In Loving Memory of PP Ben Santos

Aleco honored and paid tribute to PP Ben Santos at a heartfelt breakfast on August 12, 2024, hosted by PD Ner Lonzaga. Among the esteemed guests were Sevie Santos and their son, Jopet. Eulogies were delivered by PP Francis Juico, PP Ebot Tan, DG Jackie Rodriguez, JJ Berenguer-Testa, PD Jun Hallare, RCMFI Immediate Past President Willie Peliño, PD Abe Pascual, Rtn. Dave Reynolds, PD Ner Lonzaga, Eric Severino, PD Beda Fajardo, Rtn. Cris Acosta, Jorge Salazar, and PP Archit Bartolome. It was a moving and memorable tribute. Rest in peace, PP Ben.

Let us pray;

Almighty and eternal God, hear our prayers for your son BEN SANTOS, whom you have called from this life to yourself. Grant him light, happiness, and peace. Let him pass in safety through the gates of death and live forever with all your saints in the light you promised to Abraham and to all his descendants faith. Guard him from all harm and on that great day of resurrection and reward him up with all you saints. Pardon his sins and give him eternal life in your kingdom. We ask this through Christ our Lord, AMEN.

Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be to the Father…

Eternal rest on to BEN SANTOS O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him, may he rest in peace.

Ben and I go a long way. We both worked for Proctor and Gamble (P&G PMC). He a year ahead of me in the Finance Department while I worked in the operations, buying dept. As a buyer for a big firm, we were in charge of making sure we did not run out of chemicals, fats and oils, and packaging materials. Our bosses were expats from P&G Cincinnati. We followed their ways and procedures in our plant in Tondo Manila, where we produced Tide powder detergent, Gleem Toothpastes, Camay beauty soap, and a host of other coconut oil and extracts for frying and cooking. The finance dept where Ben worked consolidated all the costs to make sure our products were competitive. A friend, Fred Parungao, worked with him. Later, the office and plant were transferred to Laguna. But that was after we already retired or transferred to other companies.

We All know the contentious side of Ben, so allow me to share the other side of Ben that exemplifies his managerial and leadership skills. When Ben was President of RCM he appointed me to be Chairman of the Education Committee. We came out with a Comprehensive Learning Experience (CLE) Trainer Course for Public school Elementary Teachers adopted from the Australian Education System: Training Trainer to improve the comprehension skills of Elementary Students. This project was done in Masbate and Pasig Schools Division. A Total of more than a hundred DepEd Elementary Teachers were trained. Ben Made sure that this project be a success for the project run for 3 consecutive years. We invited Officers of Rotary Club of Osaka and Seoul Muak on the first Year to go to Masbate together with Rtn. Ner and Lady Femy Lonzaga to observed How CLE is conducted. The project received a donation of $2,000 from RC Osaka and was awarded as an Outstanding Project by District 3810.

The CLE project was initiated by PP Ben Santos and was implemented for a total of 3 years. The first Year was done in Masbate Schools Division with 70 Trainer’s being trained. The second Year was held at Pasig Schools Division with 40 Trainer’s Trained. The third Year was a continuing program held at Masbate Schools Division and PP Teddy Ocampo visited Masbate to observed the conduct of the project. CLE Trainer’s Training project was designed to train public school teachers from grade 1-6 and evaluate the learning comprehension of the student on a yearly basis. Unfortunately the CLE was discontinued by DepEd when the K-12 program was initiated and the teachers had to undergo a different training under the k-12 curriculum.

There were many projects undertaken during the Presidency of Ben Santos. Despite his being contentious he was very organized, focused and made sure All the goals were achieved. That was the kind of Leader Ben was. Rest in Peace, Ben Santos.

PP Ebot Tan’s Eulogy

Benjamin S. Santos, or who is better known as Past President or “PP” Ben among the members of the Rotary Club of Manila (the “RCM”), is a jolly fellow who loves to tell and share jokes. He has a very big, kind, and generous heart. He is, however, often misunderstood and, sometimes, misappreciated. He was President of the RCM during Rotary Year 2009-2010, a member of the Management Association of the Philippines for 16 years, a proud Lasallian, and a past Insurance Commissioner. More importantly, he was a very good friend to many.

During his term, PP Ben sponsored workshops for skills development and productivity enhancement at the Hospicio de San Jose from October to November 2009. The topics of the workshop included soap-making candle-making, sardines-making, t-shirt and fan-printing, and vegetable farming. This was financed by a matching grant amounting to US$15,000.00.

Also during PP Ben’s term, the RCM launched Operation Restore Hope on its third and final year. Eighty to ninety indigent patients underwent cleft surgery from April 11-16, 2009.Volunteer medical specialists came all the way from Australia, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates to operate on indigent patients, most of whom were children. The total project cost amounted to about US$76,600.00. RCM’s partner clubs for this project were RC Stadskanaal of the Netherlands and RC Diepholz-Vechta of Germany. The Rotary Foundation gave a matching grant for this project as well.

Our Club shouldered the repair of medical and laboratory equipment for the benefit of indigent patients at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center from December 26, 2009 to January 15, 2010. The project was completed in cooperation with the University of Perpetual Help System and the Lorma Colleges.

Through the efforts of Past RCM Director Dave Reynolds and PP Ben, the RCM donated P400,000 to the Propeller Club as a cash award to the top 3 performing scholars of each batch of the Propeller Club Seamanship Training Program for four years. The RCM also donated P50,000 to the Makati Foundation for Education to support its program for dependents of enlisted members of the Philippine Army.

In cooperation with the Rotary Clubs of Naga, Iloilo, and Cayman Brac in the Barbados, our Club donated 5 shallow water wells (at a total cost of P150,000) for the BayaniJuan-Calauan Project, which was initiated by the ABS-CBN Foundation, Inc. (the “AFI”). Through networking with Scotland Country RC of Memphis, Missouri, our Club also facilitated the donation of 5 water purifiers from the Hays Pure Water for All Foundation to the project. These had a commercial value of US$500 each, or a total value of US$2,500. The RCM paid for all relevant duties and taxes amounting to P9,000.

Our Club sponsored 100 runners in the Run for the Pasig project in November 2009 by contributing P25,000 to the Kapit Bisig para sa Ilog Pasig Project of AFI. The RCM donated P200,000 to AFI’s Typhoon Ondoy relief operations. Our Club, likewise, donated P25,000 for the employees of the Manila Polo Club who were victims of Typhoon Ondoy. Moreover, our Club donated P25,000 to one of RCM’s own employees whose house was badly damaged by Typhoon Ondoy.

Our Club presented a stage play entitled “Journey to Rotary-Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: the Paul Harris Story”, which was held at the Greenbelt Onstage Theater.

Our Club’s unused unrestricted funds in the amount of Php2.38 million, which had been raised from RCM’s discontinued projects, were used to purchase necessary office and meeting equipment, as well as a club vehicle. During his term as President of the RCM, an APV Suzuki van was purchased to service RCM’s weekly meeting requirements, including the pre-meeting cocktails where beer, wine, and nuts were served. The van was also used to ferry the Secretariat staff to and from the Manila Polo Club for our Club’s weekly meetings, thus optimizing transportation costs. Also, a publication machine, used to print our Club’s weekly Balita magazine, was acquired.

Our Club also embarked on the CONCENTRATED LANGUAGE ENCOUNTER (“CLE”) project, which provided teachers a new teaching technique. This project was co-sponsored by a sister club – The Rotary Club of Osaka East.

PP Ben responded to an urgent email appeal of the mother of the American national, who had a son with a Filipina. With the assistance of the AmCham Foundation, PP Ben looked for the American national and moved the American national from Puerto Galera, where he owned a beach resort, to Manila to prepare him for repatriation. The distressed American national was initially sheltered at the condominium unit of PP Ben until his documentation for repatriation was completed by the AmCham Foundation.

PP Ben had members of the RCM Secretariat undergo upskill training, including enrollment for driving lessons in order for them to be able to obtain driver’s licenses.Those who benefited from this project included: Amiel Hernandez, Anna K. Toledo, and May Ponce Patajo. PP Ben increased the salaries of the staff members of the RCM Secretariat above the minimum limits prescribed by the DOLE.

As you can see, PP Ben did a lot of good things during his life. All of us, specially those of us who are members of the RCM Aleco Breakfast Group, will surely miss PP Ben. We are sure that he is now with his Creator enjoying eternal rest. May everlasting light shine upon you always, PP Ben. Animo!