‘The CEO and janitor are two kindred spirits’
San Miguel Corp. chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang recently played the role of rich uncle to Ronald Gadayan, who was hailed by various institutions as an exceptionally honest man.
The business tycoon had invited Gadayan and his wife Rosalie to his executive office, where he presented him with P200,000 in cash and a jeepload of Purefoods products after inquiring upon his life and personal circumstances.
A contractual employee, Gadayan works as a janitor assigned to keep restrooms at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport clean and spotless. It was in that post that he found at least P6 million in cash and valuables left behind by departing and arriving passengers over the years—cash and valuables that he returned to their rightful owners.
Included in the haul was a bag containing P2.4 million in cash and jewelry, three wallets with $5,000, P100,000, and P17,000 in them, and high-end cellphones.
To most people, it would be “finders keepers”, but not to Gadayan. It must have been difficult for Gadayan to resist the temptation to keep it all considering the fact that he was only making P480 a day.
To make the connection, “RSA had to reach down, way down to talk to someone who was working as a mere janitor at the airport,” in the words of columnist Ramon Tulfo, personal friend of San Miguel’s top honcho.
It will be remembered that San Miguel had won the multibillion peso contract to refurbish and modernize NAIA, the country’s gateway to the world.
According to Tulfo, RSA was excited to meet Gadayan. “An honest man himself, RSA must have found a kindred spirit in Gadayan,” he said in an interview.
“When Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco went on exile with the Marcos family in 1986, he left all his wealth to RSA’s care,” Tulfo recalled.“RSA could have appropriated the fabulous wealth for himself, but he didn’t. When Danding returned after many years of absence, he handed him back the companies entrusted to him, plus the companies formed or acquired under his management.”
A resident of Norzagaray, Bulacan, Gadayan was feted, along with his wife and three children, by SM Marilao, Bulacan, giving him gift certificates, which the family used to shop and dine.
The Provincial Government of Bulacan and the Office of the Ombudsman hailed him as a modern-day hero, worthy of emulation.
Even Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, touted by the international media as a papabile [Italian for “worthy of being or eligible to be pope”] personally extended his congratulations and well-wishes.
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