To Take A Stand
By Rafael M. Alunan III
“Epiphany” has taken on a new meaning for me. Previously, it was about the 3 Kings or 3 wise men who went to see the newly born infant Jesus in a lowly stable. But when Mayo passed on last Jan. 7 at the Residencia of the Christian Brothers, a thought that struck me was here’s a role reversal — Jesus came to visit and bring home a wise man.
How does one describe the essential Mayo G. Lopez? He was many things to many people. Let’s borrow a cliché and call him “a man for all reasons and seasons.” He was first and foremost an educator. Also a patriot, a morally upright person, a soldier at heart, model husband and father, a fearless interlocutor, and a friend who tells it like it is.
The first recollection I had of him was in Maninidigan! in the early 1980s. M! was a collection of businessmen, professionals and outraged citizens led by the late Jimmy Ongpin, later by Ramon del Rosario, Jr. We found ourselves together during those fateful days in February of 1986, with Kuku, Mayo’s wife, by his side. Mayo didn’t just talk the talk; he walked his talk.
During the early years of the Cory presidency, Mayo, Oscar Lagman and I took turns writing for this column, “To Take a Stand.” We kept that up for the next 30 years until last month when he could no longer write passionately. Our column was our bully pulpit for good government, transformation, and national development.
Mayo and I formed a company in 1986 following the EDSA People Power revolution that represented British security products and services offered by, or referred to, by the company of Special Air Service founder Sir David Stirling. We worked with then NSA Noel Soriano, the PSG and the Philippine Constabulary’s Special Action Force or PC-SAF.
PC-SAF was founded by then Major General Fidel V. Ramos when he was chief of the Philippine Constabulary. Mayo was the original unit’s adviser. During the Cory years, SAF was the government’s principal anti-coup force — a multi-role, day-night, all-weather, all terrain combat force of the PNP that performs best in deadly silence below the radar.
Mayo served as a consultant of the Local Government Academy. Along with Prof. Alex Brillantes, we upgraded its curriculum intended to transform the quality of politics and local governance revolving around the principles of “Human and Ecological Security for Peace and Development.” He was a deep thinker and processor of ideas such that even private firms, here and abroad, took him on as a valued consultant.
He often invited me to conferences in AIM. My favorite chat room was the faculty lounge where I’d bump into AIM’s illustrious administrators and faculty members, and relish their banter, with Mayo dominating it naturally. When I served on its Board, we had more time to touch base and exchange notes on the country’s cyclical problems driven by self-serving politics and underdeveloped citizenship.
As the years wore on, we found ourselves in the Management Association of the Philippines where he got deeply involved in the annual CEO international conference and, also, as vice-chair of the national security committee I chaired at some point. But where Mayo made his mark in MAP was when he served as the Project manager of the MAP-AIM Management Education Workshop or MEW.
MEW brings together management practitioners and teaches to enlighten the latter on what employers want out of future managers. MEW helps schools of management improve their syllabi and teaching practices, as well as train students on how to respond to the fast changing demands of stakeholders.
Mayo enlivened board meetings of the Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Association with his outspokenness. He was an eye and mind opener with a wry sense of humor that was irreverent to a fault (he called it candor). Sometimes, in a fit of humility, he would publicly flog himself in Facebook for his arrogance and seek forgiveness. Some called it “panache”; others from our region called it “tikalon.” I prefer “sublime irreverence.”
We organized joint undertakings of MAP, AIM, HKSAAPI and Asia Society to raise the awareness of the uniformed services, government institutions, media, and the private sector regarding China’s aims and behavior in the South China Sea. Mayo usually moderated with chutzpah. In one such forum, former president Fidel V. Ramos asked to speak and Mayo told him to keep it short and gave him five minutes. Good thing FVR was in good spirits.
Mayo was a born fighter. He stared Death in the eye until he was too weak to do anything. He struggled to live as normally as possible, although “normal” is an understatement. His intellect and humor stayed sharp until his last days. He persevered, kept himself directly informed and wrote about his deteriorating condition with amazing grace. He bantered with his visitors and flirted with his pretty doctor.
There’s a picture where Mayo and I are wearing the SAF beret saluting each other, and he saluting Kuku in final submission as to who was the real boss at home. It was 2 weeks before he slept in heavenly peace. When I entered the room, he said that he had made his peace with our Creator and that he was ready. The smile he gave revealed it.
Mayo was an educator up to the end, demonstrating to those whose lives he touched how to fight the good fight by example. His family is no less a chip off the old block. Kuku was Mayo’s pillar of strength, and so were their sons — Bro. Arwee, Arne, Dein, and Ari — united in love and wacky in life.
Mayo always sought the higher purpose in life to give us direction and meaning; to rise above self, to keep us moving forward until we become better Filipinos for a better Philippines. Mayo G. Lopez was a good son of the Republic.
Rafael M. Alunan III served in the Cabinet of President Corazon C. Aquino as Secretary of Tourism, and in the Cabinet of President Fidel V. Ramos as Secretary of Interior and Local Government.
