Holy Week marks the start of the summer break for many Filipinos as vacation begins for all schools. This will change next year, though as a number of universities have decided to follow the Western calendar which, frankly, I find ridiculous. Having school in summer will be a torture for the kids if their schools don’t have air-conditioning. Yes, the richer universities may have enough air-conditioning, but what about the rest? And if we are avoiding rains in June, rains don’t stop in August either. It can also worsen from that month.

At any rate, summer in the Philippines would still be the best time to have a school break. We also want to promote the local tourism in this country and the best time for family vacations is during summer. The bonding with our children mostly takes place during the months of April and May, which is the best time to travel and see how beautiful our countryside is – the remarkable beaches and historic sites.

Right now, we are in the Visayas for our annual dive adventure. Moalboal is our first stop and just along the shore is one of the most fascinating sardines run I have ever seen – millions of sardines that form an underwater tornado that surrounds you. You can dive and even snorkel around it.

We spent our entire summer vacation in Baguio. We would spend it there with my parents coming up during weekends and we were taught how to type and do arts and crafts when they were not around. Family bonding is very important for us not only as a Concepcion clan, but also particularly for each of the families. We are all even hooked into a Viber group and communicate as often possible.

I guess for Filipinos, this is an inherent good quality and we do see this in different levels of society. We should continue this to encourage our children and family to be more intact and share the family values and celebrate the spirit of togetherness. This is a huge advantage that we have over other nationalities whose sense of family dwindles as they send their kids off when they are of legal age.

Annually, our bigger Concepcion clan would visit a province or an Asian country and have its shareholder conference to discuss Concepcion industries issues, but this would last only for about two hours and the rest of the days are activities that bring about a closer family.

Somehow this has been the formula that has protected our clan from family fights aside from being a prayerful clan led by our parents. To this day, despite the frequent (at times, funny) arguments of our parents as a couple, they continue to love each other and have remained committed to their marriage vows.

I would say that my dad and uncles have been very loyal to their wives. Not all marriages though have been perfect in our large clan. While we can be successful in our business, it is not the only measurement of success.

One can be so rich but the question is, is he or she happy? Family and living a God-centered life are what bring about happiness. The material aspirations we have can be pursued with our hardwork and passion in our negosyo or our profession, but they must never be our focus and end-goal. To me, marriage, family, spiritual and personal relationship with our Creator, and service to our community and fellowmen are far more important.

This Holy Week, as Catholics, we have our religious rites and reflections that we follow. To be sure that Good Friday is a quiet day of reflection for us as we spend time out of town, we also brought the video about the Holy Bible. This week is a special time for prayer, penance, reflection, and sacrifice. Lent gives us that moment to reflect on our Lord Jesus Christ – his suffering, his sacrifice, life, death, and resurrection. This is also a good time to spend religious moments and practices with our families and loved ones.

Have a blessed week and advanced Happy Easter to all!

I would also like to greet my good friends Meca Penson – Prieto and Butch Prieto a happy 25th anniversary. Both have Chinese astrological signs that are dragon and dog, the most incompatible for a marriage but yes, they have so far proven the Chinese signs wrong. Meca was supposed to get her letter printed in my column, but I told her it is best to give it to her husband as he surely will appreciate it. It is nice to see a couple reach 25 years and if we are blessed with good health, could even reach the 50th and 60th year anniversary.