“We are sad that Eddie is not here for the ceremony, but we are glad to honor him for who he was as a leader, colleague, and friend,” said Fr. Roberto C. Yap, SJ, President of the Ateneo de Manila University at the conferment of the Lux in Domino Award to Edward S. Go, the late Chairman of the Board of Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI), the country’s official distributor of Hyundai vehicles.
The Lux in Domino Award honors the life and work of an individual who embodies in an outstanding manner the noblest ideals of the Ateneo de Manila University. Chairman Go was scheduled to receive the Award in 2022. The Ateneo reset the conferment to this year upon learning that he was seriously ill.
The virtual ceremony, held Tuesday, October, 26, 2021, was attended by prominent figures in business and finance, the government, and the academe, including the two past presidents of the Ateneo, Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, SJ, and Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin, SJ. All knew and worked with Chairman Go in his over 40-year career in banking and finance.
The capstone award along with a replica of the Sacred Heart carved by National Hero Jose Rizal, one of the first graduates of the Ateneo, was posthumously presented to Chairman Go’s widow, Mrs. Pacita Go, and daughter, Christine. The ceremony was preceded by a Holy Mass which commemorated 40 days since the Chairman’s passing on September 16, 2021 at the age of 83.
“The conferment of this award helps soothe our hearts as we are still mourning the passing of our beloved patriarch,” said Ms. Go. “This award is the ultimate honor from his beloved school.”
The ceremony closed with personal greetings from attendees who were one in highlighting Chairman Go’s exemplary integrity and professional brilliance.
“We will miss his wise insights at Board meetings…. his elegant manner of conversing with local and foreign VIPs at our many corporate events. But most of all, we will miss his dry humor when chatting with employees at our office lobby…,” said HARI President and CEO Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo.
“He walked the walk…. He lived not by large words. He led by example,” said Mr. Richard Dee, member of the Board of Trustees of ASA Philippines Foundation.
“He was quiet but he always commanded trust and respect…. Throughout his life, he lived the ideals of St Ignatius, of being a man for others, tirelessly serving the Ateneo all he could,” said Fr. Nebres.
Chairman Go, a true-blue Atenean, was consistently at the top of his class from grade school to college. He served as a member of the Ateneo de Manila Board of Trustees (1998-2014) during which he spent four years as Chairman of the Board. He also sat in the board of several leading companies in the country, chaired the NAMFREL, and spearheaded the poverty alleviation programs of ASA Foundation and the Ateneo.
As a pillar of HARI, he played a key role in the expansion of the business in its 20 years of operation in the country, and was a moving spirit behind H.A.R.I. Foundation, Inc. (HFI), the corporate social responsibility arm of HARI. He helped forge the Foundation’s lasting alliances with Gawad Kalinga and the Ateneo.