(Donnie Tantoco, president of Rustan’s Commercial Corp., is the eldest grandchild of the late Rustan’s cofounder Gliceria Tantoco. These were his remarks at the Mass with Rustan’s employees last June 3 for his Lola Glecy’s 25th death anniversary.)
On behalf of Ambassador Tantoco and the Tantoco family, I would like to thank you very, very much for attending this Mass to celebrate the silver anniversary of our mommy and Lola Glecy’s birthday in heaven. You have no idea how much your presence means to us.
Naturally, we as members of her family love and miss our mommy and Lola Glecy. However, right now we feel strongly that you also love her as we do. A full 25 years since her passing, you are still remembering her, praying for her, expressing fervently and sincerely your love for and gratitude to her. Thank you.
In his homily, Fr. Tito Caluag told us that a legacy is a group of men and women that has been entrusted with a special mission and a higher purpose.
We believe that the men and women present in this church right now are the continuing legacy of GRT—not only the members of our family, but more significantly, current employees and the employees who served her and Rustan’s so faithfully in the past.
Right before Mass, a group of retired managers proudly proclaimed to me that they were part of the original team of GRT. I suddenly remembered how that original team worked so incredibly well together. They had this tremendous confidence and courage to take on huge and new challenges with a “nothing is impossible” attitude.
I decided to ask these Rustan originals, “How would you describe GRT in one word?” Ms Susan Joven instantly and easily replied “fearless” and “unwavering.” Vicky Lopez said, “Most definitely, passion.” Larrie Silva said, “hardworking.” Ms Criselda Lontok (who still works for Rustan’s) said, “elegant.”
My one word to describe GRT is loyalty. We are loyal to her. Ms Remedios Santiago, the first manager of Rustan’s Makati, who spoke earlier, is obviously very loyal to her. However, if we really reflect on our own interactions and experiences with GRT, we will realize that before we were loyal to her, she was first loyal to us.
She committed herself and was loyal to building our dignity and our skills; she was loyal to shaping our values and our character; she was loyal to helping us discover the goodness and the greatness that she saw in us that was unknown to everyone, including ourselves. She was loyal to making us more capable and more fruitful than we ever dreamed.
I feel so proud of my lola, when I hear you and hundreds of others thank her by saying, “Salamat sa lahat ng natutunan namin.”
We had never met anyone so great, so fearless, so unwavering, so gifted, so elegant, so strong who believed in us, was so committed to our growth, and had such a strong sense of belonging to us. And thus we gave her our loyalty every day for 10,15, 25, 50 and 60 years.
Twenty-five years later, loyalty or malasakit is still perhaps the main strength, the secret sauce of Rustan’s.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for your malasakit. —CONTRIBUTED