Manong Max's response: All A Matter of Keeping your Nose Clean

ALL A MATTER OF KEEPING YOUR NOSE CLEAN


By Max Edralin Jr.

(Excerpts from Mr. Edralin's response to A TRIBUTE given in his honor by his peers in the public relations profession at the Manila Peninsula Hotel on May 19, 2010.)



I've heard all that has been said tonight and it is so totally overwhelming I feel any attempt to respond would be inadequate. I’ve never seen my entire life laid bare like an open book. Now everybody knows I am a jail bird !

There's just one thing I'd like to deny. Somebody commented that my high school graduation picture in the power point was taken (and I quote) when that luxuriant hair was still mine. I insist that the hair I have today is mine still. I paid P20,000.00 for it.

Kidding aside, I am most grateful for this Tribute in my honor and I’d like to thank the organizers as well as the ladies and gentlemen who stood up to speak generously about my person and what I’ve supposedly done to make our world a little better. I fervently hope I deserve all these words of admiration.

I know the principal suspects in this conspiracy and they – well, we – belong to a small closely-knit Philippine chapter of the International Public Relations Association. The president is Edd Fuentes, CEO of one of the best PR agencies you can find. Their preparations were so secret for the first time my daughter dared to tell me to keep quiet. I am happy to see all the major PR organizations joining forces with IPRA in a rare display of unity. I refer to the Public Relations of the Philippines led by Butch Raquel and the International Association of Business Communicators led by Roni Tapia-Merk. The ultimate credit goes to Romy Virtusio, my esteemed colleague who started it all. Let’s give them a big hand.

I am deeply honored by the presence of the Governor of the Central Bank, Say Tetangco. He is a very busy person but he came and delivered a tribute. I saw George Yang earlier, a tenor when he is not managing MacDonalds. My children and our relatives are here in full force to show one and all that the solid north remains solid.


But I deviate. What I would like to do is say thank you to all of you in a very special way. This Tribute is not just an event in my honor. It is a welcome interlude coming as it does just days after we buried Fe, my wife of 52 years, and our grandchild Alexis, a promising young soprano. Their departure in a matter of three days was a devastating experience that will take a long time to heal. But your coming tonight to say words that are music to the family affirms that we have friends who care and we are not alone.

We deeply appreciate the songs, especially those that Alexis liked. Alexis, just 28, was well on the way to make a name for herself in classical music when she was felled by leukemia. I am glad you brought here the prominent friends of Alexis in the music community – George Yang, Tony Pastor, Rachelle Gerodias, Mary Ann and Nenen Espina and Jonathan Co. I cry when Rochelle sings because she sounds exactly like my young soprano.

I can only speculate on why my colleagues thought of organizing this Tribute tonight. I could see their desire to cheer me up knowing the ordeal we’ve been through. They said the proceeds would go to the medical expenses of Fe and Alexis But not only that. They tell me I've done a lot not only in our line of work, paraticularly my passion for competence and integrity in the practice of public relations, but also my involvement in many beneficial causes over the years. They said it was time I was recognized for what I've done and to let the younger generation take a cue from the example.

Looking back, and listening to the speakers, I think I must have led an interesting life. My children truth to tell have been nagging me to write a book for the last two of three years. And so did my friend J.J. Calero, the PR and advertising guru who was here earlier.

I think that if my experience of a lifetime has any message to impart, it is that there is no substitute for self-reliance and hard work. That poverty or modest beginnings are no excuse for failure. That it is possible to succeed in life despite the odds if you have the determination to pursue what you want to achieve and the strength of character to do it. In the end, if you want to combine success and respectability, which all of us desire, my advice is simple, keep your nose clean. I must admit that in this generation where we live in a culture of impunity, that is easier said than done.

I was not as poor as Senator Villar but I was poor nevertheless. My mother in our sleepy town up north called Sarrat could not afford to send me to college in Manila. I came to Manila anyway at the age of 17, found a job during the day and went to school at night. By sheer determination and a lot of guts, the young man rose from a messenger janitor of a newspaper to a full-fledged reporter in just four years at age 21. My contemporaries became headline stuff like Max Soliven, Sonny Belmonte, Ninoy Aquino, Oscar Villadolid, Raul Locsin, Teddy Benigno. I just found out yesterday, Vergel Santos joined the Herald after I left. He is now the publisher of Business World. The downside was that I had to stop schooling, which makes me a school dropout but it didn’t matter anymore. When my classmates were looking for work, I was already flying high.

This was the time I went to jail for press freedom, the long story that you heard a couple of times. I had my share of libel suits and threats to my life. You inevitably get threats when you write the truth regardless of the consequences. One of the threats was so serious during the administration of President Garcia I had to evacuate my wife and children to Baguio. But that is a long story that you will probably find in my book, when I find the time to write it. That story prompted a presidential committee investigation and an open clash between the Liberal and Nacionalista parties.

I switched to public relations after covering the first year of President Diosdado Macapagal. By then I had four children and the pay of a journalist, given that I resisted fat envelopes, could not make both ends meet.

Modesty aside, the reputation I built as a newspaperman served me in good stead. Except my stint in the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization or SEATO in Bangkok, where I had to compete in an examination with 150 others, including Kit Tatad, to get the job, I never applied to get the succeeding jobs. They sought me out. I landed good paying jobs in San Miguel Corporation and Citibank and became a consultant later in half a dozen places, the latest being the Bangko Sentral which kept me for the last 10 years. Hard work and keeping your nose clean are a good combination.

I heard some relatives ask my wife how come I seemed to be getting all the good breaks. Her standard answer was, "Layas yan eh at bolero pa. Maraming kaibigan." Which was her affectionate way of saying I was persuasive (she was a victim) and I had a lot of friends.

I am lucky to have come early under the influence of my mother, who endlessly preached thrift and clean living, and two gentlemen of the old school -- the late Ambassador Modesto Farolan, who made me a newspaperman, and the late Secretary Cornelio Balmaceda, who gave me my first job in public relations. They served corrupt regimes but never stole a single centavo. I learned the ropes in PR from the foremost PR guru, Joe Carpio. I guess their concept of discipline and work ethic rubbed off on me.

The real test came during martial law. It was generally known that I was an Edralin and therefore a relative of President Marcos. I could even imitate his voice and played the role of FM in Gridiron dinners at the National Press Club. There were attempts to make me peddle influence but I turned them down. First I didn't know the mechanics of influence peddling, second I didn't have the stomach for it. One Malacanang reporter called me "Edral-out" not Edralin, meaning I was not in and in fact out of the system. When the fun was over, and the freewheelers started to flee, I could look at everybody straight in the eye and I made sure my children realized this is important in life.

Before I close, let me leave behind a few thoughts for my colleagues to think about, hoping for your indulgence since you put me up here anyway.

1. PR is frequently under siege for the indiscretions of a few practitioners. The trouble is that while most of us are working our butts to deliver good PR results, the bad example of the few tended to diminish public respect and gave a bad impression of what public relations does. And yet we know that PR is an important function that contributes to the success of an individual or business. And so to some people PR is the means for manipulating facts, character assassination and corrupting media. We have difficulty shrugging off this impression.

What I've been advocating is a Summit among the major PR organizations like PRSP, IABC and IPRA to address the problems of competence and integrity as industry problems and come up with a solution. At minimum they should have (1) a common definition of PR and (2) a common code of ethics and the means to make it work. These problems have lingered for so long.

2. There is today a new concept of corporate social responsibility. CSR used to be simply funding projects for the common good and contributing to the Red Cross and the Boy Scouts. Now CSR encompasses obligatory ethical conduct in all aspects of running a corporation like paying your employes well and providing them wholesome work environment. AIM has a complete paper about this that covers managerial behavior, best practices and business models.

Given this definition, I wish PRSP and IABC would be more circumspect in giving awards to companies that do not meet CSR standards. I mean those companies that obviously produce products that harm society and have absolutely no redeeming value. True they undertake projects like any do-gooder but these projects we know are part of a grand deception to cover up the harmful effects of their product. These companies have been banned from advertising, they are now turning to public relations, and we are biting. Let us study more closely our obligations and be consistent in our compliance with corporate social responsibility.

3. Finally, I would like public relations to be more visible in the campaign for good governance. There is a call for unity in the effort to support the reforms that the new administration intends to carry out to curb the excesses of the outgoing administration and move the country forward. In my view, it is getting late in the day, this may be the last chance for us Filipinos to try to do the right things and catch up with our neighbors, which are prospering because they know what's good for them and they are doing something about it. PR, when practised properly, has the potential to move institutions in the proper direction. We can do the same thing for the country.

At the beginning of martial law when I was president of PRSP in 1975, I spoke to suggest participatory public relations. I wanted us to function as a committee of the whole to quietly provide inputs to Malacanang that would help make the New Society succeed. If warranted we would become vehement objectors to correct possible excesses resulting from the absence of an opposition party. Nobody wanted to touch the proposal even with a ten-foot pole. Looking back the reaction was understandable. People were afraid. But maybe we can revive the proposal today.

Let us as a people make our presence felt in the administration of our country. We are being left behind and getting notorious as the second most corrupt country in our part of the world. If we are into image building, and we admit we are, we in public relations should envision a role by which we can help improve the image of our country in a big way. This should probably be in the agenda of the Summit meeting among the major PR organizations as I mentioned earlier.

Anyway, thank you again for the honors you've given my person by this Tribute. This is infinitely better than paying tribute when the person is no longer in a position to hear it. I am reminded of a poem entitled “Send the Flowers Now”, and to conclude these remarks, and to complete my family’s profuse thanks to all of you, let me quote a part of it.
“I would rather have one little rose
from the garden of a friend
Than the choicest of flowers
when my stay on earth has come to an end.


“I would rather have a pleasant word
In kindness said to me
Than flattery when my heart is still
And my life has ceased to be.


“I would rather have a loving smile now
From friends I know are true
Than tears shed around my urn or casket
When to this world I bid adieu.”





Thank you and good evening.

Wen, Manong!

On Wednesday, May 19, we paid a tribute to one of the pillars of public relations practice in the Philippines, Max Edralin. who at 79 enjoys his laurels without sitting on them.

At the Rigodon Ballroom of the Manila Peninsula Hotel, the event "Wen, Maong!" became an endearing, exciting, funny, at some point sad, at all times poignant, with the most excellent musical tributes and oratory worth the salt of the industry's best minds and pens.

It was a privilege to emcee the event, to extend some iota of comfort to Manong Max and his family who recently lost his wife and granddaughter Alexis in a matter of days, and in turn to be inspired by Manong Max and his family for their unity and fortitude in the face of such adversity.

Mabuhay ka, Manong Max!

In this photo c/o our official chronicler of images, Rene, are the current IPRA members, back L-R: Me, Rene Nieva, Butch Raquel, Edd Fuentes, Romy Virtusio; front: Joy Buensalido, Millie Dizon, Max Edralin, Jingjing Romero, Karen Villanueva, and Malou Espina