IT was supposed to be a typical publicity forum: A hotshot executive would shoot off a few words to the marginalized sector present, smile and wave to the cameras, and give a few gifts to the audience.

Jaime ?Jimmy? Ayala, president of Ayala Land, looked every inch the hotshot executive in designer garb as he strode forward to give his inspirational message to the wards of the Help Educate and Rear Orphans (Hero) Foundation, a group that aims to assist the children of soldiers who died defending the country by providing them with education subsidies, among others.

Ayala is currently chairman and president of Hero. Last Dec. 13, he held a dialogue with the beneficiaries of the foundation to be able to further understand and address their needs.

But as Ayala stepped onstage to give his talk, he dropped the slick façade and unexpectedly burst into tears.

?I understand what you?re going through,? he told the initially bewildered audience, composed mostly of military wives toting their young children.

?At the age of 14, my father died. My mother didn?t have a job, and we had no savings,? Ayala said, weeping at the memory. Ayala, who had graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Economics, minor in Engineering, from Princeton University before earning his MBA in Harvard (again with honors), said that he relied on the help of family and friends to get by.

?I wouldn?t be here if, along the way, people had not helped me with my scholarship?my father?s friends, my siblings...This is why the foundation is close to my heart,? Ayala explained. ?I know what the families are going through because I experienced it myself.?

The foundation was established in 1988 at the request of then-president Corazon Aquino in order to assist the families of soldiers who had perished while fulfilling their duty to protect the state. Funded by the private sector, the foundation currently sponsors over 1,200 scholars throughout their stay in school.

?Hero foundation was founded by Don Jaime Ayala de Zobel, Gen. Renato de Villa and other civilians as well as myself who are thankful to the soldiers who defended our country,? said Wilfrido Tecson, one of the members of the Board of Trustees. ?We want to show the people that the soldiers who died for the country are not forgotten. They are remembered through the foundation.?

Heartfelt speech

Ayala?s heartfelt speech set the tone for the entire forum. During the dialogue, the children and wives who went up to the microphone to ask questions and air grievances also ended up in tears as they shared their stories with the staff of the foundation.

?When I last saw my father, he left the house alive,? said one teenager from Fatima University. ?When he came home again, he was dead, encased in a coffin. Shortly after his death, my mother died.?

?We went to live with our relatives and ate nothing but gruel for a year,? she continued. ?We picked up firewood from ramshackle houses. I had to stop studying in the middle of the semester because I got sick.?

She added, ?But I want to go through with my schooling. I don?t want to rely on handouts, but I really want to graduate from school.?

Many scholars echoed her sentiments in the forum, as a good deal of them have had to stop schooling for various reasons, such as health problems and tuition increases. Gen. Roberto P. Manlongat answered the questions and gave advice to others (including those who had to drop out of the program due to poor academic performances).

Stories of triumph

However, there were also stories of triumph. Annabeth Santos, whose husband Sgt. Fidel Santos had left her with several young children when he died, proudly told the audience that she was able to put her children through school.

?I didn?t expect my husband to die,? she said. ?We weren?t buried in debt, but I wondered how my children?s lives would improve without a proper education. A wife of a soldier approached me and told me about the Hero Foundation.?

?Now,? she said, ?I have a daughter who is on her way to becoming a nurse.?

John Carlo Sumauang, who had been taken under the foundation?s wing as a child, is another success story. ?I?m graduating from dental school,? he said. ?And there was a time that I thought that it was not possible.?

The session concluded with Ayala giving out electronic gift certificates to the orphans and challenging them to do well in school.

?Your father?s mission was to protect the country. The question is, how do you make your father proud of you?? he asked. ?And, how do you repay the sacrifices that your mother made to feed you and put clothes on your back??

?Do things to make your country move forward,? Ayala said. ?Prove that the sacrifices of your parents will be worth it in the end.?

Email the author at biancaconsunji@yahoo.com.