Remembering NFA in its 52nd Anniversary (September 26, 2024): Life Begins at Retirement

 Life Begins at Retirement*

Cecilia Rojas Rotor, CPA, MBA, CESO VI

 Former Director of Budget, Treasury and Fund Management

 

Retirement is a journey, not a destination. It only means that it is time for a new adventure.  Adventure in the golden years of life. 

What really makes life beautiful with NFA? What make an employee spend her most precious years of life with NFA?  Let me count the ways.

 1. Here at NFA, I learned the true application of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  I aspired  in my own capacity to be a good student of this great thought.  

Author fondly poses with grand daughter, Mackie.

For NFA is the acronym of the principles of Maslow’s Concept:  man’s basic survival Need is Food; man’s basic social need is Family (the NFA family); and man’s highest need is Actualization – actualization of NFA’s vision and mission. 

NFA is very important indeed! In fact, I learned that no country - big and small, industrialized and developing - is without an NFA, or its equivalence or counterpart.  I say, NFA is a universal organization. It is said in the Universal Prayer as well, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  (Us refers to all, irrespective of race, age, status, belief, ideology; it is the word us with reference to adequacy of food that unites mankind.)

 2. NFA is my alma mater now, and I am proud to be one. It is bigger than my own, in college and in the graduate school, for I am now among thousands who once served the organization, and countless number of people whom it served - and continues to serve. 

It is my alma mater for four scores and two years, subtly saying 42 years of continuous service, the longest “schooling” until I was awarded (finally) with a “diploma of retirement” – which I cannot refuse. The concept of alumna of NFA is, “Once an NaFiAin, always a NaFiAian.” And every time I happen to meet a co-alumna or co- alumnus, the world spontaneously brightens up, reversing the hands of time, and re-creating many wonderful scenarios that make memories fresh and alive.

3. Life after NFA is beautiful.  It is another stage of life which I am beginning to enjoy as a grandmother. Retirement is out of the dictionary when you are babysitter, teacher, housekeeper, playmate, rolled into one.

NFA taught me many things to prepare me to be a wonderful and loving Lola , borrowing the words of Mackie my eldest granddaughter. (See above photo )

Happiness I realize is compensating for the limited time and presence I had with my family while I was with NFA. But it is NFA that made me realize that happiness is not truly your own alone.” It is one commodity that, if you divide and distribute, it will multiply.” It is boundless, it is eternal; it defies any mathematical law.  It is man’s greatest glory on earth. 

4. It is at NFA where I tried to study and understand issues considered to be sensitive, such as the term “subsidy.” As an accountant I saw a financial picture inclined towards social goals and objectives, of stabilizing the industry to prevent hunger and its consequences; to pursue the idea of attaining self-sufficiency, while aiming at sustainable productivity. Meanwhile huge importation is inevitable year in and year out.  These are gargantuan images that are difficult to comprehend, much less to attain, if I may say. 

And yet these are the very reasons why NFA should and must exist, firm and strong to lead its various stakeholders. I leave the organization with the urgent wish that it continue to pursue its noble task vigorously.  Its triumph shall, in every alumnus, proudly feels.    

5. There is a saying by John F Kennedy (originally by our own national hero Jose Rizal), “Ask not what America can do for you; but what you can do for America.”   

Analogously I ask myself. “What have I done for NFA, and what has NFA done for me?” 

Allow me to count the ways that I know of: 

It is at NFA where my career blossomed from accountant to director.

Rotor-Sta Maria-Mendoza-Viray family in a re-union

 It is at NFA that I was able to obtain an MBA and CESO, on top of my CPA.

·       It is at NFA where I grew gray hairs old folks say is a sign of wisdom and counsel.

·       It is with NFA I learned to hurdle obstacles generally attendant to public service.

·       It is with NFA I tried my best to set a standard of a role model for my staff and colleagues in government.

·       It is at NFA where I found personal happiness, and comfort in the dark hours.

·       It is with NFA I did the best I could in actively participating in decision making and strategic planning.   

·       It is at NFA where I saw action, and fought in the battlefield, so to speak.     

·       It is with NFA I helped steer the boat toward  its goal and mission.   

Lastly, but not the least, It is at NFA where I found a life partner and together built a happy family. And look at the world as bright as ever. ~ 

*Response to a tribute given by the members of the Management Committee of the National Food Authority, August 8, 2016. Reprint,  NFA's 48th Anniversary September 26 2020 Feature on GRAINS Magazine.