Bully for You // Ornusa Cadness in UNO’s October ’09

Bully For You
an alternate editors note from RJ Ledesma

If the schoolyard adage “Knowledge is Power” holds any weight, then Washington “Wash” SyCip is the undisputed heavyweight of the schoolyard.

Wash—born in China, reared in the Philippines, and sworn in as an American citizen—has always been ever so familiar with the sweet science of success: He graduated college in two years at the age of seventeen with an accounting degree from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) summa cum laude. He began teaching at UST while also earning his master’s degree at his alma mater. Although Wash passed the Certified Public Accountants (CPA) exam at age 18, he was too young to receive his license to practice (You can be old enough to turn your liver into a punching bag, but not old enough to balance books, go figure) so he opted to pursue his doctorate in Columbia University.

While working on his dissertation, Wash’s studies were rudely interrupted by history: Pearl Harbor and Clark AirBase were bombed. When his father, Albino (yes, Albino) was arrested by the Japanese, he joined the Second Filipino Infantry Regimen of the U.S. Armed Forces. Although Wash wanted to fight on the front lines, he was told that he was overqualified for infantry work (read: he was too damn smart), so he was put to better use in the U.S. Armed Forces as a Japanese language code breaker out of a squadron stationed in India (Did I mention he had to learn Japanese first before taking on the intelligence work).

After the end of World War II, Wash returned to Manila and was enthused over the great opportunities that arose for the country’s reconstruction efforts. Bucking the trend of joining the big British-owned accounting firms of the time, Wash established his own firm. “Those firms were all Caucasians, and they had a fairly general policy that partners were Caucasians. From my viewpoint, I was as good as anyone and should not be subjected to discrimination in my own country.”

So, on the fifth floor of he Trade and Commerce Building in Binondo, Manila, Washington SyCip put up his shingle (“W. Sycip & Co.”) in March 1946, and the rest is business history.

Along with his longtime friend Alfredo M. Velayo, the firm was renamed SyCip, Gorres & Velayo (SGV). By building on Wash’s principles of emphasizing merit, training and integrity (which is something the current administration needs to take remedial classes in) SGV – later the SGV Group – became the country’s biggest and most prestigious accounting and consulting firm. And, under Wash’s leadership, SGV became Asia’s largest accounting firm – he was responsible for the firm’s expansion into Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. He was responsible for SGV’s partnership in 1985 with Arthur Andersen, one of the largest professional service organizations in the world (at that time).

SGV’s reputation as a firm has been so rock-solid in that managing partners and directors have been spirited away from the SGV to serve as technocrats over the past five administrations (and many of these technocrats have also left administrations that were not as rock-solid as they claimed to be). Meanwhile, Wash continues to be on a first name basis with the leaders of big business, including the Lopezes, Ayalas, Sys, Tys, del Rosarios, Gokongweis, Aboitizes, Gotianuns, Tans, Cosetengs, Sorianos, Cojuangcos, Kuoks, Delgados, Yuchenghocs Uytengsus, Yangs, Chiongs, Roxases and many others. And Wash is probably one of the few men who can bring together the country’s top political, economic, society and cultural elite on one table for a reasonably quiet dinner. And perhaps a good bottle of scotch.

Wash has been retired since 1996. But that doesn’t stop him from coming to office everyday at 6:30 am. Or from continuing to serve as the Honorary Consul of Austria to the Philippines. Or from being a fashion model for couture barong-makers Silk Cocoon. From still being. Or from being a big fan of the transvestite performers at Club Mwah. Really.

***

I blame pop culture for all of my conditioned fears. I blame the movie Jaws for my perennial fear of swimming by myself even in a kiddie-sized pool for fear that a 40-foot great white shark might just appear and turn me into lunch. I blame the move The Changeling for my fear of bathtubs because I might see a dead boy floating inside the tub. But for my biggest fear—the fear of sleeping by myself with the lights closed—is because of Freddie Aguilar.

When I was about four years old, I remember watching a (sort of) music video of Freddie Aguilar’s song Anak. The music video featured the drawing of a giant eating little boys. To my 4-year old mind, this image was terror epitomized, and I could not sleep with lights closed because the image of that toddler-eating giant would replay itself in my mind’s eye. I have not had a good night’s sleep for the past 31 years. Thank God for night-lights and (now) my wife.

Unfortunately, no amount of lighting or spooning can make me any less frightened reading the stories in Yvette Tan’s first collection of short fiction, Waking The Dead. The award-winning fictionist was one of the names we named in our ’52 Women On Top’ list in our June issue. Her recently released book, which features a fair amount of monsters (both mythical and the all too real), certainly marks her out as one of the dark stars of Philippine literature. For that reason we’ve asked her to guest-edit our October issue—only fitting given that we celebrate the pagan heresies of Halloween this month. Who better guide to the season than a lovely and talented witch like Tan? (Anybody who reads her prose knows there’s some black magic at work there; and, not very long ago, at least one of the stories in her book would’ve easily gotten figuratively “burned at the stake” if not realistically incarcerated.)

So, set aside your Necronomicons for a while, and peruse UNO’s October issue. Turn up the lights then, don’t be selfish. You want those around you—even in your seemingly empty room—to see the pictures properly.