The 13 Lifetimes of Greg Macabenta
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Greg B. Macabenta
There is a belief in reincarnation that our souls pass through 13 stages or lifetimes to complete one cycle of enlightenment. The prominent philosopher, Alison Shine, explains: “Each lifetime gives us a new perspective to see the human experience from a new angle.” What is remarkable about Greg is that he went through at least 13 lifetimes in his short 84 years of life but they were more than enough to complete his cycle of enlightenment.
Greg began his lifetime in Tacloban, Leyte on August 23, 1939 and he was barely five when Gen. Douglas MacArthur and his armada landed in Leyte and began the liberation of the country from a brutal Japanese occupation. After completing high school at 15, he travelled to Manila and found employment as a radio talent at 16 working as a cub reporter and magazine writer. At the ripe old age of 17, he completed his first movie script, “Barkada”, which he sold to a movie producer on the condition that he star in the movie.
“Barkada”
“Barkada” was a hit with the masa and it led to a demand for more movie scripts. In all, Greg wrote more than 250 movie scripts in the 26 years that followed that lifetime including blockbusters like “Roses and Lollipops”, “Nardong Putik” and “Gabriela Silang”. He also directed TV comedies including one he did without a script, simply providing his actors with the scenario and encouraging them to improvise their lines. (It worked surprisingly well).
Greg’s Primary Passion
But movies and TV productions were just side lines to Greg as his main occupation was advertising where he made his mark as a creative genius as the catchy jingles he created for his clients became marketing classics. His success led to his promotion as President and CEO of Advertising Marketing Associates (AMA), one of the largest advertising agencies in the Philippines and forerunner of DDB Group Philippines. Even though he never finished college, he was a sought-after lecturer on the art of advertising in various universities.
He authored two books that have become industry bibles: “How to Make a Benta: Anecdotes, Lectures & Articles from the Advertising Wars” and “Confusions of a Communications Man: Surviving Radio, TV, Movies, Journalism, and Advertising”.
How to Make a Benta: Anecdotes, Lectures & Articles from the Advertising Wars
Confusions of a Communications Man: Surviving Radio, TV, Movies, Journalism, and Advertising
Greg was not known as a political person as he made friends with all regardless of their politics. But his reputation as an advertising genius brought him to the attention of Imelda Marcos who summoned her Leyte province mate to Malacañang in 1985 to tap him to help the Marcos regime burnish its tattered image in the US. Reluctantly, Greg agreed and brought his family to Virginia close to the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC where he was assigned to work.
Imelda R. Marcos
But, as luck would have it, before Greg could do anything for the Marcoses, People Power brought down the Marcos Dictatorship in February of 1986. Greg moved his family to the San Francisco Bay Area to earn a living.
In San Francisco, Greg was surprised to learn that the large Filipino American community did not have a weekly TV show that would feature stories about the community and news about the Philippines. So Greg created “Manila, Manila” which was shown on Saturday mornings on Channel 26 KTSF and could be watched on regular TV without cable (there was no cable yet). Because of the dearth of any competition, the show was an overnight success as it satisfied a need in the community.
Better Leyte Than Never
In San Francisco, Greg hooked up with another province mate from Leyte, Alex Esclamado, editor and publisher of the nationally circulated Philippine News. Greg greatly admired Alex for rejecting a $12M offer from the Marcoses to buy his newspaper when it led US opposition to the Marcos regime.
Knowing of Greg’s experience and skill, Alex encouraged him to form his own advertising company in the Bay Area and even loaned him $50K as seed money to start what became Minority Media Services (MMS). In no time, MMS rose to become the premiere Asian American advertising company servicing the media campaigns of Seafood City and other companies. Greg’s financial success allowed him to buy his own GBM building right behind the City Hall of Daly City. He repaid Alex’s loan ahead of time but Alex remained forever in Greg’s debt of gratitude.
In April of 1997, Alex Esclamado, Michael Dadap and I met with millionaire businesswoman Loida Nicolas Lewis in New York to plan a major effort to unify the Filipino American community. To accomplish this formidable task, which Alex described as “The Impossible Dream”, Alex tapped Greg to prepare the invitation brochure that would be sent to Filipino community organizations throughout the US inviting them to attend the first National Empowerment Conference at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington DC on August 22-24. 1997.
The call to arms that was written by Greg in 1997 is as relevant even now as it was then:
"Major events are occurring and laws are being passed that affect our interests such as those on immigration, affirmative action and social services. But our community is being swept by the tides of change and circumstance. We are not playing a significant role in shaping these events and enacting these laws, despite the fact that we make up the largest Asian ethnic group in this country.”
“We appear to be impotent in the face of these adverse circumstances, not because we lack the numbers nor the social status nor the intellectual capacity but because we, as a community, have not been able to harness our full potentials as a socio-economic and political force.
“We have not struggled hard enough for empowerment. This is our challenge. Panahon Na!"
Not So Impossible After All
Alex and Luli Esclamado crisscrossed the United States to invite community leaders to heed Greg’s call to action. About 1,500 of us from Alaska to Hawaii to Florida -- all over the US-- trekked to Washinton DC and on the third day of the empowerment conference, formed the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA). It was initially headed by Alex Esclamado, who was followed by Loida Nicolas Lewis, Alma Kern, and then by Greg Macabenta in 2008. Some 26 years later, NaFFAA is still thriving under the youthful leadership of Brendan Flores and Mariella Fletcher. (Check out NaFFAA.org)
Alex Esclamado, Loida Nicolas Lewis, Greg Macabenta and Jon Melegrito
NaFFAA also initiated the Global Filipino Networking Convention, held in Cebu City in 2004, which brought even more community leaders from throughout the world to unify as a global community.
The 2004 convention in Cebu at the Waterfront Hotel brought industrialists like Enrique Zobel and Dado Banatao to join in this global effort. It was also to celebrate the success of our decades-long campaign to secure voting rights and dual citizenship for overseas Filipinos and dual citizenship for Filipino-Americans, a right enjoyed by citizens in over 100 countries. It was because of NaFFAA’s efforts that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed both bills into law in August of 2003.
Even as Greg was busy with the global empowerment of Filipinos everywhere, he always found time to write weekly commentaries in the Philippines – in Business World – and in various Fil-Am community newspapers like the Philippine News and Asian Journal.
But Greg’s most ambitious project came when he purchased Filipinas magazine from Mona Lisa Yuchengco in 2005. Mona Lisa started the magazine in 1992 and built it to be the pre-eminent “magazine for Filipinos worldwide” – the magazine of the diaspora with articles focused on the achievements of kababayans in culture, arts, politics, sports, business and food.
Greg weathered through the pitfalls of making the publication economically viable but the economic crash of 2008 proved too much even for one with the formidable wherewithal of Greg Macabenta. Greg was forced to shut the most influential magazine of its kind in 2010.
In 2010, after completing his two-year term as national chair of the NaFFAA, Greg worked with Secretary Imelda Nicolas, the chairperson of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas of Philippine President Noynoy Aquino to form the Global Filipino Diaspora Council that would create a network of individuals and organizations throughout the Filipino Diaspora that would link with each other to push towards development.
The project sponsored the formation of the European Network of Filipinos in the Diaspora (ENFID) which convened in Rome, Italy in 2011 and which established chapters in 30 European countries. There were plans to create a Middle East Network of Filipinos in the Diaspora (MENFID) to meet in Dubai in 2014 but it failed to get off the ground.
Protesting China’s Invasion Of The WPS
In 2011, Greg joined the US Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG) in protesting China’s invasion of Philippine shoals in the West Philippine Sea and participated in protest rallies in front the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco.
Greg Macabenta joining the community protest at Chinese Consulate in San Francisco
In 2012, Greg also found time to prepare a script for a public balagtasan (debate in verse) on the issue of legalizing divorce in the Philippines as it is the only country in the world (the Vatican is not a country) that does not allow for divorce. It was performed on an open stage at the Yerba Buena Park in downtown San Francisco during the annual Pistahan in front of a cheering audience of thousands of Filipinos. The balagtasan script was likewise performed at the NaFFAA conference in Philadelphia in 2017 attended by Vice-President Leni Robredo. It won 1st place among the 12 NaFFAA regions participating in the contest.
Nearing The 60 Year Wedding Anniversary
For most of the past 10 years before the pandemic, my wife and I would spend Christmas eve – December 24 - at the Pinole, CA home of Greg and Gigi Macabenta to celebrate their wedding anniversary. We were there at their grand golden wedding anniversary celebration in December of 2013 held at the Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City and we were there when they celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary at their home in Pinole. We were so looking forward to celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this December. But sadly, it was not to be.
Greg was the quintessential renaissance man. He was a gifted writer, a movie/TV director, an adman without peer, a political community organizer, a book author, singer, a husband, father, grandfather and a dear friend to all.
Greg is survived by his wife, Gigi, the greatest passion of his life, and by their four children: Ringo, Christina, Paolo and Jinx who have all actively involved themselves in Filipino community activities.
Greg, may you rest in grace and may your family be comforted that you are in a better place.
Rodel Rodis is a California attorney and a former instructor of Philippjne History at San Francisco State University. He was a co-founder of NaFFAA and the first Filipino American elected to public office in San Francisco serving for 18 years as an elected member of the San Francisco Community College Board whose campaign literature was prepared by Greg Macabenta.
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