If my father were alive today, he would have been 100 years old last February 6. Alas, he left us six years ago. 

How do you celebrate a milestone birthday for a man who was simply awesome? It took us almost a year of planning. We wanted it to be a simple but meaningful affair, and we wanted it to be an experience that people would remember, especially the succeeding generations, so that his legacy would continue for many more centuries.

The lobby of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) displayed a photo and statue of its founder, Amb. Alfonso T. Yuchengco on his 100th birthday.

After Mass, the guests – made up mostly of Board Members and senior officers of the companies and family members – were entertained by The Ryan Cayabyab Singers whose finale song was a beautiful medley of “Bayan Ko” and “The Impossible Dream,” the latter being my father’s favorite song.

The short program that followed focused on my father’s philanthropy. He believed that one must reciprocate the bounty that he had harvested from society. He called it the “social return on investment,” a private investment for the public good. In 1970, he established the Bayanihan Foundation, which was later renamed The AY Foundation (AY were his initials). The foundation’s programs are financed by annual contributions from member-entities of the Yuchengco Group of Companies or YGC. The foundation offers assistance to the YGC employees and their children and is also actively engaged in empowering the most vulnerable sectors of Philippine society through scholarships, health care and skills development programs.

In the area of education, for example, more than 15,000 scholars have been supported since the foundation’s establishment. In health care, more than 67,000 patients have received medical consultations and close to 15,000 have undergone surgical procedures. About 70,000 families have received relief and rehabilitation assistance, and in the latest COVID pandemic, YGC together with The AY Foundation, donated P50 million to distribute grocery items, hygiene and medical supplies to 1.5 million poor families in Metro Manila.

In 2019, The AY Foundation started a new project called For Women Only (FWO) to benefit indigent women suffering from gynecological disorders. The project provides financial assistance to patients in need for free access to consultation from medical specialists, laboratory examinations, surgical procedures and hospitalizations. Cinderella Lacanilao, a recipient, has been working with the group’s travel agency for 11 years as a documentation supervisor when she developed breast cancer. In a video she sent, she described how grateful she was to The AY Foundation for covering all expenses related to her mastectomy. Cinderella is married with three children.

Another project of the foundation is the National Discipline Award, given to graduating students from across the country who possess character traits of self-sacrifice, courage, integrity and discipline. Phi Palmos received this award in 2003. A graduate of the Universidad de Manila where he taught part-time Theater and Art Appreciation, Palmos spoke about his continuing work till today on LGBT issues, youth involvement and HIV/AIDS awareness.

The National Discipline Award recipients at 26th NDA ceremonies in 2020 (Source: Manila Bulletin)

And to commemorate my father’s 100th birthday and his legacy, The AY Foundation distributed grants to two beneficiaries who received P3.5 million each: 1) CHILD Foundation, a partnership with the Department of Pediatrics at Philippine General Hospital and University of the Philippines College of Medicine, will use the funds to provide leukemia diagnostic tests, anesthesia for children undergoing MRI and CT scans, chemotherapy drugs, activities like educational field trips and palliative care for end-of-life patients; and 2) Our Lady of Peace Hospital will use the funds to renovate the dialysis center, as well as other facilities like restrooms and air conditioning, computer replacements, and to pay for hospital bills of indigent patients.

We also screened a short documentary on my father from other people’s perspectives. He was everything to everyone — father, grandfather, employer, friend, ninong (godfather), business partner, mentor — and he was also a kind and caring human being, a side that not many people may have known. Here is the link to watch the documentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw0oI-gsScU

As a finale, 12 male officers from Rizal Commercial Bank (RCBC) took the stage and sang my father’s favorite song, "The Impossible Dream."

It was a beautiful and lovely way to spend an evening, and I am certain my father was smiling down on us.