Twin blessings

Here are brothers who are twin blessings, not just to their family, but also to the country.

Jose Concepcion Jr. or “Joecon or Junior” and Raul Tomas Concepcion or “Ronnie or RTC,” turned 80 last Dec. 29, and celebrated their birthday last Jan. 27 in double-decker of a celebration at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City. Born 10 minutes apart, the Concepcion brothers are identical in many ways, including their looks, their devotion to family, their love for good food  and near obsession for office supplies like Post-Its, Pentel pens, and multi-colored neon markers.

But it is in their differences that they have stood out, each carving a name for himself in a path uniquely his own. Joe was good in the social sciences, in pursuing crusades and... girls (by his own taped admission, aired during his 80th birthday party.) When he was courting his wife of almost 55 years, the former Marivic Araneta, he wrote her a total of 400 love letters, all of which she has kept.

Ronnie was the Math wiz, and during one Accounting exam at the De La Salle, he took his twin brother’s place  with the professor not noticing the switch. Years later, the twins would “confess” to the switch, but were forgiven by their bemused professor.

When Ronnie was courting his now wife of 52 years, Menchu de las Alas, her mother Natividad reported to her with alarm that she saw him at the Baguio Cathedral with a pregnant woman! Menchu would patiently explain to her mother that the man she had just seen in church was none other than Ronnie’s twin Joe and his wife Marivic, who was expecting her second child.

According to Menchu, a beauteous Batangueña, the twins are their parents Jose Sr. and Herminia’s “lucky double.” For in the Chinese parlor game mahjong, a “double” is always lucky, for it multiplies one’s winnings.

And so it was for the Concepcion twins, who were followed by a sister, Eumelia or Mely, and a brother, Rene, (who passed away in 2003) in the brood of Jose and Herminia Concepcion.

* * *

Joecon, said to be the family’s “idealist,” will be forever etched in the pages of Philippine history with his crucial role as founder and head of the Namfrel, the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections. During the snap elections of 1986, Namfrel was a watchdog of the polls, mobilizing some 500,000 volunteers. Though the Commission on Elections declared then President Ferdinand Marcos as the winner of the elections, Namfrel declared Corazon Aquino as the true winner, based on its count. The Namfrel count was one of the spark plugs that ignited the EDSA Revolution. Later, Joecon would be named President Corazon Aquino’s trade and industry secretary.

Ronnie, the “pragmatist,” will forever walk tall as a giant of Philippine industry, “the last man standing” of his generation that manufactured, not just assembled, appliances in the Philippines and changed the lifestyle of at least two generations of Filipino consumers.

Though Ronnie, a Certified Public Accountant, jumpstarted his business empire  and made his first million  selling flour in Elcano, Binondo, he grew an air-conditioning and refrigerator manufacturing business he started with his father into a giant that chalked up P7.38 billion in sales in 2010 alone. He steered Concepcion Industries Inc. and the Concepcion Industries Group of Companies (CIGC) into a debt-free empire that is among the Top 100 corporations in the Philippines today. The Concepcion group is the largest appliance manufacturer in the Philippines and the only all-Filipino appliance manufacturer still humming.

Carrier invented air-conditioning in the world 110 years ago. But say “Carrier” in the Philippines and you will think “Concepcion” in the next breath. Today, Carrier air-conditioners and Condura refrigerators  both manufactured by Concepcion   are number one in the Philippines in market share.

And despite the industrial empire that he created and still reigns over, Ronnie, to a multitude, isn’t a tycoon. To hundreds of thousands of housewives, jeepney drivers and market vendors, he is the voice they hear in the morning raging against unfair price increases and unscheduled blackouts (in the ‘80s). A passionate and zealous consumer advocate, he monitors the prices of basic commodities  from sardines to gasoline  and puts out full-page advertisements to call attention to exorbitant and unfair pricing schemes and other burning issues of the day.

* * *

In his book, Joecon’s Journey (Our Father and His Remarkable Legacy), Joey Concepcion tells his father: “I will remember you taking us to the Namfrel sorties; it was scary seeing all those goons. I will remember your happiest moment during the EDSA Revolution, seeing your impossible dream become a reality. I will always remember you as the man who lit that candle and inspired a nation not to give up.”

In her book, The Odyssey of Raul T. Concepcion, which I am proud to have co-authored, Menchu writes: “For me, if there is one singular achievement that can define RTC, then it should be his role as an advocate of Philippine industrialization. A lot of times, RTC is confronted with the question, ‘Why do you stick it out in manufacturing when you could go to other businesses less demanding, less challenging and less confronting’? But hard work is a price my husband would always gladly pay.”

For his 80th birthday, Menchu declares in the book (a surprise to Ronnie till the book was already in the printer): “I salute you, or better, I give you a big, big, hug, Ronnie. You have done well. You have brought out the best in me. You are larger than life to me. I love you.”

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)