Ang Magiting - The Official Web Site of Rotary Club Makati North

To all the girls he loved before...well, sort of....

By: Treas. Robert Syjuco
Dec. 1, 2010

“Just like a kid in a candy store, I felt it unnecessary to settle for just one woman, when I can have several.”…..with the preview of the guest speaker presented as such, it attracted a lot of interest with the guys. Talk about common interest!. No, the words did not come from me; they came from no less than RCMN’s icon, PP Pabling Calma.

As such, attendance was a record high since we moved to New World Hotel. Three tables worth with a handful of Anns. After all, we were expecting some juicy stories, with a preview like that. Well, with some anns present, I guessed otherwise. But still….

When he came to the podium after being introduced by PP Chet Tan, PP Pabling pulled out a one page outline of his talk. He started from the very beginning …some tidbits:

His goals:
1) Make his first million at 40 . Done. ( that’s in 1970. A house in Dasma then cost as much, so that’s like P100m today, just so you know. )
2) Give the woman he loves everything she desires. Done, Maribel?
3) Walk without a cane at 80. Done.
4) Write a book about his life. A work in progress…

When he graduated from college, he said he didn’t know anything, so he travelled to see the world and figure out his place in it. I presume this was after Philippine college and before MIT, otherwise heaven forbid, was he absent all the time?

When he visited Manhattan, he said to himself, he can’t build skyscrapers like those, but since they are so big, they will probably stay up and the interiors would have to be refurbished periodically. So he decided to become an interior contractor as his specialty. That was, his eureka moment. Good choice. Now what about the women?

He further explained that what he achieved, he got by sheer hard work, honesty, integrity. He never cheated his clients, so they grew more numerous. His projects include the Mandarin Oriental, Manila Pen, Shangri-la, too many to mention. Name a posh place; he did that, most probably.

He said people think he is a very expensive contractor, but he thinks otherwise. Like a good contractor, he explained some ways where cost can be saved without sacrificing quality. I think I was the only one who understood the technical parts though.

He said that he hoped that he had entertained us with his talk. uhm, what about the women, everyone was wondering. Q & A time would fix that, sort of. Again, some parts:

He stayed a bachelor till 48, married Maribel who was 21 (my fave age!) or so, because he was…“caught alive”. Before that, he had the time of his life with countless women. No details though. The guys still waited.

Asked about his greatest achievement, he said it was marrying Maribel.

He mentioned being in the ‘payback’ time of his life, and supports numerous charitable advocacies, and asked us to join him in this.

Asked if what he would do if he was president: he would buy many beautiful cruise ships, fill them with all the corrupt people and….sink them!

Quality control is a non negotiable part of his work, and his success. Proper methodology is the key.

After he built the Mandarin Oriental, he was given use of the Presidential Suite, and that’s where he made his son. He had 2 other rooms, one he gave to Rtn. George Mercado, and he too made his son there. Baby factories!

That guys, is our very own Pabling. Those expecting juicy stories were rewarded instead with the colorful insights of RCMN’s icon. Next time you want the nifty gritty from Pabling, don’t invite the Anns ok. Lesson for the day!

That was the last meeting of RCMN for 2010….