Spark Plug is a feature series that seeks to profile multi-faceted athletes who have the unique ability to excel both in sports and in other aspects of their lives. In the fourth installment, we get to know Miggy Bautista—a UAAP Fencing medalist and a social entrepreneur who finds time to help out JSEC employees displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
THROUGHOUT HIS five-year competitive fencing career, Miggy Bautista has learned to take every hurdle as an opportunity to grow. As an athlete, Miggy developed an unwavering sense of determination to improve his skills in fencing. His diligence paid off in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 82 when he bagged a silver medal in the Individual Épée Category and was crowned Rookie of the Year.
Apart from fencing, Miggy also channels his grit and determination into social entrepreneurship to help the people around him. An innovative idea that came to life in the COVID-19 pandemic is grocery sanitation service station SaniStation PH. His business aims to curb the spread of the COVID-19 while providing job opportunities and financial aid to the displaced employees of the John Gokongwei Student Enterprise Center (JSEC). Despite the personal setbacks brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Miggy remained unrelentless in his passion to help others.
Unsheathed talent
Prior to becoming a decorated fencer, Miggy’s love for the sport began as a mere hobby when he was a Grade 3 student. This hobby carried on until he entered the Ateneo High School, where his potential to become a competitive fencer caught the eye of Coach Avelino “Bino” Victorino.
Under Coach Bino’s mentorship, Miggy immediately found success in local competitions, bagging a silver medal in his very first tournament—the 2015 Xavier Fencing Cup. This encouraged him to join more competitions. “Once I got a [legitimate] coach and we started training, I was able to start [competing in] a few [legitimate] competitions na local. I gained some confidence, and then I started to join more [competitions],” he shared.
Later that same year, Miggy continued to impress in the competitive fencing scene after overcoming national team fencers to reach the Philippine Fencing Association’s National Open finals. During the tournament, National Team Épée Coach Oniong Vizcayno noted Miggy’s stellar performance and recruited him to represent the country.
Upon joining the national team, Miggy was thrusted into the limelight of the international fencing scene. Among his greatest achievements was bagging the gold medal at the 2017 Asian Cadet Épée Tournament in Australia. “There were a lot of really good fencers, [so] I really wasn’t expecting [to win],” explained Miggy.
In spite of his apprehensions, Miggy secured a spot in the championship round and faced Australia’s representative in the deciding match. “In the finals, I was down three points, then I came back and beat Australia. It was a really good win,” said Miggy.
Apart from the glorious moments, Miggy has also experienced his fair share of disappointments that he believed were crucial in shaping him to become an exceptional fencer. One such experience was his debut in the 2019 Junior World Championships in Poland. Because he put immense pressure on himself to climb the ranks of the competition, Miggy’s disposition affected his performance and was ultimately knocked out in the competition’s first round.
Instead of being discouraged, he viewed this setback as a chance to improve himself. “You really have to experience loss in order to know how to win, [and] it really taught me [that]… I shouldn’t let outside pressure ruin my game,” asserted Miggy.
Ultimately, the combination of the peaks and valleys in Miggy’s career are what molded him into the persevering athlete he is today. However, his high regard for dedication extends far beyond his athletic career.
Underneath the jacket
As the quarantine restrictions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly halted his fencing training, Miggy suddenly enjoyed a lot of downtime that pushed him to learn more about social entrepreneurship.
Miggy was inspired to start his own business after watching an episode of the television show Shark Tank and enrolling in an online Harvard course entitled Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies. In one of his synchronous class sessions, Miggy talked about the Philippines’ lack of grocery sanitization facilities and how this service was needed because of the pandemic. His professor was intrigued by the idea and offered to help Miggy develop a plan of action should he want to pursue the business venture. After further consultation with his professor, Miggy turned his business idea into a reality by establishing the first branch of SaniStation PH—a service station that people can visit to have their grocery items sterilized—in UP Town Center (UPTC) last September 10.
Aside from curbing the spread of COVID-19, Miggy also wanted to help the displaced JSEC employees. Apart from setting up donation boxes, Miggy hired them to be a part of the SaniStation PH crew and shared SaniStation PH’s profits with displaced JSEC workers.
However, despite the promising business idea, SaniStation PH did not flourish immediately as people were initially unaware of the services offered. On their first day of operations, SaniStation PH had zero customers.
Despite the initial setback, Miggy relentlessly assessed the problems they encountered and was determined to find a solution. “The first thing I did was change the marketing [so] that [people] knew it was for sanitizing. I had to make sure that they knew what the purpose was for and then nilipat ko (I moved the booth) to a more accessible place for them,” said Miggy.
Consequently, the company’s sales grew as they established a steady customer base. With the business booming, SaniStation PH will now be expanding to Robinsons Galleria while also upgrading equipment in the UPTC branch.
Paying it forward
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the birth of SaniStation PH, Miggy was given the opportunity to venture into a world beyond fencing. “I really learned [that] there’s so much more to life [than fencing]. I remember when the pandemic happened, I was so hopeless like ‘Why is this happening? I won’t be able to fence. One whole year is gone.’ But now, looking back, that’s not the case,” shared Miggy.
Amid adversity, Miggy’s persevering nature not only allowed his fencing career to flourish, it also pushed him to maximize SaniStation PH’s potential to help others. Be it coming back from a deficit in fencing or SaniStation PH’s zero sales on its first day, Miggy continues to show that shortcomings are simply chances to prove oneself. “I like to say all the time [that] there’s no such thing as winning or losing, there’s only winning or learning,” he said.
