The Day I Defeated the Devil By Ped Salvador August 11, 2013 Nineteen Ninety Five (1995) is a year

worth remembering! This was the first time that the Cavite Export Processing Zone had witnessed a May Flower Festival. It was like a town Fiesta complete with Banda Musiko continuously playing around with music intended for the occasion. There were a lot of foods, souvenirs and export quality goods sold in the streets. Everybody was happy including the local executives who graced the occasion. It was a very successful event made possible by the CEPZ administration, the Rotary Club of CEPZ and our own organization, CAPO- Committee of Administrators and Personnel Officers. That was the first time I saw Miss Ina Raymundo and Miss Alma Concepcion who were part of the team of Sagalas who paraded their beauties in a long kilometer length walk procession. They soon became well known personalities as both of them shifted their career from fashion modeling to movie acting. The event became one of my finest moment from my eight years of stay in the economic zone. Year 1995 was also the time of industrial boom. President Fidel Ramos has just initiated his economic strategy of Philippines 2000. The foreign direct investments had ballooned and CEPZ has its own share in the staggering rise in business activities. Construction of manufacturing facilities became a trend activity and one by one, buildings sprouted in the four corners of the economic zone. The owner of our factory, a Taiwanese national also saw the business opportunity and made a decision for a facility expansion to accommodate increase in the production order. I went to CEPZ administration office and made inquiries about credible and accredited contractors servicing the zone. Within 24 hours a call came in and asking for an appointment to discuss proposals about facility construction. I gave him the go signal to come over and make a presentation on the next succeeding day. The contractor representative was very formal when he entered my office. With him were documents that will summarize all their projects completed inside and outside the zone. I saw the new projects they made, already built and somehow to my mind could answer our need for immediate capacity expansion. He started making presentation, discussed the history of their company, the owners, their modern tools and heavy equipments, their manpower capabilities, and their expertise to solve contingencies. Being an Engineering Manager before I did asked a lot of questions and vice versa provide information on what detailed activities we would like to accomplish. After one hour we completed our

discussion and advised him to return after one week since I need to inform and discuss the initial information with the company owners. One week later the representative came back and with him was the complete proposal that includes already the project costing. We went to discuss again the proposal and this time the representative was already talking his different escapades from his older projects. He was now mentioning the good things he has given with other project managers he had dealt with in the past. And in order to impress me, he directly offered and showed the proposal and said Boss my ten percent ka dito! I was surprised with the offer. I am just thinking that if the total project cost is Ten Million Pesos, I will be having One Million Pesos commission by just convincing the owner to award the project to them. He continued You can have now money and replaced your old Suzuki Van. I nurtured myself for a while and think againbig sum of money for small salaried manager like me I controlled my composure and answered him in a blatant voice Pare, kayo ang mga anay na sumisira sa Bayan natin! Paano magtitiwala ang mga namumuhunan dito sa Pilipinas kung merong mga Pilipinong katulad ninyo! Sa palagay mo ba mga bobo ang mga iyan at di malalaman iyan.pagdating ng araw? Paano kung dahil diyan ay ihinto nila ang pagnenegosyo nila dito, ano ang gagawin ko sa limandaang mangagawa na mawawalan ng hanapbuhay! Kaya mo bang pakainin lahat iyon? The representative was shockedI continued Pare hindi lahat ng tao ay nabibili, yung kotseng sinasabi mo , one year lang luma na iyon, maaaring may kalawang na rin. Parang ikaw buhay na buhay ka pa e kinakalawang na .. Sorry pare di ko gawi ang diskarte mo! The represenntative got his belongings and immediately leave my office. Alone in the office I prayed. Thank God, I defeated the Devil! A Blessed Sunday to all !