Dr. Elfren Cruz: Living with the Lasallian values

Dr. Elfren Cruz:  Living with the Lasallian values 
Doctor in Business Administration, 2011
BS Business Administration and BA Social Sciences (Lia-Com), 1967

Elfren Sicangco Cruz spent his grade school and high school years in La Salle Bacolod.  It was then he developed his love for reading and writing.  “I learned to love reading from my parents.  I also remember Br. Bonaventure Richard FSC who took time to discuss with me books on philosophy when I was just beginning to read at that time,” Elfren recalled. 

Remembering his family’s closeness to the De La Salle Brothers, he took his college entrance exam at De La Salle College in Manila. “One day Br. Francis Cody FSC dropped by the house and asked my parents where I was going for college.  Br. Francis then started telling them about La Salle Manila and told them about this new course Liberal Arts- Commerce (Lia-Com) which would allow a student to enrol in two majors and earn a double degree. That sounded exciting to me and my parents – having two degrees in five years,” Elfren recalled.

He developed a close bond with his classmates during his Lia-Com days, with the block section keeping the class together for the whole five years. “Until today, 54 years after graduation, we meet and have class gatherings during birthdays or when classmates living abroad come home for holidays.  During this pandemic, we have been having meetings and masses via Zoom for classmates who have passed away,” he shared.

Elfren was active in school organizations especially in the student council and the college paper, The LaSallian. His teachers also gave him the most memorable experience in school. “They challenged me intellectually, fostered in me the passion to read and continue to strive for intellectual improvement, and opened new worlds through the subjects they taught.  Among the best were Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC who taught me literature in La Salle High School. In Manila, I was fortunate to have teachers like Aurelio Carlderon in Medieval History, Bernardo Villegas and Fr. Piron in Economics, Eric Villegas in Sociology, Ariston Estrada in Philosophy, Sixto Sandejas in Accounting, and Robert Lane in Western Civilization,” he added. 

Personally, he believed that his religion teachers brought him close to the Catholic faith, giving him a joyful and meaningful experience.  He shared, “In grade school, I still remember Br. Gratian FSC and later in high school and college, I had teachers like Br. Fidelis FSC and Br. Richard FSC who imparted to me the foundation of faith that became part of my everyday life, including the habit of carrying a rosary.”  The religious values the Brothers taught him served as his personal values.  Those values became his moral standards and as a Lasallian, he used those standards for distinguishing between right and wrong.

In his professional career, his Lasallian values remained intact. “I spent several years in government where material  temptations became almost a daily occurrence. I can truthfully say that I never succumbed to temptation because my personal moral values which were learned and forged during my Lasallians days gave me the inspiration to stay the course.” He also spent many years in teaching and he always included moral values like Catholic social teachings even in Strategic Management class.  “I always began and ended my classes with prayer and the phrase – St. John Baptist de la Salle , pray for us and Live Jesus in our Hearts forever. This is a prayer I learned early in my grade school days,” he proudly shared.

Elfren also encountered challenges that made his professional career suffer.  He recalled, “I became very active in the anti-martial law movement during the Marcos years.  When I became head of the Presidential Management Staff during the presidency of Corazon Aquino, we faced seven or more coup attempts during the first few years of her presidency.  The most serious one was led by Honasan.  I had to spend a whole week in Malacañang without going home to see my family.”  He was able to confront all these challenges by simply believing that fighting for a just cause was worth any sacrifice.  “It was a great honor to have been given the privilege of serving a presidency that returned democracy and human rights to the Filipino people,” he proudly added.

Catholic social teachings and the Lasallian values have become an integral part of Elfren’s personal life framework.  “I used this in my public life, in my teaching profession, and in writing my column.”  In trying to inspire his students, he always shared a motto  from a poem by Robert Browning: “Your reach must always exceed your grasp and if you continue to reach beyond your grasp, you will be surprised how far you can reach.”

Elfren is happily married for fifty years to Neni Sta. Romana Cruz and has three wonderful children; Tanya, who now lives in California; Roel, who is tutoring and conducting seminars in their venture “Write Things”, and also teaching at La Salle Green Hills Alternative Education program; and Aina, who is Brand and Marketing head in Lamudi, a real estate multinational.

Currently, he writes every Thursday and Sunday for the Philippine Star in his column ‘Breakthrough’.  This gives him a chance to write and inform the public about any worthwhile cause or project.  He also chairs Lockton Philippines Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers, Inc., serves as Director of Peotraco Industries, Inc., and board member of Printwell Group of Companies.  He also teaches in the MBA program of DLSU, where he says that “teaching is a vocation for me and not just a profession.”