when I entered the room to talk to the principal and chosen teachers, I felt the light in their hearts and the enthusiasm of their spirit. I knew the job was done. I was elated. I had my team. It was going to happen. And it did. And continues to do so.

I have so many stories, but let me cite the last one about Nanette Kapitbahay — the principal of Oas North Central Elementary School in Bicol. Because the school lost its roof during Typhoon Reming and we had disaster funds available, we fixed the roof and decided to donate audio-visual equipment as well. The teachers thanked us profusely but mentioned that the children were hungry. Almost half the kids in the school were malnourished, so Bantay Bata decided to go on a nutrition program. In five months the malnutrition rate dropped down to zero — but that’s not what got me excited. From a non-performing school, the school jumped up to number three in Albay! It’s the human receptacle. The formula applies not only to the people doing the work; it also applies to the people you are helping. Let me illustrate further.

Upon seeing how well the school was doing, I talked to Nanette and said, “Why don’t you start a community garden so that after the feeding, the kids still have a constant supply of food? And why don’t you get the parents to do their share?” It was just a short 10-minute conversation we had as we were concluding the feeding program.

A few months later, I visited the school and was touched to the core when I saw that Nanette had transformed the field in the back of the school to a thriving garden and gotten the parents to clean it up. I realized then and there that this is a very good person to help. We went all the way: provided a shredder for vermiculture, helped her with a solid waste management program, and helped her fix up her yard. Any help given to Nanette Kapitbahay is money well spent, because Nanette will go the extra mile.

And people like Nanette are what’s going to make our country move.

Oh, I have jewels and I have jewels. But I like the ones that come up with the ideas. I have Daryn Castillo in the Eco Park. She was only 22 years old when she came to the Foundation and this was her first job — wet behind the ears, but full of enthusiasm. She helped in gathering the five million signatures needed to stop the housing in the La Mesa Watershed — but where she has really bloomed is in the Eco Park where she is now assigned. She was tasked to mobilize resources and market the park. She has surpassed targets but, over and above, she came up with the novel idea of an Eco Academy. Seeing the number of schools coming regularly to the Park on field trips — Daryn thought, why not transform the park into an Eco Academy? It would be a wonderful learning site where one can observe and experience different models of care of the environment: from herbal hardens to organic gardening to vermiculture, to waterless toilets. There would also be activities that are fun: like an Eco Amazing Race and boating. And the idea continues to evolve. She took the spirit of the Eco Park and pushed it a step further. And she continues to infuse her own brand of passion.

Yesterday, I was doing a presentation about the Pasig River to a group. I had an idea to rehash the presentation completely. So I talked to Larah Ortega — a young cum laude graduate from UP who is a project officer in Bantay Kalikasan. She took my idea, imbibed the spirit of it, added a quote which she got from the archive, and in the end added a poem she had composed herself. By the time I got to the end of the presentation, tears had welled up. She had internalized the spirit of what I wanted to do with the Pasig River — and added her own touching finesse. It was beautiful. And she had me in tears.

I will end this column with three words: Heart, will and integrity. When heart is there, the ideas flow. When heart is there, there is a connection to people. There is a connection to the divine.

Will. In my experience, this is like an energy I feel when I truly believe in something. It’s strong — fearless — and accepts no obstacle. When will is there, there is resourcefulness. There is dynamism.

But the ultimate non-negotiable value is integrity. The unbeatable formula is having the underlying foundation of unflinching integrity as the base of heart and will.

This can happen not only in the NGO sector, it can even happen in the corporate sector and it must necessarily rule in government — if our institutions are to be forces of collective well-being.

My formula for manifesting the heights wherein dreams reside is finding the right people. And the best of the best are the ones that imbibe the qualities of heart and will — in a non-negotiable foundation of integrity.

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Visit http://www.abs-cbnfoundation.com or e-mail gina_lopez@abs.pinoycentral.com.