We are grateful to Andoni and his sons for their diligent research that has resulted in an intriguing paper. (READ HERE) Allow me, with some poetic license and imagination, to enrich the article with my perspectives and from my memory. Do not hold me to specific accuracy as it matters little at the heart of this article, which is the edge from higher relative education.

The history of the Basque people that stretches from Vasconia in Western France, south towards Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and around towards the edges of Vizcaya goes back to the end of the ice ages. There were caves in the area that our ancestors shared with bears for warmth and lodging. There is a 23-episode video series by Alberto Santana called ‘Historia de Vasconia’ (WATCH HERE) that enriches our understanding of the first Europeans — us Basques. Within it is the story of both the Aboitiz and Ayala families as part of that history in this part of the world.

The Romans taught us to sail around 7 BC and from then we took on the world. First, to hunt whale and bacalao towards the St. Lawrence River in Canada, and then to help Isabella, the Warrior Queen, Magellan, Columbus and many others to find the New World and the Spanish Empire in the 13^th Century. Basques were their navigators as they had learned to navigate using the stars a thousand or so years before they were needed to find the Americas.

Basques brought with them the clergy and the cross, the warriors of Catholicism to convert the Americas, some of Asia and India. The founder of the most aggressive of the clergy, the Jesuits, was from Azpetzia, which is right around Mundaka, Guernica, and Lequeitio. His name was Iñigo de Loyola. The most successful and influential of all clerical movements were the Jesuits for one reason and that is education — 13 or so years of education before they go out in the world. They say there are a couple of PhDs of educational equivalent in their 13 or so years.

Andoni mentions Guernica. This town was one of the original seats of democracy. Basque elders sat around The Tree of Guernica to discuss society and how to evolve together.

Paulino surely boarded at Cádiz on the Buenaventura iron and steam. Aboitiz built the first iron vessel in Paulino’s new home, Las Islas Filipinas.

Basque masters were entrepreneurs and CEOs. They were partners of the financiers of the whaling trips. They, I think, received 10% of the catch. They were adventurers. Why did they go to sea, Andoni asks? If you were the eldest son, El Héroe, you, under Primogénito rules, inherited all the land. So the next sons were left with a choice, to go to sea or become a priest. These were two different adventures. Paulino chose to go to sea for both fortune and adventure. Basques were very fervent Catholics. This must have helped conquer their fears.

Paulino came on a steamer powered by coal. The steam engine altered the world as it provided more energy to help man industrialize. We condemn coal now but know that without coal we would have probably not progressed very much from the energy of horsepower. We started with coal but, over the next decades, we will probably to say goodbye to it forever. Now never say never as technology has a way of altering predictions.

The opening of the Suez Canal by Lesseps made all the difference in the world as it avoided the trip around the Cape of Good Hope and reduced the risk of the voyage significantly.

Larrañaga made Liverpool its base because it was vibrant with British industrialization. Investors pooled capital, the concept of limited liability corporations was formed and voyage insurance was available out of Lloyds in London.

Our Yrastorza forebearers boarded at Sanlúcar de Barrameda at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, in Southern Spain, as the seat of power was Sevilla. The Bourbon kings moved the port of exit for the Americas to Cádiz, relatively nearby, in the early 1800s. Paulino surely boarded at Cádiz on the Buenaventura iron and steam. Aboitiz built the first iron vessel in Paulino’s new home, Las Islas Filipinas.

In the world of accelerating change, the capacity, depth, breadth, and speed of learning matters more than ever...

Perhaps the most important lesson of Andoni’s paper is from the wisdom of advancing relative education that Paulino must have understood. He came educated and commercially oriented, which is an edge he had over most who emigrated from Spain. He wanted, I suspect, his sons to have that same edge. Ramon and Vidal Aboitiz spoke decent English, good Spanish, and decent Cebuano. Their relative education in Cebu was probably higher than most. They could communicate with British traders, Chinese merchants who spoke broken Spanish and some Visayan and with what was left of Spanish administration that was taken over by the Americans. Had they learned to sing at the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys as Paul McCartney and George Harrison did then we would be in a totally different business. They may have moved to Hollywood.

Their edge was a higher level of relative education. We do not have that same edge today because everyone else has caught up and everyone else can learn from schooling anywhere, travel, reading, You Tube, et al. Many of the 3^rd Generation of Aboitizes were sent to school in America. The destruction of WW2 everywhere left few options and America was world leader after the war. They were ahead of many when it comes to relative education but the gap was narrowing. We fast forward to today and there is no gap other than that of individuals who learn on their own continually through the many modes available to all. Education is totally democratized and that leaves learning to individual effort and capability.

In the world of accelerating change, the capacity, depth, breadth, and speed of learning matters more than ever because the opportunity is there for more and more of our society. The talent and capital pool is the world.

Ask yourself about your relative education and that of your competitors for both business and life and come to your own conclusions as you match your education with your goals and ambitions for your life and that of your children.

Over these past two hundred years, we started with a trip on a galleon, we started a business in the convent (Catholic, Spanish Islas Filipinas), we evolved into Hollywood (the American occupation), World War 2 the Great Depression. We approached bankruptcy, our ships were burned, we endured the blackness of WW2 and the Japanese occupation, the Marcos years, a new democracy with a flawed constitution, a number of crisis and now this new pandemic. Yet we thrived. Why? Because of the timely adaptation to change above everyone else.

So I leave you with these two most important of values:

1. Education, schooling, and continuous learning formally, from travel, from people, and from the street as well as reading and watching

2. The timely adaptation to change

That is what is at the root of the story of Andoni, as I see it.

Relate the above with longevity and you will understand why we are the marathon winner of the ROP together with Ayala.

Wishing all of you a very merry Christmas and the best for the new year!

EMA