The University of Asia and the Pacific signed a memorandum of agreement with GT Foundation and Metrobank Foundation on Feb. 15, 2023, recognizing both foundations as platinum donors to the Dr. Placido L. Mapa Jr. Scholarship Endowment.
GT Foundation executive-director and Metrobank Foundation president Aniceto Sobrepeña said the grant is the Metrobank Group’s way of honoring the late Dr. Placido Mapa Jr., who has been instrumental in the business success of Metrobank and in pursuing the advocacies of Metrobank Foundation.
The generous donation of the foundations would enable UA&P to continue making a significant impact on preparing future leaders. Grantees of the scholarship endowment will be given 100-percent coverage of tuition and miscellaneous fees, a monthly stipend of P8,000, an internet allowance of P1,000 a month, a laptop and one-on-one mentorship with a member of the UA&P board of trustees.
The grant is open to incoming college and junior college students with a high school average of at least 90 percent, possess exemplary leadership credentials and show potential to be trailblazers and catalysts for change in the community.
After more than two decades of government service, Dr. Mapa Jr. served Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company for over 30 years in various capacities. He was president of Metrobank from 1989 to 1991, vice chairman from 1992 to 2005, chairman of the Metrobank board of advisers from 2006 to 2009 and senior adviser from 2010 to 2019.
His father, Dr. Placido Mapa Sr., was also the founding president of Metrobank.
Dr. Mapa Jr. is often remembered not only for his numerous professional accomplishments but also for his character. This can be attested to by several business leaders whom he mentored when they were still young executives in the banking and finance industry. One of them is Sobrepeña, who has fond memories of him.
Sobrepeña said Cidito, as family and friends fondly called Dr. Mapa Jr., was a standard of excellence above reproach because of his integrity and fairness.
“All these years while working with him at Metrobank and Metrobank Foundation, Dr. Mapa continued to reflect the embodiment of a character worth emulating. He Accords dignity to those he deals with regardless of economic standing or political persuasion,” he said.
“Some may call this political savvy. However, I think it has more to do with respecting others, much in the line of spiritual tenets which he espoused and lived by,” he said.
Having the opportunity to work closely with Dr. Mapa, Jr. as a young executive, Sobrepeña recalled how a mentor taught with his silent example the importance of the family.
“I recall it was an afternoon when he was on his way to take his children to a play. It seems like such a small detail, but that impressed upon me the value of family life. He was a busy and important man involved with affairs of the State, taking time to be with his family in what might have been an opportunity to rest or do more work,” he said.
“I, myself, would put in long hours during the week and much into my weekend. The impression the visit made benefited my family life. It crystallized priorities for me as I was about to build a family,” said Sobrepeña.
GT Foundation was established on Oct. 7, 2009 as the family foundation of the late Metrobank chairman Dr. George Ty, while Metrobank Foundation was formed on Jan. 8, 1979 by Dr. Ty, 16 years after he founded Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company.