MANILA, Philippines—It’s just like a fairy tale set not far, far away, but in modern corporate Philippines.

As a young man from a poor family in Bulacan, Antonio Antonio Jr. had to give up his dream of becoming a doctor because going to medical school was too expensive. Abacan worked in a textile factory to put himself through college, and joined a fledgling Chinese-owned bank as soon as he got his degree.

Starting out as an obscure clerk-messenger in this small new bank, he worked his way to the top of the corporate ladder over the years.

Though he is not from a Chinese family, the bosses couldn’t help but notice him because he is smart, hardworking and eager to learn.

Abacan eventually earned the trust of the bank’s taipan patriarch, who put him in charge of his bank. He then helped nurture it to become the biggest in the country.

Abacan, former president and now chair of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., was a recent recipient of the Outstanding Filipino award for his exemplary achievements as a banker.

A diamond in the rough

What his boss and mentor, taipan George Ty, saw in him all those years ago was a diamond in the rough. The taipan was said to have made the right choice when he put Abacan in charge of his flagship banking business.

Abacan personifies the Pinoy dream. His unwavering loyalty led him to reject many offers to join banking rivals, and even regulators, becoming that rare breed of a prized executive who devoted his entire professional life with the same institution, from the time he got out of college until he retired.

For him, there is no greener pasture.

He says he will stay for as long as the Ty family needs him.

He takes pride in being a promdi—derived from the phrase, “from the province”—which translates to a simple guy with simple needs.

“I was taught by my parents to keep a debt of honor. Since childhood, we were told to value honesty, loyalty and living within your means. The whole (Ty) family has been good to me. They have invested in me, developed me, trained me abroad. That is what’s most important to me.”

If Abacan is well-loved within the organization, it’s because of a genuine empathy borne out of his working class background and 42 years of service in the same bank. Now 65 (he takes pride in using his privilege as a senior citizen to get discounts from retailers), he knows the business by heart. After all, Metrobank’s history is entwined with his own.

The second in a brood of seven, Abacan was born in Meycauayan, Bulacan, to parents who were humble jewelry workers. Because his parents couldn’t afford to send all children to school at the same time, he was supposed to wait for the eldest sibling to finish college. But he decided not to wait, thereby becoming a factory worker after high school so that he could study at Mapua.

Hard work

After college, he joined Metrobank, then a 3-year old bank and a niche player.

“If you’re hardworking, you would have the opportunity to be trained in other jobs,” he says of the bank during the early years.

He did work hard and tried to learn as much as he could.

He passed the qualifying exam for a branch accountant and thus moved a notch higher. When Metrobank opened a branch in Davao, the branch manager brought him along, knowing that he had the expertise not just in accounting but in operational controls and import/export operations.

Thereon, he became a rising star in Metrobank.

In 1974, the bank was reorganized. Abacan was assigned to the marketing group along with some Citibankers, including Peter Favila who became a good friend. He eventually became head of department.

In 1981, Metrobank bought Philippine Savings Bank. But after four consecutive presidents, the bank failed to prosper. Espiritu recommended that Abacan be appointed president of the thrift bank.
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“Maybe the first four presidents were the ones who already put in place a good foundation for the bank,” Abacan says. “When I came in, operations of PSBank improved.”

In 1988, PSBank posted a record high net profit and, for the first time, had an “unqualified” financial statement signed by SGV. In 1999, net profits doubled and its good performance continued in the years ahead.

By 1992, he was appointed acting president of Metrobank, succeeding Placido Mapa.

At the time, Metrobank was not yet part of the big league. It wasn’t even on the top 10 list. But starting 1992, the bank started an aggressive organic expansion, putting up a new branch each week.

“By 1995, we were the number one bank, and we never let go of that title ever since,” he says.

With the global financial turmoil, he says Metrobank’s priority is to strengthen its balance sheet to better hurdle challenges not only from competitors but also from the external environment.

“With the situation worldwide, our direction is to clean it up, acquire good-quality assets and make it a very strong bank ... strong in all aspects, financials, etc.

“We want to be the best. But because I’ve had the taste of being the biggest, I want not only to be the best, but remain the biggest. That’s not impossible—we can be both the biggest and the best.”