30/09/2026
THE AYALA HABIT I BROUGHT WITH ME
I spent a significant part of my professional life with the Ayala Group, although not continuously.
I first joined in 1980, through Ayala Investment and Development Corporation.
In 1982, I was assigned to Hong Kong. I returned to the Philippines in 1985 and later worked with BPI under Manny Bengzon.
In 1989, I left Ayala for an opportunity with Citibank.
I was happy at Citibank. I became a Vice President, underwent training in Singapore and New York, and was exposed to an entirely different international banking environment.
But after about two and a half years, I made another important career decision.
I went back to Ayala.
By then, I was thinking differently about my career. I was approaching 40 and, for the first time, I was already looking twenty years ahead toward retirement.
Ayala had what we called the Rule of 80, which made me think seriously about where I wanted to spend the next chapter of my professional life.
So in 1991, I returned.
This time, I joined the Strategic Planning Group of Ayala Corporation.
The group was led by Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, whom we called JAZA. He was still in his thirties then. Boji Manotoc was his deputy, and around them was a relatively young group of professionals handling different companies and concerns across the Ayala Group.
I was principally assigned to major legal issues involving the different companies—matters that required the attention or participation of the parent company.
And that was where I became part of a routine that I still remember very clearly.
Every Monday, we met.
JAZA would preside.
Each member of the Strategic Planning Group was responsible for certain companies or areas, and one by one, we would report what was happening.
What was the status?
What had changed?
What problems had arisen?
What needed a decision?
What needed follow-through?
Companies such as BPI, Ayala Land and the other businesses of the group would be discussed. Globe was becoming particularly important during that period as Ayala was building its telecommunications business.
In my case, I would brief the group on significant legal matters—corporate issues, combinations, shareholder concerns and other matters that required attention at the Ayala Corporation level.
What impressed me about those Monday meetings was their regularity.
JAZA was there.
Week after week.
And because everybody reported in the same room, you did not learn only about the company assigned to you.
You learned what was happening across the entire group.
You understood how one problem could affect another company. You saw how finance, operations, legal issues and strategy connected with one another.
And perhaps most importantly, everybody knew that Monday was coming.
So you had to know your numbers.
You had to know your issues.
You had to know what had changed since the previous week.
And if something needed follow-through, there would be another Monday.
Looking back, I realize that those meetings taught me something very simple about management:
What you regularly review, you are more likely to get done.
Years later, when I entered public service, I carried much of that discipline with me.
You cannot manage a large organization simply by waiting for problems to reach your desk.
You establish a rhythm.
Report. Review. Decide. Follow through. Then review again.
That was one of the habits I saw practiced at Ayala.
I joined the group as a lawyer.
But Ayala taught me much more than law.
It taught me how organizations are managed.
And many years later, when I found myself managing organizations of my own, I understood why those Monday meetings mattered so much.
