The Reluctant Hero (Modern Heroes for the Filipino Youth)

This is a children's picture book on Jaime Ongpin. Jaime Ongpin (1938-1987) was Minister of Finance of the Philippines under President Cory Aquino, appointed in 1986 after having played an instrumental role in her campaign. He died on December 7, 1987 at age 49 of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot. This happened soon after having been dismissed from the government on September 14, in a cabinet reorganization that followed a coup attempt. Ongpin was the younger brother of Roberto Ongpin who had been Minister of Trade and Industry under President Ferdinand Marcos. Ongpin was a 1958 graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University and from Harvard Business School in 1962. He had been advertising manager of the Philippine subsidiary of Procter & Gamble. In 1962, he joined the Benguet Corporation, one of the country's leading gold mining companies. In 1974, he became company president.