PRSP founding member and past president Amb.Oscar S. Villadolid, APR, passed away recently. He was 79.
“Like most of the outstanding practitioners of his time, he started from another discipline, making a smooth transition from being a newspaperman to public relations man, distinguishing the PR profession as an alternative profession. From editor to PR director and much later, to ambassador,” writes Past President Bert P. Pasquin, APR, in his introduction of Villadolid when the latter received the coveted PRSP Gawad Panday in 1999.
“His long list of achievements can be best highlighted by a few distinctions: editor of the Philippines Herald, one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines, PR Director of San Miguel Corporation, and Ambassador to the Vatican. Very few men are similarly blessed,” continues Pasquin.
“He was an accomplished journalist whose newspapering background provided the intense sparks for PR ideas and concepts. The successes of many PR programs undertaken by San Miguel Corporation were mainly due to the great extent to which he tapped the mass media. Remember Balikbanda? The program was not only hugely popular and well-appreciated, it also won a Grand Anvil,” Pasquin recalls.
“An excellent public relations man, his grasp of issues and mastery of communication were the best tools in ensuring the proper recognition of public relations as a management function,” Pasquin notes.
Past Presidents Pasquin and Max Edralin, APR, turned over to the Ambassador’s wife, Alice Colet Villadolid, likewise an accomplished editor, journalist and educator, a framed copy of the Gawad Panday introduction at a simple PRSP tribute on June 1, 2009 at the Christ the King Parish, Greenmeadows.
Also present to pay their respects at the tribute were: Board Directors Ed Timbungco, APR and Ritzi Villarico Ronquillo, APR who also rendered “Somewhere over the rainbow,” a song that whose lyrics were quoted in a book that Villadolid wrote; Chit Arce, APR; Past President Atty. Melvin Martin, Immediate Past Board Directors Usec. Juris Soliman and Lou de Guzman; and Sonia Tejada and Ruth Sarmiento of the PRSP Secretariat. Earlier in the evening, Immediate Past Board Director Rita Festin, APR, Past President Sonny Valencia, APR, and other members also paid their respects. - RVR
A LONG JOURNEY TO THE VATICAN
By Max Edralin Jr.
(Eulogy delivered at the Funeral Mass for Ambassador Oscar S. Villadolid at the Christ the King church at Green Meadows on June 2, 2009)
Let me first express my condolences to Alice and the children on the death of our beloved Oscar and then let me try to share with you what I know about his long journey in life before becoming our Ambassador to the Vatican. Oscar was a dear friend and colleague in journalism and public relations for probably the longest time. I feel like losing a brother by his departure.
I have known Oscar since 1953 shortly after he finished college at U.P. when he visited us at the Philippines Herald, one of the morning papers at the time, looking for a job. He apparently knew the people running the paper and so he had no difficulty getting in. We were very young. I was 22 and Oscar was slightly older. Almost immediately, the chief editor, a taskmaster we called "Judge" Gonzalez, told Oscar to report to me as my cub reporter. Let me dwell on this a little bit because Oscar refers to it in his book as the way he started his distinguished career in journalism.
Our assignment was to cover the department of labor. The public relations man there was Blas Ople, who as you know rose to become an important figure himself. Our routine was to visit Blas in the afternoon and occasionally talk to the Secretary of Labor to pick up some news, and then repair to a coffee shop to write the stories for the day. I would allow Oscar to write the stories and then edit them in his presence, explaining every correction that I had to make. The editor naturally was pleased with his stories. By his own account, again in his book, he compensated me by teaching me how to drive, because he had a jeep, and lending me the jeep during weekends for my dates. I loved that.
But Oscar was a quick learner. In just a few days, his copy no longer needed editing. One early evening when we were all pounding our typewriters a phone call came in the news desk about some soldier running amuck in Malacanang. Judge Gonzalez barked an order for Oscar to cover the story. Oscar looked at me and I gave him the thumbs up sign as he went on his way to Malacanang. Man, you are on your own! That was the end of his cub reporter days. He wrote such a damn good story -- and met the deadline to boot -- he instantly became a permanent reporter and was given the difficult police beat.
The student quickly overtook his mentor. Oscar soon became our star reporter moving from one important assignment to another, impressing the editors and earning the respect and admiration of the important people he rubbed elbows with. When he moved to the Bulletin from the Herald, he received the coveted Ten Outstanding Young Men or TOYM Award for Journalism, no doubt a recognition of his excellence in the craft, particularly his demonstrated skill in analyzing foreign affairs issues. I am sure this was an important qualification that led to his appointment years later as the Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See.
He returned to the Herald much later in 1971 to become the editor. But that’s going ahead of the story.
We crossed paths again when we left journalism and went into public relations in the 60’s. I joined him and the PR guru Joe Carpio in organizing the PR office of San Miguel Corporation, with me this time reporting now to my student, Oscar. We presided over the largest PR outfit in the country and soon were setting the standards for the practice of the profession. Oscar accomplished as much in public relations as he did in journalism, rising to the position of Senior Vice President in San Miguel and succeeding Mr. Carpio. Oscar's and Joe Carpio's legacy in my view was the establishment in 1971 of the Philippine Business for Social Progress, which institutionalized the use of corporate social responsibility as part of running a corporation. The details of his initiatives in public relations are in a book published in 2007 by our Philippine chapter of the International PR Association entitled, “How to Make It in PR: The Veterans Tell Their Stories".
We parted ways when I left San Miguel to join Citibank but we got together again in 1982 when he and I and two other PR veterans -- Virgilio Pantaleon of Caltex and Charlie Agatep of Mobil -- were engaged by Malacanang to join the last state visit of President Marcos to the United States. In 1999, the Public Relations Society of the Philippines saw it fit to give Oscar, Virgilio and myself the highest award, the Gawad Panday, to recognize our contributions in the growth and development of the PR profession. And then, gradually but perceptibly, the younger generation of practitioners began referring to us as their "elders" and the heir apparent to the PR pioneers like Joe Carpio who by then were all gone. The problem with that is our own generation is inexorably going also. Virgilio died last year. And now Oscar.
I didn't see much of Oscar since he returned from the Vatican because of his recurring ailments. But I did see him when he was at Makati Med last year. He was at ease and obviously feeling well and he allowed me to go into bits of nostalgia. Both septuagenarians now, we talked about the good old days, and actually bragged to the attending physicians about the great events that we covered, including the time I went to jail for press freedom in 1955 and Oscar was there to write about it. That visit to the hospital was providential because at the end of our conversation and I stood up to say good night, Oscar said to me with a firm handshake, "Goodbye my friend, I hope this is not the last time we see each other." Knowing Oscar's problems, I cried on the way out because I actually felt that that was going to be the last. And as it turned out, it was.
And so it is now my turn to say my last goodbye to you, Oscar my dear friend - on my behalf and on behalf of all your dear relatives and friends who are here this morning. I am sure God is going to be very pleased to see you up there because by the many good things you have done, our part of the world is a lot better than you found it.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment