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Postscript A Good Night’s Sleep

that “Wilson is a preacher, and you should listen to him—he is the conscience of
the Firm!” But kidding aside, Wilson says, “That probably gained me more respect,
especially since I was Accounting Standards head, a highly technical position.”

Inevitably, Wilson found himself being nudged upwards in SGV. He got a sense of
this when, during one meeting with Wash, his predecessors Vic Noel and Itos Cruz,
having arrived earlier, sat on the far end of the sofa away from Wash, leaving him no
choice but to sit in the middle, and to face Wash’s questions.

Wilson recalls Wash telling him that “The first day you assume office, you have to
think: if you are run over by a truck or a bus on the street, who’s going to succeed
you?” Wash was always after the “perpetuity of the Firm.”

“Wash ingrained in us that SGV will not prosper unless the country prospers,” says
Wilson. “He saw our fortunes as being inseparable. SGV’s role was that of a catalyst
for change, and should contribute to the nation’s progress. The SGV alumni who
entered business or government and the training they brought with them were SGV’s
biggest contribution to national growth.”

Even and especially from his seat today as SGV’s Chairman and Managing Partner,
Wilson Tan can’t help feeling being at the wheel of a huge machine, with a voice
barking sharply in his ear, saying, “Step on the gas!”

The traveler comes home

Delia Albert was in Singapore, representing former President Fidel Ramos at an ASEAN
function, when Wash SyCip’s secretary called from Manila to say that Wash was looking
for her. “He wants to talk to you before he leaves for New York.” So Delia cut her
Singapore trip short and flew back to Manila right after her speech to catch Wash.

The former Ambassador and Foreign Affairs Secretary was no stranger to these urgent
requests from Wash, who valued her expertise in diplomacy so much that he took her
on at SGV as Special Policy Adviser the day after she retired from government.

Delia had met Wash for the first time in Bonn, Germany, in 1989, when she was
working with Ambassador Ramon del Rosario, and Wash was accompanying

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