Ramon Ang’s new mission

Tycoon Ramon Ang or RSA is embarking on a new mission and it has nothing to do with a new business deal.

This new goal, he said, is one of the reasons why he initiated a major succession strategy in San Miguel Corp., the sprawling and diversified conglomerate that he leads – putting his eldest son, the 44-year-old John Paul, as vice chairman, president and COO of the company.

I’m sure there are many other reasons but this one is perhaps the most important and tender one for RSA.

RSA, you see, is embarking on an apostolic mission but not the literal kind which, among Christians, means spreading the Holy Gospel.

“Apostolic” in the Philippines has derived a new meaning, coined by dotting grandparents who have discovered the exhilarating joy of having grandchildren or apos.

Indeed, the 70-year-old RSA told me that he wants to spend more time with his grandchildren. He wants to take them around the country and beyond.

“I want to travel with my family, my grandchildren,” RSA said when I asked him about the reasons for finally starting a succession strategy in SMC, which for the longest time was an enigma for company observers.

“Ay ang sweet!” I said. I was pleasantly surprised because I was expecting a business-related answer.

But surprise, surprise. The heart of this aggressive, tough and brave tycoon has been won over by a squad of little boys and girls.

RSA said that indeed, he wants to spend more time with his apos – he now has eight grandchildren, he proudly shared.

I am happy for his grandchildren.

As someone who grew up with a tender, dotting, wise and very loving grandfather, I know that every grandchild deserves to have one. A grandparent is one of life’s greatest gifts.

To a small person like a child, a grandfather is that tall legend of a man who is wise, witty and wonderful. Who was it who said that a grandfather is “the best kind of grownup,” a man with “silver in his hair and gold in his heart?”

They are also there when your parents, who are still young and navigating the world of parenting, don’t know what to do in times of crisis.

I remember one time when we were kids, my little brother and I were having lunch when suddenly, he found himself choking on