SPEECH ON THE OCCASION OF THE THIRTY EIGHTH (38TH) CHRISTMAS PARTY OF THE REX GROUP
From the time Rex was established during the 1950s it has had Thirty Eight (38th) uninterrupted Christmas Parties.
There were occasions when there would be a clamor not to hold anymore a Christmas Party due to depressed economic situations, but top management would nevertheless decide on holding the same due to the need to have togetherness under one roof in celebration of the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
To quote Sarah Soliven in her column, we must ascertain the true meaning of Christmas. It is not only gift giving, merry making, etc. per se but more importantly to anticipate to celebrate the birthday of Our Lord mindful of the biblical pronouncement: “And God so love the World that He gave His only Son” despite the hardship of the times.
Let us therefore rejoice and rejuvenate for these few days as we face the challenges of the incoming year.
Even to the point of appearing to be highly religious, allow me to state once more that in the hierarchy of corporate values “Love of God” holds the highest slot
There were many challenges posed upon us during the year 2013 as unearthed during the five-day holding of the yearend business review:
- Violation of Intellectual Property Right;
- Digital threat which I believe is being taken cared of by the Digital Company though caution is hereby made not to predominantly promote the same with traditional printed materials being sacrificed;
- Aging and health. I am now Sixty Eight (68) at any time turning Sixty Nine (69) which others say is not a good number thus I would skip Sixty Nine (69) and declare that I would already be Seventy;
C.1 Twilight years is fast approaching. I hope I would still be possessed with desired strength and lucidity to be a part of Rex Group;
C.2 I am thankful that I am the President and the Chairman and major stockholder of the Rex Group otherwise my retention would become precarious;
C.3 Kidding aside I am thankful that I have obedient children, nephews and nieces;
C.4 We were not spared from Yolanda where two (2) buildings of Rex Tacloban were substantially devastated;
C.4.1 The insurance coverage did not include “acts of God” thus investments involving millions went under the drain;
C.4.2 The staff reportedly was transferred to Rex Cebu and reportedly they underwent debriefing;
C.4.2.1 One of the staff completely lost the members of the family;
C.4.3 The Rex Tacloban is unoperational;
C.5 Due to the inability to complete the transfer of papers the erstwhile RGMIC stores in Bicol and elsewhere remained unoperational.
I would therefore conclude by thanking each one of you for helping Rex to survive on its sixty third (63) year now in order for us to continue to hold Christmas Party with you as participants and more importantly to be an important partner in imparting knowledge to our citizenry.
