“Ang is celebrated not so much for the years he has lived, but for the years he has given back to a country still catching up with its needs”
SOME birthdays pass quietly, marked by cake and candles. Others arrive with gratitude—felt by commuters who get home earlier, by farmers who bring produce to market faster, by families spared the next flood because a river was dredged in time.
On his 72nd birthday on Jan. 14, Ramon S. Ang is celebrated not so much for the years he has lived, but for the years he has given back—concrete by concrete, bridge by bridge—to a country still catching up with its needs.
In a nation long starved of long-term thinking, Ang chose the unglamorous work of foundations. He understood early that growth is not sustained by slogans, but by systems. Not by ribbon-cuttings alone, but by roads that actually connect lives.
Under his leadership, San Miguel Corporation evolved from a beloved brewery into a full-spectrum infrastructure partner of the Filipino people. It was a transformation guided by a simple belief: that business, when done right, can move faster than bureaucracy—and reach further than politics.
The Skyway tells part of that story. For decades, EDSA was not just a road but a daily test of patience. Elevated expressways changed that equation—north to south, airport to city, province to port. What once took hours now takes minutes. What once drained families of time now returns it.
Up north, a new international airport is rising—not as a vanity project, but as a declaration that the Philippines deserves gateways worthy of its people and its future. It is ambition grounded in logistics, backed by capital, and driven by urgency.
That same urgency was evident during the COVID pandemic, when leadership was measured not by rhetoric but by response time.
As lockdowns froze movement and uncertainty spread, Ang acted—keeping food, fuel, and power moving when breakdowns could have meant chaos. San Miguel converted facilities to produce alcohol and sanitizers, supported vaccine logistics, transported frontliners, and extended aid to communities without waiting for directives or applause.
In a crisis defined by fear and delay, he chose quiet action—proving that nation-building matters most when the country is on its knees.
I recall one meeting when former President Fidel V. Ramos and Ramon Ang sat down to discuss nation-building issues. I was present.
At one point, FVR spoke not for the record, but with the candor of one builder assessing another. I wrote his words down.
“Ramon does not wait for ideal conditions,” Ramos said. “He moves, fixes, and delivers.” Coming from a leader who prized execution over eloquence, it was no casual praise.
Yet nation-building is not only about megaprojects. It is also about showing up when no one is watching.
When floods threaten communities, equipment moves before press statements.
When disasters strike, relief comes without fanfare. When environmental concerns arise, the response is not denial but redesign.
This is where Ang’s leadership reveals its most human dimension: malasakit—not as a slogan, but as an operating principle.
On his birthday, it is fitting to see Ramon S. Ang not as a tycoon tallying assets, but as a steward measuring impact.
A man who understands that roads are really about people.
That airports are about families returning home. That flood control is about dignity. That energy security is about national survival.
The true measure of a nation builder is not perfection, but persistence. Not popularity, but purpose.
Happy birthday to a man who reminds us that the most enduring legacy is not what you own—but what you help a nation become.
(The writer, president/chief executive officer of Media Touchstone Ventures, Inc. and president/executive director of the Million Trees Foundation Inc., a non-government outfit advocating tree-planting and environmental protection, is the official biographer of President Fidel V. Ramos.)
