If you don’t like math and you are in engineering, the odds

are that you will have a hard time passing your subjects.
The worst that could happen to you is fail every semester.
But there are just some who happen to outgrow that feeling
of despise over math, even excel in college, and further
finish with flying colors. This is a great story of a Filipino civil
engineering student.

Such is the case of Sirven Carandang Garibay.

Through his burning passion in engineering, this 22-year-old
lad graduated in the University of the Philippines Los Baños
(UPLB) as Magna Cum Laude with a course in civil
engineering. Moreover, he recently aced the Civil Engineer
Licensure Examination with a rating of 93.20%, securing the
first place in the roster of topnotchers.
Like anyone else’s journey towards an exceptional
board exam success, Sirven did not arrive there easy. In
this e-mail interview, Sirven shares how he decided to take
civil engineering, what struggles he had been through, where he went to review for his board exam, who he
owes his success to, which study habits he does, and what tips he could impart to future topnotchers. Student
Life Why did you choose civil engineering? Who or what was your inspiration? Sirven: When I was only a kid, I
really wanted to be become a doctor someday. But I realized as I got older, my passion would be in
engineering. Even so, I do not know that time which field of engineering I should take. I initially thought of
chemical engineering. But one time in high school, one of my close friends told me the he badly wanted to be a
civil engineer. Many of his friends, including me, became interested too. Perhaps another reason for me to take
engineering is to continue what my father was not able to do due to the circumstances in his time. He was an
undergraduate student of mechanical engineering when he needed to stop studying. What are your favorite
subjects in your entire engineering study? How about least liked subjects? Sirven: I had to say, engineering
subjects are really hard to like due to their level of difficulty compared to other subjects. But if I were to pick
one, it would certainly be anything in the field of structural engineering. This may be known as the hardest field
in civil engineering but maybe the reason that I had a liking for it is because since I was a kid, when people
mention engineer, I immediately thought of persons who designs and builds buildings. Meanwhile, I had to
choose a subject which I really dislike. It would be the hardcore mathematics in engineering. But as a
disclaimer, I only despised math but that does not mean I am terrible at it. Have you had any subject failures or
disappointing academic performance to the very least? If yes, what did you do about it? How did you cope?
Sirven: For the civil engineering course in UPLB, I would say that if the major courses of civil are very difficult,
the basic courses are even more difficult. I am sure that I share this realization with other engineering students.
I’m talking about basic physics, statics, dynamics, etc. I had few exams which have failing scores in these
subjects. Despite these, I never felt to surrender. These only made my desire to graduate as an engineer even
stronger. I studied in ways that I have never studied before. I finished reading engineering books and I had to
review on every problem that I can get my hands onto. And of course, with God’s help, I got through them.

Do you have any study tips or tricks that you think others should emulate from you? Sirven: My study habits
are really not something to be proud of. I study only at early mornings of examination days. You can say that I
am your average crammer. But everything worked out just fine for me. I just thought that studying at night
when you are all tired because of the activities during the day is not as effective as studying when your body
and mind are freshened up after a long nap. And yes when I say long nap, I mean that complete hours of sleep
every day. My methods may not work with everyone but it is something worth to try. What is the best
engineering school advice that you can give to other students? Sirven: Engineering courses are notorious for
being difficult but let it become your passion and you will never feel the same way ever again. Therefore, it is
very important that you are doing what you love. I liked studying engineering and I truly believe that it is one of
the reasons that got me through every challenge that I faced. And perhaps, the most important of all, you have
to believe in yourself that you can do it. Believe that and everything will become a little lighter. Do not forget
specially to pray as hard you are studying. I wish them all good luck!
 Behind some of the biggest construction
projects in
the Philippines is a company that initially struggled
to find itself in the engineering industry. Megawide
Construction was created in 1997 at the height of the Asian
financial crisis.

Its founders, who are two Filipino civil engineers, braved

that dreadful economic episode anyway after taking a huge
leap of faith, while holding on to their vision of a
transformed construction trade in the country. Almost
twenty years later, Engr. Michael Cosiquien and Engr.
Edgar Saavedra have become few of the youngest
billionaires in the Philippines while managing one of the
nation’s leading construction firms.

In 2016, 43-year-old Cosiquien is ranked no. 35 in Philippines’ 50 Richest List with a net worth of $265 million.
Meanwhile, 41-year-old Saavedra is a little behind at rank no. 37 with $255 million net worth. Both are young
bloods in the list but they are close to the age of the youngest Filipino millionaire, who is business magnate
Edgar Sia with a net worth of $1.2 billion at 39 years old. But just like how any success story goes, getting
there wasn’t easy. “We were just out of the university, we had minimal training, so it was really on-the-job
training for us,” Chairman/CEO Cosiquien tells in an ANC interview. The two Lasallian engineers entered the
construction industry as a company only with an engineering diploma up their sleeves. Megawide President
and COO Saavedra admits that both of them came from families with business backgrounds. However, that
could only do so little since the construction business is a trade entirely new to them. They used this lack of
field experience as a driving factor to become more aggressive in finding large-scale projects. Read more The
Arabian Construction Industry Insights and Analysis “Sometimes inexperience can be good. It forced us to
come up with new ideas that set us apart from the rest,” Edgar shares through Inquirer. Their labor came into
fruition in 2004, when they got a 25-storey building project. It was their first perfect opportunity to prove
themselves in the booming construction industry. But it wasn’t until 2007 that Megawide got its biggest break.
All thanks to SM Development Corp. (SMDC), which is the residential arm of the prominent Sy family, the
company was able to bag two projects which are the Berkeley Residences in Katipunan and Grass Residences
in North EDSA.

Those two high-rise buildings became their benchmark projects in the skyscraper construction, also
marking the tremendous growth of the company. At one point, 70% of its business came from the residential
projects they acquired from SMDC. Their greatest edge, according to Saavedra, is that they both use their
personal engineering knowledge in bidding for projects – that’s to keep the premium building quality while
reducing costs. Although that technical skill is not exclusive to them, it has allowed them to trim down the
construction expenses, which ultimately attracted developers like SM to hire them as general contractors.
Much of the growth of Megawide is attributed to the support and trust that SM gave to them, says Cosiquien.
“They saw how we worked and delivered our projects. We’ve built trust and confidence in the family. “After
that, we won more projects with them and in 2011, we decided to release in the stock market we invited them
to invest out of respect, courtesy and utang na loob because we were able to grow our company very fast
because of their support,” he adds.

In the same year, Megawide went public. Since then, it grew to become a residential property contractor into
an infrastructure firm. It has acquired more projects both in the public and private sectors, shaping the skylines
of urbanized areas and defining the lives of the people with their related services. The company has several
on-going residential projects in Makati and Quezon City; and office/commercial establishments in Taguig,
Pasay, Pasig, Lapu Lapu City, and Cebu City. Megawide is also currently involved in the Public-Private
Partnership (PPP) framework projects like the Southwest Integrated Transport System in Paranaque City, the
newest phase of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, and the modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic
Center. All of these are on top of the existing structures Megawide already built. That includes the City of
Dreams Manila, the Bellevue Executive Tower in Muntilupa City, the Kimberly Hotel Tagaytay, the Almanza
Metropolis in Las Pinas, the SMDC Grand Showroom in Pasay City, and the Tomas Morato Plaza in Quezon
City.

Even both of them didn’t know that they will go this far
in the construction industry. They were only fresh licensed
engineers then when they established the company, now
valued by the stock market at P29.7 billion. “One might say that
qualities like being too young, too adventurous, not knowing
enough, are weaknesses that keep you from being successful,
but this is not true. All we had were guts and a drive to
succeed.” Saavedra reveals.