KEYNOTE SPEECH ON THE OCCASION OF THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF REX-CEBU (October 17, 2003)
The decision to open Rex-Cebu (Store) on October 17, 1983 was indeed no walk in the park. It took myself and Mr. Chino Febre 17 years after my graduation from college in 1966 to visit the nook and cranny of Visayas and Mindanao before finally deciding to open the Store.
Schools like the University of Southern Philippines, University of Visayas would suggest that if you want to improve your orders, an accessible store was indispensable.
True to what they said, the orders have gone up and gone up. The store, however, was confronted by another difficulty: dishonesty, mismanagement, each one trying to outdo one another characterized the period from 1983 to 1992 or a period of nine years or a total gestation period of 26 years.
Every time I would visit the Store, I was apprehensive that problems would be presented.
Certainly, like night following day, when I visit the Store, problems are presented and as the days, months and years pass by, they became compounded, trebled and quadrupled.
After providing palliative measures after each visit, I would leave the Store with a heavy heart knowing that during the next visit, problems would again be reported (just to exemplify the magnitude of the problems). There was even an occasion when I was not allowed to enter the premises even though I own the building.
Despite the wild, wild, west condition of the Store, I nevertheless asked permission from my parents Mr. & Mrs. JuanitoFontelera to put up REX-Davao under the leadership of Ms. Lourdes Dicipulo to be assisted by husband Eddie Dicipulo to hopefully counteract the Cebu situation.
It has also been my contention that if I have savings, I would rather invest it on something that would benefit the mother company, REX Book Store, Inc.
During 1993 when I was bent on closing the Store and that the building would just be rented out, Ms. AmabelQuijano visited me in REX-Recto. She was wearing shorts and she was comparatively slender then. Being loquacious and talkative, she premised our conversation by stating that she had already finished with her masters.
We ended up with me offering and she accepting the leadership of the Store.
True to her pronouncement, she instituted reforms in management especially in the rigid control of the cash flow and that there must be check and balance at all times. It has been her contention ever since that managers should never have access to cash. Any form of dishonesty no matter or insignificant should not be given a chance.
Such corrective measures brought about good morale among the staff which consequently brought about phenomenal growth in sales. Until this point in time, REX-Cebu is the number one seller in this area.
I’m happy to take note that the management of the Store is adopting also the Japanese way concerning longevity of stay of the associates.
In view of the effective leadership in tandem with Lourdes Dicipulo, Management was inspired to put up REX-Iloilo in 1994, REX-Cagayan de Oro in 1997, REX-General Santos and REX-Tacloban in 2002, and God willing, REX-Palawan, REX-Bacolod, REX-Zamboanga, etc.
With this Cebu experience, the success of an endeavor depends on good leadership. My prayer is that the values instilled by our parents Mr. & Mrs. JuanitoFontelera together with the values middle management has inputted would be transferred to our successors.
Thank you very much.
ATTY. DOMINADOR D. BUHAIN
General Manager/Franchisee,
REX Book Store-Cebu
President, REX Book Store, Inc.
Executive Vice-President,
REX Group of Companies