The VMO Foundation Concept
- May 21, 2009
By Gina Ordonez
For Memorial service by friends in Hawaii on Sun, May 24
Foundations are created for many reasons --- some to catch the overflow from wealthy individuals and create a tax haven, others to give back to society or just to reach out to the less fortunate, and still others to honour the memory of an amazing man. The foundation just created belongs to the last, an outpouring of good will for a person who loved life, loved people and made them feel special.
The seed of the VMO Foundation was planted on Victor Ordonez’s 60th birthday at a party in Intramuros, Manila, when women friends, and yes --- men, too --- gathered together to celebrate this man’s milestone. Victor prepared for that event by creating a powerpoint presentation, naming it something like “60 years in 60 seconds… would you believe?” On that occasion, special friends, like former Secretary of Education Lourdes Quisumbing and Ambassador Ching Escaler, bantered about the idea of a fan club of now 60+ women, (and that was just those in Manila), or an honest-to-goodness foundation dedicated to more serious pursuits.
Four years later, Victor passed on after his final bout with cancer, leaving a wide swath of weeping women and admiring men. Many wondered how he could have had time making so many beautiful women feel special, traveling and enjoying spa sessions with them, while speaking with precision and eloquence to global audiences on current issues of education and peace. Added to that, he applied his razor-sharp mind to solving complex Japanese-character puzzles, exercised his talent by drawing exotic places he had been to, converting them into personal calendars as Christmas gifts; not to mention building model castles and medieval churches, after a gallery of galleons and other man-of-war ships, writing a historical novel, “With Hearts Aflame,” during his first treatment of chemo in New York ten years prior, and flying to at least 120 cities around the world.
He was an amazing man … for he not only excelled scholastically, garnering seven degrees, always with some “cum laude” tail at the end, but athletically and artistically, the latter expressed through his acting and directing talents. He was never far away from the performing arts, a strong incentive being the glamorous women who kept him in star-struck mode. Yet he could delve deep into philosophical and spiritual dialogue with children, and guide them through the years in their choice of career path and spouse, as told by these now-grown children during the nightly programs at his wake. They, too, loved him because he gave them of his time.
So this Foundation is an expression of all that he was --- a Renaissance man. And thus the Foundation must find its direction from the life he led. Perhaps ideas may be culled from the many speeches, papers, photos, and movies in his website, victorordonez.com, subtitled “know… hear… read… watch… and see Victor,” which he created in recent months, knowing he would be going soon, working hard into the wee hours of the morning to finalize what he considered his farewell package to the world.
A few of his dreams remain unfulfilled – turning his novel into a movie, painting a mural onto a large wall, viewing afresh the Philippines he loved through the eyes of a new acquaintance, a young lady from Estonia he had promised to escort around, contributing his insights to the political drive towards nation-building, and inspiring teachers to speak the language of the youth in their classrooms. The Foundation may, possibly, be the vehicle.
But in the final analysis, the legacy of Victor is the legacy of friendship and of networks. This man was truly blessed, a gift from God. And that gift must now be shared through the Foundation with poor, deserving young students, little Victors and Victorias if you will, for the promotion of better understanding and peace, at home and abroad.
