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[av_heading heading=’PEOPLE POWWOW | Happy for Francis Hinayhinay ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
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Thursday, May 25, 2017
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ONE DAY he was in China, another day in Italy and recently in Hong Kong. There is no doubt that a former broadcaster named Francis Jinon Hinayhinay enjoys the life of a global tourist – whether alone or with wife Rose and their two children.
The last time I wrote about Francis was in 2012 when I announced the opening of Copya Ilonggo at SM City-Iloilo – the fifth branch of his shop that copies documents and sells copying machines.
If we are proud of Francis, it’s because he is living proof that a literally small media man could metamorphose into a big businessman. Most of us who are still active in print and on radio still cherish the fond memories of him in the good old days. He first went on the air in 1987 as police beat reporter of the defunct radio station DyRP, and later of DyFM Bombo Radyo from 1990 to 1998.
I remember that time when, while still a Bombo reporter covering the police beat, he bought a 50-cc motorcycle so he could move independently of the network’s “patrol vehicle.” He always wanted to arrive and report ahead of other reporters at the crime scene.
Unknown to other broadcasters, his motorbike also served another purpose: to deliver books. He was moonlighting as book salesman for De Roja Enterprises.
He was also selling an Ilonggo book of jokes, Langas-langas, which he himself had written.
“My motorcycle,” Hinayhinay revealed to this writer during a lunch meeting, “attracted attention. It was a time when cheaper surplus units from Japan were selling much cheaper than brand-new ones. Knowing the source of these surplus bikes, I bought a second, a third, a fourth and more reconditioned units which I resold at moderate markup.”
By then, he had also been performing magic tricks – such as linking rings, vanishing handkerchief, changing colors, etc. – in birthdays and other social functions for a fee, or sometimes for free.
On these occasions, he would also crack jokes and tell all and sundry that they could laugh over more jokes by buying his book Langas-Langas.
He befriended owners, managers and supervisors of book stores so he could display his joke book thereat on consignment.
One of these store supervisors happened to be Renee Rose Badana of Regina Bookstore. She was 24, single and definitely a fan of his. Realizing that he was not getting any younger, he courted her. And lo, she became Mrs. Hinayhinay in a civil wedding officiated by a judge at the Iloilo Hall of Justice on his 33rd birthday on October 24, 1996.
“Life with a wife and the thought of having kids soon,” he quipped, “prodded me to think of better ways to further augment my income. One day while I was delivering copies of my book to the Diplomat Bookstore at Gaisano City, the manager casually remarked that some of his customers were looking for a copier so they could reproduce text books and documents. He suggested that if I would like to engage in the copier business, I could rent a space in his store.”
Against the advice of well-meaning relatives to go “hinayhinay” (slow), he sank his lifetime savings of P25,000 in a second-hand digital copier and placed it at the bookstore.
He sought his friend Norman Velez of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) for a business name. “Copya Ilonggo,” Velez suggested.
The last time I met Francis, I asked him whether he was “ripe” for bigger business.
“No,” he shrugged. “No need. What good is life when you have no time left to enjoy it?” (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
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