“HELLO, sir!” Pleasant greetings followed one after the other like clockwork.
It greeted Dodo as he exited the plant. It greeted Dodo when he passed by the hallway. It surely greeted him upon reaching the sparkling hotel lobby of the Cebu City Marriott Hotel. Earlier, he let out a hearty laugh and a can-do smile when asked if he would like to continue to work with Marriott had it not been for the mandatory retirement age. “Of course,” he replied.
But even if such restrictions were lifted, Dec. 31 would be the last day he would pin the shiny “Dodo Enriquez” nameplate on top of his well-pressed suit—an important piece symbolic of the lifestyle change he had learned to embrace through the years.
When Marriott announced it was ceasing operations in Cebu by year-end, people started sharing stories, recalling the experiences they had in the hotel, stories celebrating the hotel’s influence among locals’ lives.
For Rodrigo “Dodo” Enriquez, the man has indeed plenty of stories. And as a licensed electrical engineer, he has even built several of them.
Currently the hotel’s director of facilities, “Sir Dodo” to many of the hotel’s staff, has spent an equal number of years with the hotel even with all of its seven general managers’ tenures combined. Dodo is playfully referred to as Employee 0001, the first handpicked member of the Marriott family in Cebu by its first general manager, Jerry Caliguire.
Roots
The mild-mannered engineer—born and raised in Inabanga, Bohol—had a teacher and housewife for parents.
“My dad was a goal-driven individual, a curious fellow who wanted to explore everything,” Dodo recalled of his father who spent most of his career in Cebu and who eventually retired as a postmaster. “My mom was a model of patience, honesty.” Dodo was the third of nine siblings.
Inabanga, according to the engineer, was a coastal town that mostly relied on agriculture and fishing for its residents’ way of life. Following in the footsteps of the patriarch, who decided to work in Cebu, the family soon followed suit, moving as well for education and work opportunities.
Dodo had decided that he would finish his studies in the University of Bohol. True enough, after getting a degree in electrical engineering, he took the licensure Board examinations. At that time, the six-month waiting period for the exam results allowed him to work in the construction of a power plant located in Naga, Cebu. This was the beginning of his love for construction.
Getting dirty, covered in mud and sweat, barking orders to workers who barked back replies often against the loud machinery—this was the life he chose and thrived in. He passed the Board and continued to move from one construction job to the other.
Change
It was in the mid-’90s, when Dodo found himself part of project management teams in charge of building a popular resort and another hotel—two establishements that are still operating in Mactan up to this day. When Dodo learned of another hotel construction project—one that Cebuanos now identify as the Marriott—which was in its infancy stages, he took the opportunity to join the team and applied to be a part of the building.
“What’s next after construction?” Caliguire, the general manager, asked the project-based engineer in 1997, as if tossing a challenge Dodo’s way.
“I grew fond of the construction routine,” Dodo shared. “But I was recently married then when the opportunity to join Marriott was offered.” A shift from managing construction to handling operation was something “Mr. Caliguire” hinted at according to Dodo.
With his young family on his mind, this opportunity seemed a perfect fit. He took the job, the first one hired, as director of engineering.
“When I moved from construction to operation and actual hotel work, I was shocked—everything seemed so formal,” recalled Dodo how he felt during his first days as director of engineering for the hotel back in August 1997. “I was so used to the mud. This was different.”
“I even had no idea about Marriott at the time, but Mr. Caliguire introduced the Marriott culture of respecting an individual.”
Respect
Dodo recalled how sometimes during his earlier years, morning meetings would be heated when opinions clashed: “But Mr. Caliguire encouraged for differences to be settled in private, rather than in an open setting like our meetings.”
“It can improve you personally, professionally—the Marriott culture: ‘If you take care of your employees, your employees will take care of your guests,’” Dodo shared this was the case, generally-speaking.
“I learned so many things with Marriott in terms of treating each other with respect. This is very important to me. This is important for one to stay in the company for a long time. We’re very lucky our general managers are good, professional people. Perhaps that helps so that’s why we are not that stressed as much,” said Dodo.
Without a hint of lofty ambition, Dodo recalled how he set goals for himself from the start, imagining what kinds of work positions he saw himself achieving when he had already reached a particular age. He was promoted director of facilities in 2011, a designation he would hold until his last day with the company.
Family
During his stint, there were calls from other hotels for possible employment. The compensation was almost double, Dodo confided, but ultimately he turned these down.
“Marriott allowed me to balance family and work,” he said of the working environment that surrounded him.
“I just want to be there for my family; see my children as they grow up. Be there to see them finish their studies,” Dodo shared thinking about his wife and three children.
Employee 0001 after 20 years with Marriott will soon be a retired man. Borrowing from his past, he calls agriculture as an “obsession” and something he sees himself doing a few years from now.
Coming from a simple but huge family of 11, surely, Dodo knew what it was like to be part of a big group that had to look out for one another. It was the family that kept him happy at home, and family that kept him happy at work.