In celebration of the life and times of SM Senior Vice President for Engineering Design Department and Security Affairs Antolin V. Paule or more popularly known as Kamagong, a tribute book will be launched by SM and Media Touchstone Ventures Inc. on Dec. 12 at the SMX Mall of Asia.
Aptly titled, Kamagong: Antolin V. Paule (His Legacy and Lifetime Service with SM), the 260-page coffee table book is a priceless gift of Hans Sy to the Paule family to honor the legacy of Kamagong who continuously served the 60-year-old SM from 1963 to 2018. The 82-year-old SM stalwart passed away last Aug. 7, 2018 after succumbing to the Big C.
Authored by MTVI president and CEO Melandrew T. Velasco, who is popularly known as the family biographer of former President Fidel V. Ramos, the book traces the life of Kamagong growing up in the rural town of Lubao Pampanga to working with the SM Big Boss, Henry Sy and finally to serving his family, friends and colleagues up to his last days.
For SM Prime Holdings Chairman Hans Sy who started working with Kamagong when he was just 13 years old, he describes Kamagong in the book’s foreword as “a rare find who comes only once in a lifetime.”
“Literally, I worked side by side with him at our office in Echague, Manila,” says Hans adding that “each day, I was able to have a closer look at this man who was starting to have a reputation for staunch discipline and dogged determination, never stopping to finish what was started.”
Hans continues, “He deserves to be honored with this legacy book and more in fact, as he has dedicated much of his life in service of SM. More than the senior vice president of SM EDD Corp. and Security Affairs, or any other position he has held over the years, he is to us who knew him up close and personal as someone who is a lasting inspiration to our lives. This book was made to make sure more people will know him and what his life represented, to touch their hearts and their lives.”
“There is no doubt that Mr. Paule lived a truly remarkable life,” says Velasco who expects the book to serve as Kamagong’s lasting legacy, not only for his family and friends, but for everyone, including SM executives and employees, to learn more on how he walked his talk, practiced what he preached, and lived by the intrinsic values and principles that he embraced in his lifetime such as integrity, loyalty, honesty, hard work and perseverance.
Velasco and his MTVI book team have authored and published over 30 books over the last 15 years. The Kamagong book is Velasco’s 31st book published in tandem with the book prime movers namely Manny Sy, Sergio Yu, Junjun Abcede and Paul Galang.”‹
