As a university, Ateneo de Manila continues to be ranked among the top universities in Asia. Since its founding in 1909 during the university’s golden jubilee, the Ateneo Alumni Association (AAA) has united graduates in pursuing the university’s vision of forming men and women who serve others and spread light to the world. This mission came alive for my family through my father, Jaime Y. Pestaño, who attended Ateneo as the first athletic basketball scholar and was part of the 1959 Blue Eagle championship team. The AAA in Manila supported his 4-year Business Administration studies, exemplifying the association’s commitment to education.
Today, this tradition of support continues globally through chapters like the one in Vancouver, where the alumni raise funds to ensure current students in the Philippines have the financial means to complete their education, creating a continuing cycle of service and opportunity.
I was fortunate to have met the current Ateneo Alumni Vancouver president, Robert Afan. Bob, as he is often called by friends and colleagues, was a high school alumni graduate from Ateneo de Manila, and his family migrated to Vancouver in the late seventies. We met up at a Blenz Coffee shop in Richmond, BC close to where he lives. Mr. Afan was friendly, kind, and full of wisdom as he shared how he started his own mortgage brokerage business from scratch called Clear Trust Mortgages in 2011 and is now one of the top mortgage brokerage firms in all of Canada.
Clear Trust Mortgages proudly won the prestigious CWB Optimum Mortgage Award for Brokerage of the Year (25 Employees or More) at the highly acclaimed 2024 Canadian Mortgage Awards. As CEO and Founder of his own company, Bob humbly expressed his gratitude to the amazing team he has fostered and grown from coast to coast. Now, there are over four hundred brokers under his phenomenal leadership.
Besides running a prestigious mortgage brokerage firm, Bob is enthusiastic about volunteering his time to the community, not just for Filipino-based causes, but as a whole.
He tirelessly raises funds for the Canadian Cancer Society and BC Cancer Agency because cancer has affected many of his family members, especially his wife. To date, he has helped raise over $60,000 for cancer research. As a Filipino and Atenean, Bob spreads the spirit of Bayanihan, through collective action and solidarity through fundraising for the BC Cancer Society and other students of Ateneo’s various campuses to complete their studies in the Philippines alongside other Ateneo alumni. Bayanihan, from the Filipino words “bayan” (community) and “han” (to help), represents the Filipino cultural value of communal unity and mutual support and remains a cornerstone of Filipino culture.
Last November 23, 2024, in the Ellington Ballroom of The Hilton Hotel the Board of Directors, its president Mr. Afan, and members of The Ateneo Alumni Association of British Columbia (AAABC) organized a fundraising Christmas event called “Not So Blue Christmas” with the goal of raising funds for deserving scholars currently studying at different Ateneo campuses in the Philippine and raised over $10,000.
This coming spring 2025, The AAABC will once again spearhead a fundraising event together with BC Cancer Agency. The bayanihan spirit of the Filpino continue to light up the world with the valiant community service of The Ateneo Alumni Association of BC. More details of this pinnacle fundraising event will be announced in the next issue of The Philippine Asian News Today.
By Mia Pestaño
