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“MULTITASKER” describes the free spirit of Clarence
Aytona, who is one of the team managers of the
University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers in the
University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP)
and chairman of Skynet Travel Corp. (STC).
When he
was younger, Aytona already knew what he will embody.
His father once told him: “You will never be a
politician like your uncle [former senator Dominador
Aytona of Leyte].” And the young Aytona firmly replied:
“I don’t even want to. I’m gonna be a businessman.”
Indeed,
he worked his words with conviction and even created a
lifestyle that’s more than what he aspired for. He
established a successful travel agency and is
continuously carving his name in sports.
His
achievements did not come in an instance. When his
father died after he just finished Behavioral Science at
UST in 1984, Aytona still wanted to take up Law, but her
mother advised him against it. “Magtrabaho ka na [work
now],” she told her son.
Without
any bitterness, he then scanned a newspaper full of job
advertisements and took the bottom post of the corporate
ladder by being a travel sales agent.
Aytona
remembered: “From
9 o’clock in the morning till
7
o’clock in the evening, I will walk and enter every
building and offices in Manila to look for clients. I
painstakingly did that routine and in four months time I
topped the company’s overall sales.”
Adding
two more months from his shared experience, Aytona
harvested a title by record, the youngest travel agent
supervisor at 21. It was a triumphant year for Aytona
where he also learned the value of employee efforts in
keeping the company finances afloat—a core value which
he now applies to his own travel agency.
“Business purpose is to gain profit, but good
established relationships among employees is bare cause
for running its operations,” said Aytona.
The
Skynet chairman believes imposing too much authority and
being too strict would only result to a rebellious
attitude among employees and will break established
company regulations. He confidently stresses his office
set-up which revolves around a special work ethics of
trust.
“I am
lucky and thankful with my staff. I have not experienced
any petty thefts since I started. Stealing is one of the
luring and tempting reason why other start-up ticketing
agencies fail to progress,” explained Aytona.
Mixing
work with sports are two factors which keep Skynet
competitive. The company is tops in local exhibit sales
despite the continuous threats of travel and ticketing
agencies and the hype of online booking. Beyond those
amicable policies, Aytona, knows how to handle the
pressure of competition by taking it on a personal
level.
He pays
back the extra mile of his workforce through vacation
travel rewards, holiday parties and income bonuses
following a successful peak season sales.
In 2006
his company booked more than 70,000 international
flights to Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand,
Malaysia, Indonesia and Macau. To make its presence felt
in the tourism arena, Aytona will expand its campaign
this year in promoting local tourist destinations like
Cebu, Puerto Galera, Boracay,
Bohol,
Palawan and Davao. Moreover, he plans to add more
booking offices in malls in addition to the 12 he
currently has nationwide.
Skynet
started operations in 1997 and has grown by 70 percent
to date. It is no stranger to offering affordable tour
packages and budget airfare tickets to outbound leisure
and business travelers in the Philippines. Though modest
in size and struggling with a web site, it was recently
awarded as top passenger producer among Manila agencies
by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
Aytona’s
wife Dorothy, who is also the president and general
manager of Skynet received the plaque of appreciation
from David Leung, the Regional Director of Hong Kong
Tourism Board for South and
Southeast Asia.
Aytona’s
triumph in business has cascaded to sports. Back in
2001, The Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA)
hosted its first mini-Olympics, where he was Sports and
Fellowship Committee chairman.
The
44-year-old sportsman and his wife are basketball
fanatics since their college days. In early 2002, Aytona
found out his interest to watch the hard-court action at
ringside could no longer satisfy his basketball
cravings. He felt the urge to be part of the team and
convinced coaches to hire him for any position—for free.
After
three months of feeling he indeed “belonged” to the
Montaña Pawnshop Jewels team in the Philippine
Basketball League, Aytona rewarded his players with a
domestic vacation.
“Subsequent to the treat, coaches decided to have me as
team manager, assistant coach and board representative
and, finally, with pay,” happily recalled Aytona, who
was PBL treasurer in 2004 and 2005.
His
remarkable year in sports was in 2005 when he managed
Montaña to the PBL Philippine Open crown.
The TM
(team manager) was blessed with another crown when the
UST Tigers clinched the 2006 University Athletic
Association of the Philippines championship and he was
named one of the Team Managers of the Year by the UAAP
Press Corps.
He
remains team manager of UST for the 71st season of the
UAAP, a task that he loves doing and passionately
treats, just like his obligation at Skynet.
His
interest in sports could be seen in his children. His
eldest Claudette, 14, is an active pep squad member
while his 12-year-old son Migs is a junior varsity
basketball player for four years now.
Versatile Aytona is not diversifying himself too thin,
he still has time to occasionally play golf with friends
and acquaintances and still runs every morning to stay
in shape.
“I’m
just an average guy who wishes to do everything to make
myself happy,” he said. |
