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HAPPILY,
if not stunningly enough, the Lucky Nine this particular
evening in Tokyo was led by Ariel de Jesus, the Subaru
sparkplug from Motor Image. The reason might be that,
aside from being a born leader, Ariel responded to the
cold-blooded challenge hurled at him by Vince Socco.
“You
have to be always on top of things,” Vince said, smiling
impishly, indirectly directing the command to Ariel.
“It’d be a shame if you missed even one note.”
It was a
night pregnant with cajoling—and much ribbing, too.
For
being the former top PR factotums of Toyota Motor
Philippines (TMP), Vince and Ariel have arguably built a
reputation as the toughest act to follow insofar as
making
Toyota almost the media darling of all time under their watch.
They did their thing in the ’90s.
“Tatay
ko iyan si Vince mula’t sapul,” Ariel,
solidly quiet as usual, whispered in my ear.
When
Vince left TMP, the void created by his departure became
grist for shoptalk—never Vince’s resignation.
People
then kept asking: “Who’d replace the seemingly
irreplaceable Vince?”
Thank
God, Danny “Sir John” Isla, Vince’s replacement, is
proving equal to the challenge—the reason being, that
Sir John was a personal choice by Vince himself.
Perhaps, if someone else other than Vince had done the
choosing, it would have produced disastrous results. As
Ray Butch “Elvis” Gamboa said, “The benchmark
established by Vince can only be matched by a personal
choice of Vince himself.”
Not to
be “outdone,” Ariel bolted
Toyota
last year and transferred to Motor Image, the Subaru
franchisee in the Philippines. Many were shocked,
especially those who saw in Ariel a bright future at
Toyota.
But
Ariel, the man in a boy’s body, is a rock of confidence,
a meteor in orbit whose destination only he can and will
navigate with decisiveness, independence of mind. Ariel
knew he took the big plunge—and he was ready to face the
odds.
“All
things must pass, even the good ones,” said Ariel then.
Thus,
this particular bash in Akasaka,
Tokyo,
I simply couldn’t afford to pass up. Its potential for
greatness was too obvious to ignore.
For one,
the company was star-studded: Vernon Sarne, Brian Afuang,
Dong Magsajo, Joselu Romualdez, James Deakin, Vince,
Ariel and Sir John.
Tonight,
we were the Lucky Nine in faraway Japan, drinking on a
roadside pub called El Madrid: A Spanish restaurant with
tapas and not sushi for pulutan.
For
another, it gave me the chance to be with Vince once
again. The last time I had a drink with him outside the
country was some two years ago, atop a skyscraper in
Bangkok with the cold wind kissing our cheeks as we
sipped wine.
As the
new senior vice president of Toyota Motors Asia-Pacific
(yes, he finally agreed to rejoin
Toyota after spirited moves to lure him back to his first love,
Toyota), Vince now lives practically out of a suitcase.
“I
travel a lot now and I rarely sleep in my flat in
Singapore,” says Vince.
This
autumn evening in
Tokyo, the memory of Vince and me being together in the Tokyo
Motor Show in 1999 suddenly flashed in my mind. Time
flies, indeed.
Only
minutes ago, as I prepared to hit the sack, Sir John was
on the phone.
“Sir
Paul,” Sir John said. “Vince is downstairs, inviting us
for a drink to cap the night.”
Who was
I that night, today, to say no to a legend?
So,
despite aching muscles and all, I asked, “What time?”
“Right
this minute,” Sir John said.
I came
down without changing my dinner attire, which was
Japanese casual what else? Coat and tie.
Upon
seeing my tie, which had the faces of John, Paul, George
and Ringo, Vince said, “Ah, The Beatles!”
Like Sir
John,
Vernon and I, Vince is also a Beatlemanic.
When
parting time came—“parting is such sweet sorrow”—I
almost gave my tie to Ariel for his courage in footing
the bill, which, going by how expensive the cost of
living in Japan is nowadays, could have easily amounted
to thousands of pesos.
“Nothing
to worry about, Sir Al,” Ariel said. “Motor Image is on
top of things tonight.”
I guess
I saw Tatay Vince wink at me. |
