U.P. Beta Sigma Fraternity of Southern California

Dedication of the Teddy Rey Healing Place
By Former DENR Secretary Victor O. Ramos, ‘62 UPD

[Photos by Rolly Reyes]

Brod Vic Ramos delivers dedication speech

       We are gathered here to dedicate this healing center in honor of an illustrious Filipino that we all know as a well-loved and esteemed friend and fraternity brother.

       Teddy Rey loved this university where his native talents were nurtured to their full bloom. I am certain that he would have approved of this site for the center on the campus where he first realized that he could make a difference in the world outside.

       Teddy caught our attention for the first time with his gift of command and leadership. As a cadet officer of the ROTC, he would shout orders to his troops to march in precision at the parade ground in Diliman before UP President Carlos P. Romulo, members of Congress and the bevy of campus beauties, the better to reflect pride and honor to us, his fraternity brothers among the spectators.

       The university instilled in him his gift of systems thinking which he used all his adult life as resource for his public service and for friends and brods in business and social entrepreneurship.

       He was an inspiring boss with his gift of teaching. I happened to hire some of his people when I joined government. I could see the difference when I knew them in UP and after they had gone through the Teddy Rey Open University. It was a difference between night and day. Wild stallions became pedigreed performers.

       And so in dedicating this center, he speaks to us not just of high purpose and excellence but more so of service -- the ideals that he imbibed from this university and the Beta Sigma Fraternity that guided him to his career in public service, providing opportunity for his formidable talents to crown his youth with early accomplishments. Not very long after his college graduation, he served as adviser to President Marcos on matters of state. As General Manager of the Farm Systems Development Corporation, he opened the eyes of poor farmers to the wonders of new technologies that more than doubled their incomes and inspired them to aim for greater goals in life like sending their children to higher education. He was so well regarded that when the source of Metro Manila’s supply of fish from Laguna Lake was threatened, it was to him that President Marcos turned to ensure that the supply would be sustainable.

       As we gather together for this dedication, I can see Teddy standing there with his hands akimbo, smiling and happy to see his younger brother Judge having spent a very small part of his fortune to build this center in his memory and with the help of those that Teddy inspired and mentored from their wild ways and guided them to the ideals of public service. Someone like the late Brod Pogs Gaspay whose widow came all the way from Palo Alto to share the honor with us today.

        I believe that this center is a fitting tribute to his memory because it provides hope for those young patients of this hospital to get proper care and allow them the luxury of hope to grow up beyond their early ailments. Hope was a constant theme in Teddy’s life. All the gifts that God had endowed him were dedicated to provide hope to those who found themselves left out by the march of progress and modern civilization.

       On reflection, no great man goes through life without going through the valley of despair and desolation. This happened to Teddy after the end of Martial Law. The stigma of the dictatorship cloyingly pushed him to despair and aloneness. But hope came from the very people he inspired and the abiding loyalty of his fraternity brothers that slowly brought him back to normal life. So that at the end of his days, he was back in his old Napoleonic self-confidence, allowing him again to help out in more than a thousand ways -- in fund raising for the university Carillon, designing a training module for indoctrinating new Betans and managing as Grand Marshall of the very successful Diamond Jubilee of the Beta Sigma Fraternity.

       That was the way with Teddy. Always looking at the total view and focusing on a workable mission, a shared objective and above all the joy of achievement in behalf of others.

       In closing, I express the hope that the children who will pass through the halls of this healing center will somehow imbibe Teddy’s humanity and attitude to life -- that it holds endless promise for those who call in the better angels of our nature and live their lives anchored on their true character.

       Good day and thank you.

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Mula sa isang ABSCBN/DZMM Reporter:
Sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon isang healing place na magagamit ng mga kamag-anak ng mga pasyente sa Philippine General Hospital ang itinayo sa Pediatrics Department ng PGH. Ang naturang 200 square meters na gusali ay tinawag na Teddy Rey Healing Place at pinondohan ng labing anim na milyong piso sa tulong ng pamunuan ng PGH at ng Mely and Rick Foundation. Sinabi ni Doctor Carmencita Padilla, pinuno ng Pediatrics Department ng PGH, mayroong dalawang classrooms, counseling rooms at isang prayer room ang Teddy Rey Healing Place.

Layon anya nito na may pagdausan ng panalangin ang mga namatayan, silid aralan para sa mga mag aaral na labas-masok ng PGH at counseling room para sa namatayan. Sinabi ni Doctor Padilla na mahalaga ang pagkakaroon ng healing place sa PGH upang may mapuntahang lugar ang mga kaanak ng mga pasyente lalot sa mga oras ng kanilang pangangailangan. Pinangunahan ni Chancellor Manuel Agulto ang inagurasyon ng Teddy Rey Healing Place.

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