IT’S NO secret that today’s most successful people undergo great hardship before rising to prominence. Oscar Lopez, this year’s recipient of Ateneo Degree of Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa, is one such man.

Oscar Lopez is the Chairman Emeritus of the Lopez Holdings Corporation, a part of the Lopez Group of Companies which includes media giant ABS-CBN Corporation and First Philippine Holdings Corporation, an energy company.

He was conferred with the degree during the Special Academic Convocation held last November 18 at the Leong Hall.

Tested by history

Unlike most people, Lopez grew up and lived under extraordinary circumstances.

A witness to the start of the Second World War in the Philippines, Oscar and his brother, current ABS-CBN Corporation Chairman Emeritus Geny Lopez, had to spend years moving from place to place to protect themselves from war atrocities.

After the war, the Lopezes faced persecution in the hands of the Marcos dictatorship that drove his father into exile. His brother, Geny Lopez was also held hostage during that time.
It was then that Oscar Lopez had to take over the Lopez Group. “He had the reserves of strength that made him ideal for the helm of the Lopez Group during its most difficult times,” said Vice President for the Ateneo Professional Schools Alfredo Bengzon.

Lopez spent his first two years of grade school at the Iloilo Normal School, then transferred to the Ateneo Grade School with his brother Geny, where they studied for two years. Due to various health problems, he was forced to leave the Ateneo and relocate.

His high school years were spent in Baguio and San Beda, then he came back to the Ateneo for his senior year.

photo by Christella D. Soriano

He went to the United States and studied in two more Jesuit schools—Bellarmine Prep School and the University of California. Lopez then went on to graduate cum laude from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later, received a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Littauer School of Public Administration in Harvard.

Although his stay in the Ateneo was short, three Atenean ideals still keep a strong hold over him: excellence, Magis and Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

He said, “I may not have earned my diploma at the Ateneo as a student, but your gesture allows me to feel that I have earned that diploma by what I have tried to achieve in my life.”

Beyond Business

Lopez has come a long way from being a publisher of the Manila Chronicle to being the Chairman of one of the Philippines’ largest corporations.

“I admire him for his patience, for his perseverance, and for his effectiveness in eventually getting everything done,” said Washington Sycip, founder of Sycip Gorres Velayo and Co.
Aside from being a successful businessman, Lopez is also a staunch advocate of the environment, social development and education.

Upon his retirement in June 2010, he said, “The things that have given me the greatest pleasure over the years are things we have done to contribute to the welfare of the environment and of the society that we serve.”

He is the founder of the First Philippine Conservation, Inc. and is a member of the international board of the environmental non-government organization, Conservation International. He is also engaged in poverty alleviation work. He also backs the microfinance program of Bayan Foundation.
He has also been supporting the Ateneo through the Professional Schools, the School of Medicine and Public Health, and its partner hospital, The Medical City.
Like his father, Filipino tycoon and Ateneo alumnus, Eugenio Lopez Sr, he believes that companies must strive to go beyond the usual purpose of business. He said that corporate excellence, while important, is not enough.

“I would like to believe that the reason the Lopez Group has been so resilient through two centuries of its history is because of corporate values that go beyond the mere earning of profits,” Lopez said.