The first Dabawenyo to be awarded the prestigious Agora Award given by the Philippine Marketing Association is an Ateneo de Davao University marketing professor by the name of Freddie Serapio.
He was conferred the Agora Award for Marketing Excellence in Education last November 28 in Manila where awardees in other areas were also honored based on the merits of the research papers written with regards to marketing.
Sir Freddie, as he is fondly called, never thought he would one day get an Agora Award much less become a teacher like his mother.
In fact, he started out in the corporate world and spent 10 years working for a soft drinks company before venturing in car sales.
But he said fate brought him to where he was meant to be, and that was how he became a teacher by accident, but a formator by choice and passion.
Sir Freddie said that he always reminds his students that if they ever reached their goals, never to forget to be responsible and honest citizens especially when it comes to paying their taxes, which he described as an "illness" of most industries today.
More than being an Agora awardee, Sir Freddie said his biggest award would be becoming instrumental in the formation of the values of his students, which they will be practicing in the marketing profession in the future.
Knowing that he had in some way contributed to molding entrepreneurs who have values is the realization of his life's work. More so if the day comes that one of his students would outshine his achievements.
Life has been good to this father of five who tries each day to be an instrument of change and responsibility. Last year, he was also awarded the Most Outstanding Business Educator in Marketing by the Philippine Council of Deans.
Sir Freddie is the epitome of a complete and happy person saying that even if he doesn't have much money, the work he is doing for God and academe is worth more than anything.
