About Pablo S. Sarmiento (story written in 1997)

oscarms — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:00:00 +0800

At 83, Pablo S. Sarmiento (PS), does not fully understand the meaning of “retirement”. The very idea of calling it a day — of doing nothing but enjoying the bounties of a lifetime of labor — has never appealed to him. His idea of rest is talking about business, negotiating to buy a piece of land, organizing or reorganizing his present business. To PS business is both work and fun… He finds WORK relaxing and REST very stressing.

The three brothers were hard-working, but people who knew them in their youth through early years as businessmen single out the youngest as the masipag — the one who worked longest and stayed on a job until it was finished. Mr. Feliciano Paguia, who worked with the brothers in their clothing and remnants business shortly after the War, recalls that “Mang Pablo was really focused on whatever he was doing. Talagang walang patawad sa trabaho. Maski na Mahal na Araw, lumalakad.”

The young Pablo graduated from Torres High School in 1934. He finished his college in Far Eastern University (Commerce, 1940). He was a working student and proud of it. He looks back to his student days with nostalgia. “Palibhasa sanay sa hirap. I wasn’t scared of manual labor. My brothers and I, we were all working students. I was cargador at Property Division of the Department of Public Works. I would go with the teams that shipped those big pipes to the Visayas. I did manual labor day in and day out, then rush to my classes at the FEU in the late afternoon. It went on for years, puro hirap, but the way it turned out for us, I suppose it was a good investment.

“Do you know how the poor people lived in Manila during our time? We were all refugees from poverty in the provinces. We wanted to seek higher education in Manila, so we had no choice but to make do with what we had. We have a saying in Tagalog, pag maliit ang kumot, magtiis mamaluktot. Well, that’s what we did, literally. We were renting this small place on Magdalena St., in Tondo, my brothers and I, with some folks from Bulacan. We were all together in one room. At night, we were all packed together either on the papag or on the floor. To accommodate everyone, all of us had to lie sideways — patagilid. Bawal patihaya, because some of us would have to be thrown out. I was the laundryboy, the kitchenboy, the houseboy.”

PS shared with his brothers the gift of seeing opportunities often in the most unlikely places. To this young Pablo added the virtue of tenacity. Thus, in the brother’s welding, vulcanizing and watch-repair business during the War, it was Pablo who roamed the sidestreets of Avenida and Divisoria, hustling for jobs. He also was not above doing the welding himself. The shop did brisk business for a while especially among owners and drivers of the carretela — the two-wheeled horse-drawn rig that was the only means of transportation in Manila during the War — which had to have its wheels fixed regularly, particularly, the so-called yantas, the steel ring around which the tire of the wheel is wound.

Pablo brought in the customers and helped service their needs in the shop. To augment this business, Pablo thought of going into the buying and selling of second-hand goods, such as picks, shovels, carts, faucets and other hardware. He would have these repainted and then sold. This additional business also prospered during the War.

Shortly after Liberation, Pablo reopened the shop on Avenida Rizal near Bambang, but this time to buy and sell the new products of the time — sundry items from U.S. depots in Olongapo and Angeles — blankets, men’s underwear, cots, mosquito nets, gas and even second-hand tractors and other surplus goods. Again, Pablo ranged far and wide to find products for his buyers.

This period also saw the start of the Sarmientos’ real estate business. Largely through Pablo’s sharp eye and nose for what was going to be in demand, the Sarmientos began buying lots around Clark Air Base in Angeles and built bungalows which they rented out to civilian employees at the Base. In a short while, the Avenida store was expanded to trade in used clothing and remnants, which turned out to be quite a lucrative business. The shop soon developed into a nationwide network — with dealers in the provinces. When the three brothers decided as a business strategy to find new and bigger opportunities and organize new businesses outside of Manila and Luzon, Pablo chose to take the Visayas.

Early on, Pablo showed a good feel for the market. Some of it he had as a natural gift but much of it he learned the hard way. “He had to be the marketing man among the three, because it was he who was out in the field most of the time,” Angelito appraises his father’s role in the triumvirate. “Mahilig maglibot, eyes and ears open all the time for anything that they could make money on.” Pablo was gregarious by nature, easy to deal with and highly skilled in the art of building rapport with other people.

It was therefore, logical that the role of marketing strategist and negotiator — in other words, the one who made deals for the brothers – fell on Pablo. He could talk to almost anybody — government officials, bankers, suppliers, dealers, customers, employees, the lowliest laborer at the plant — and about almost anything. PS approach to business was what his children call “asset-based pragmatism”. When the brothers succeeded in the used clothing and remnants business after the war, Pablo expanded his view and decided to concentrate on building the brothers´ businesses on assets. Thus, Pablo went seriously into acquiring real estate, apartments and houses for rent, land for Vitarich, and logging concessions for the Mindanao operations. Also, the acquisition of the two Sarmiento buildings in Makati was along the asset-based approach introduced to the brothers by PS. Pablo was the action man, except that the action, owing to his restless and aggressive nature, sometimes antedated the brothers’ consensus. Not to worry, because in their battle-tested formula, the decision of one was the decision of all. Business was their life, their medium of communication and mode of education. “Business, as far as the brothers were concerned, was best done when they did it together,” says Angelito.

Don Pablo´s wife, Precing, a successful businesswoman in her own right, believes that any kind of enterprise is like entering a dark tunnel. ´You don´t know what´s inside, and you don´t know whether you will take a step forward, light one or two candles or beat a retreat. To find out, you have to get in, That´s the kind of businessman my husband is, he is never scared to enter that tunnel.”

Embarking on an adventure in the Visayas coincided with another milestone in Pablo´s life. The end of the War signaled a new life for all three brothers – a spirited re-entry into business life – and in the case of Lorenzo and Pablo – the beginning of their second marriages. They were both widowers at the end of the War, Lorenzo got married to Luz Mercado in 1947 while Pablo married Eufrocina Monsura in 1948. Eufrocina was herself a widow.

The pretty and quiet young viuda had a sharp business sense which appealed to the aggressive up-and-coming businessman.

Precing, while working in the Sarmientos’ buy-and-sell business after the War, impressed Pablo wjth her selling skills; she could sell almost any item that they carried during those early years. “What I had with me in the morning would be gone and disposed of in the afternoon,” Precing recalls,

Love, the second time around for both, blossomed in the. hustle and bustle of Avenida and Divisoria and has endured and grown stronger in almost 50 years of marriage. Pablo brought to the union his only son Narding from his first marriage and Precing her son, Ulrico, from her first marriage. Pablo and Precing have nine other children, Angelito, Leonila, Pablo Jr., lmelda, Myrna, Oscar, Eulogio, Mario and Carlito.

In numerous instances, from their earliest attempts at business, Pabio showed uncommon boldness. Where his elder FS (Feliciano Sarmiento) was a methodical rationalist who would caution his younger brothers on every major move, Pablo, like Lorenzo, was a visionary, except that Pablo was the more impetuous one. Honorio Allado, a government engineer who left the government service in 1950 to join the Sarmiento brothers in public works contracting, was amazed by Pablo´s guts. The brothers’ expansion to logging, recalls Mr. Allado, was actually pushed by Pablo, who, at that, time, knew almost nothing about the Iogging business, Pablo signed a royalty agreement with a big logger in Agusan and got a concession promptly.

Para sa akin negosyo ay will power, is how PS sums up his approach to business.

Particularly evocative of PS bias for action — and the special relationship of the three brothers — was an incident recalled by Mr. Ito Avena. “Early in 1959, while FS was on a trip abroad, PS decided to start construction of our feedmill in Marilao. We had not finished our mechanical plans yet, but PS said go, anyway — time was of the essence. So we began with the building foundation, and as we were at it, who would be coming along but FS back from his trip. FS was furious, but what could he do, the deed was staring him in the face, a major decision had been made in his absence. And then I saw something l will never forget. While the FS was delivering his sermon PS just sat there, saying nothing, keeping his cool. Eventually, the brothers went along with his decision and nothing more was said about it. That´s how the brothers were, nothing could break them apart. Years later when we were selling 100,000 bags of animal feeds per month, PS sidles up to me and says, ´0, tingnan rno, Ito, kung hindi natin ipinagawa ang planta, makakabenta kaya tayo nang ganito ?´

When Vitarich was negotiating in 1965 with Cobb Vantress U.S.A. on the local breeding and distribution of Babcock broilers, it took PS only about ten minutes to decide to sign up. This relationship has lasted and grown during the last 27 years.

As if prescience and aggressiveness were not enough, Pablo had also the gift of gab. Among the three, he was the mixer, the one who can win instant rapport with people of all kinds.

“Ma-PR si mang Pablo, magaling sa mga person-to-person,” recalls Mr. Sergio Palabyab, brother -in-law of LS, who worked with the Sarmientos for many years .

Always, PS was the businessman is search of a good investment opportunity. He would go around the country and put his computer-like mind to use. Every name was filed somewhere. Where was that guy residing, where was he working how many children did he have, were they of school age? If any of the Sarmientos was already doing business with him, or was about to, when was his birth or wedding anniversary? All the marketing and sales staff, especially of Vitarich, were urged to think along this line — know your customer inside out. Salesmen were required to keep close and constant touch with the customer and work with him or her as if he or she was a partner, which, to the Sarmiento brothers, they, in fact, were.

“My father is one of the first practitioners of the FiIipino style of selling,” Angelito says. ´The. relationship that he developed with his Clients was personal, based on what, he and his brothers called tunay na pakikisama. To him, it was law – give your customers consistent personalized service, pakisamahan sila ng tapat.” This attitude went down all the way to the lower ranks, especially to the frontliners, and largely explains why Vitarich has been the consistent leader in the animal feeds industry.

Iloilo represents a lovely time in the lives of Pablo and Precing Sarmiento. They had just gotten married when Pablo accepted his brothers’ bid to take the South. “Walang-wala kami noon, we were down and almost, out, when we got married.” Precing says of early life with her daring young businessman. “The room we were renting was very small, two people could hardly move around in it. When my husband went to Iloilo – ang sakit.´ Imagirie, it. was New Year´s Day, it was my birth anniversary, and he had to leave that very day!”

lt was January of 1948, times were not so good, especially for the brothers, because the government had just declared a ban on the importation of used clothing. The brothers had to make a new beginning once again. “But my husband, he is really a fighter, talagang malakas ang Ioob. When the brothers decided Pablo had to go to Iloilo, off Pablo went, there were going to be other New Year´s days, other birthdays!”

Iloilo literally welcomed the couple with a bang, via an earthquake, which toppled the ancient tower of the Jaro Church and killed a number of people. “We were told it was one of the strongest earthquakes that ever hit the Visayas and we had to be right there when it came,” Precing, a native of Manila, recalls that tumultuous welcome.

The place itself, however, and the people, rolled out the welcome mat for the newcomers. The Ilongos were nice to us, mababait, we found it easy to win their friendship and trust, Don Pablo recalls.

Iloilo was a beehive of enterprise at that time. It had an excellent busy port, which dated back to the 1800´s. The city was enjoying a post-war resurrection. The Ilongos were hardworking people who never troubled themselves with questions of how they were going to spend their money. They saved their money and as merchants and entrepreneurs had the kind of grit and flair that Pablo felt at home with.

In no time at all, Pablo broke into the tight business community of Iloilo, many of them Chinese, some of whom helped him out financially during his early years in the city.

When he arrived in Iloilo, he had very little in his pocket, except for the modest capital with which he opened a department store, one of the city´s first, But Iloilo smiled on Pablo and blessed his strivings. Where he was borrowing from the Chinese in the beginning, in a few years, he was their equal in the business game. The Sarmientos were soon importing old clothing directly from the U.S. and supplying key cities all over the country. The department store was thriving. Pablo´s bodega was dispatching bales of clothing most hours of the day. Precing was running the department store and developing friendships, many of which last up to this day. She learned to speak Ilongo. Apart from selling used clothing all over the Visayas and Mindanao, Pablo also took care of distributing Vitarich animal feeds in Iloilo and Bacolod. “Sa Iloilo nakabangon kami,” Precing says of those productive and happy ten years.

Eight of Pablo´s children were born and began their schooling in Iloilo They lived in a big house on Guanco Street near the heart of the Queen City. Precing spent her time running the department store – Pablo was out most of the time on business trips to Cebu, Mindanao and Manila – and raising their children.

Like all the womenfolk in the Sarmiento clan, Precing performed her family responsibilities with dedication, giving priority to husband and children. Children, especially, were serious business for Pablo and Precing: they had more children – eleven – than all the other Sarmientos. It was a delicate balancing act for the couple all the way – they were disciplinarians yet loving parents.

“We were not spared the usual problems of raising a large family – sickness and quarrels among children and choosing the most suitable schools for them, but in the end, we feel we have been especially blessed as a family,” says Precing. All Pablo´s children are doing well and live by the values of hard work and family loyalty that Pablo and Precing have inculcated in them.

Narding, who now oversees many of Don Pablo´s businesses, rates his father as an exemplary businessman and a good human being. “He has been a good father not necessarily in the ordinary meaning of a good father – being always there when you need him and all that. When we were growing up, he spent much of his time on his business trips, but there was no doubt that he cared for and loved all of us.”

Angelito affectionately remembers a two-week U.S. cross-country drive he and his father took in the early 60s. “We were laughing all the way; we would get lost and still he would be willing to give us the right directions. That´s how he was, even in business, there was always a solution to any problem.”

Much as they and the children enjoyed Iloilo, they could not stay there permanently. Towards the end of the ´50s, the clothing business took another nosedive; government restrictions were once more choking its life-line. After almost ten years, Pablo and Precing decided to move back to Manila, more precisely, to Quezon City, where Pablo bought a large piece of property near Quezon Boulevard. This sprawling area is where Danarra Hotel – still owned by Don Pablo – still stands.

For Pablo, it was Luzon, Vitarich and other enterprises and Mindanao with its logging and plywood enterprises once again, but this time on a bigger scale and at a faster pace. Vitarich was busy putting up additional facilities for larger production and the Mindanao operations were preparing to take off at that time.

Towards the end of the 1960s, Pablo and Precing decided to take another important relocation move – this time to the U.S. Precing´s asthma, which had been bothering her for years took a turn for the worse and required, according to her doctors, a gentler and more temperate climate, like that of the t U.S. It was a difficult decision to make, but Pablo scarcely had any second thought about it.

Pablo and Precing now spend part of their time abroad but regularly come home to visit. Two of their daughters are in the U.S. and Canada, married and settled down. The slightest excuse will send either or both the couple taking a flight to any daughter or son or grandchild who needs them. According to Precing, the Sarmientos are a good family to be part of. “They are vigorous, robust, kind, enterprising and, in many ways, competitive. There is no doubt in anyone´s mind, however, where the affections and loyalties lie. “After any or all differences that any clan member may have with another, kainan uli sama-sama uli.”

PS is as firmly committed as ever to the brothers´ enterprises as well as to his own concerns. Of the three brothers, it is PS who has shown the strongest commitment to the companies that they set up together. This is the reason why he was the last one to establish his own business. Why, he would often ask, could not the brothers´ original business hire younger Sarmientos and let them run the enterprises? Why can´t we all stay in just one Sarmiento business together? Among the deepening shadows, PS would – if it were possible – continue to give to what he and his bothers started together all his industry and daring, all his grit and imagination – this youngest and staunchest believer in the Sarmiento ethic – this most hard-working one, ang masipag.

P.S.Sarmiento & Sons, Inc.

About Pablo S. Sarmiento (story written in 1997)