Surprised by Love





Sorrow filled Dino’s mind. . After working with his family’s firm for five years, Dino had become very active in the corporate planning department of Rustan’s. Sadly, a disagreement between his grandfather, Lolo Benny Tantoco, and his mother, Merl Tantoco Pineda, caused a rift in the family.

“ My brother, Eman, opened a boutique called Adora . It was a niche that Rustan’s did not want to enter and my Lolo Benny wanted us to close Adora. On the Pineda’s side, we believed that Eman was just trying to fulfill what he felt was his God - given talent. We decided to support my brother.” In September , 2007, Dino was forced to leave the Rustan’s family corporation.

Dino was in a quandary. He felt justified about wanting to fight. His sorrow turned to anger when he pleaded with his relatives to give him a chance to keep his job. He was denied. This was his only means of earning a living. All of a sudden, Dino felt fear. How was he to feed his family and send his children to school ?

“Immediately after, I created a plan on how to act and hurt them. In my initial plan, my success was going to be dependent on how I would hurt my relatives. Then I remembered my cousin, Manong Joel , who died at 38 years old. “ Dino used to meet with his Manong Joel Tantoco in Rustan’s every day. “His death made me realize that I also could die anytime and if I spend my time trying to fight the family then , what if tomorrow I got hit by a bus , I would have died angry at my family. “ Dino, 37, tried to convince himself that life is not worth living if it is ruined by hate.

He knew he had to make a choice : either to live with anger against his family or to spend his time doing something else.

It happened that Eddie Pineda, Dino’s dad, was also evaluating his own direction in life. A succesful sugar trader, Eddie was thinking about retiring and wondering what else he could do. “The thought that kept coming back to my mind was ‘when I go, what have I done ? “ Eddie felt the need to leave a legacy.

Giving something to someone seemed like the easiest option. Eddie thought about how his parents’ dreams to provide education for their six children made them so happy. He felt inspired by his mother’s dedication as an educator, teaching Cathecism for 36 years . Even now, at 102 yrs old, his mom, Caring Pineda, wanted him to build a school. It seemed to Eddie that his legacy would be to establish a school.

“When my dad said ‘I want to start something, ‘ I said, ‘ Dad, I want to do something good. At least it is better than doing something bad. “ and that is how Dino committed himself to working with his dad on a school project.

The Learned leading the Blind

“ Dino and I were discussing about our school; somehow we started talking to Gawad Kalinga (GK) and members of Couples for Christ . GK offered their place and suggested that we put up the school in one of their villages. “ Eddie was thrilled with the idea of setting up within the GK community.

With 650 families living in the GK community of Pandi, Bulacan, the place desperately needed its own education facility. Most of the families living there do not have the money to pay for their children’s transportation to school. Eddie and Dino values formation and shown their spirit in helping to build their own homes.

Now that they had a 1000 sq m. site, the details of setting up a school faced them. Every day became an exercise in discovering what else needed to be done. Dino took care of the paper works to establish their foundation, which they named Caring Jesus Educational Foundation (CJEF) in honor of Eddie’s parents, Caring and Jesus Pineda. A curriculum was developed initially with the help of the teacher’s association they met through the Metrobank Foundation’s Ten Outstanding Teachers awards.

Dino started meeting with officials from the Dept. of Education, nuns running schools for children of scavengers and companies like ABS CBN Foundation who ran “an amazing school for the best and the brightest in Pampanga. “

The CJEF supplied the design and materials needed to build the first phase of the school and the residents built it in time for the school opening in June, 2008.

A Model School for GK Communities

From the small plan of opening up a grade 1 classroom with the GK Community of Pandi, the vision evolved into having this school serve as a template which can be replicated in any of the 2000 GK communities around the Philippines. For the first time, GK members sit on the board of the school; guidelines are being formed which would make it easier for other companies and families to set up GK schools, sometimes with a tax rebate on the funds that donors spend.

“The classroom was about 300,000 Pesos; then there are operating costs like salaries of the teachers. The parents are active , cleaning and maintaining the school and now they are getting involved with feeding. A nun who is guiding us, Sister Cora, tells us that there is no way an undernourished child can accept a level of cognition and so we have to give them some food, “ Eddie says.

“You want them educated, you have to give them whatever they need. If they need paper, you have to give them paper. Those are the very minimal things that you have to give. I am not really scared because now we are just doing it one grade at a time. Next year, we will set up Grade 2. Whether it fails or is successful, the important part is that I am sharing something that I believe is good. “ Eddie’s philosophical attitude strenghtens him. “ Win or lose, we are getting it done. “



One year after the dispute in Rustan’s, Dino reflects on how his life and values have transformed. “ When I realized that there was so much anger between their side and ours, I thought about how would love come in ? I rationalized that it was my duty to fight for the future of the bank account for my kids but I realized that I was wrong. My duty was not financial first but to teach my children acts of love.”

In his reconciliation with his Lolo Benny and other relatives in the Rustan’s corporation, Dino shared with them the thrill of his new life. “ I am so happy now. I have discovered so many treasures and goodness in the Filipino people. I can only thank you.” Lolo Benny smiled.




Bold : Win or lose, we are getting it done.

Photo caption : ( Flag photo ) Not knowing much about how to set up a school created many challenges for Eddie Pineda and his son, Dino. When a school adviser asked Eddie what time would their flag ceremony be, Dino realized ,
“Oh, no.We do not even have a flag pole ! Buy the flag. “

Photo caption : ( Dino with wheel chair ) Dino first saw Diane when she looked longingly at the school in their GK community. Diane told him that she could not attend school because she could not walk. A week later, Dino received a call from his friend who wanted to donate a wheelchair.