A WOMAN BEHIND THE NATIONAL BOOKSTORE

Mrs. Socorro 'Coring' Ramos is the Pillars or the owner of the Philippines' largest books and
supplies store with over 240 branches nationwide and that is the National Book Store. Mrs. Socorro
“Coring” Ramos is one of the successful Filipino entrepreneurs that start from rags and now she has
one of the biggest and popular businesses in the Philippines.

The role of market awareness to Mrs. Socorro 'Coring' Ramos has a very big role especially it
contributes in her ability to seize business opportunity, and because of this market awareness her
business is one of the most popular now in the Philippines. But before she established her business,
Mrs. Socorro Ramos thinks the different factors she should do before she set up her business and
one of that is she wants to help the people to learn, since herself was poor but she eagers to learn,
so that’s why she came up with the business of a bookstore. Also before she set up her business,
she considered the market factor and she wants that her business become a popular to the market
and people will recognize it. Before she start her business, she study first the different components
of market that can affect her business such us customers, supplier, market trends, market size,
market share. The market awareness has a big role to Mrs. Socorro Ramos because she gets more
knowledge about the market and it gives her a clear understanding about the market before
venturing in it. That’s why market awareness contributes a lot to success of any business. And now
you can see, Mrs. Socorro Ramos is one of the most popular and successful entrepreneur here in
the Philippines, because she considered those in the market such as customers, trends, needs, and
etc. That’s why market awareness has a very big role especially it contributes to the ability to seize
business opportunity.

Her entrepreneurial readiness in her business is one of big company that starts from rags
until she became as one of the riches and has a popular business in the Philippines. The role of
Entrepreneurial readiness is to help Mrs. Socorro Ramos with her business especially when she was
just starting, because when you starting a business you should know the possibilities that might
happen whether it is positive or negative, that's why it’s called readiness, you must be ready and
prepared for everything that will happen especially when you are a novice in business. Like what
happened to Mrs. Socorro Ramos, she think first the different various factor when it comes to
business like customers, her personality, the market, and etc. before she start her business. Also
she considered her ability as an entrepreneur if he can manage all the risk and uncertainties that
might happen in her business. So basically, the role of Entrepreneurial readiness to Mrs. Socorro
'Coring' Ramos that contributes in her ability to seize business opportunity is just to help her to be
prepared for all the possibilities of what will happen if she starts her business and also if she can
manage the things when it comes to business, because in business there is a possibility that we
have to go through a lot of challenges and obstacles especially if we want to enter the business
industry. And now you can see, Mrs. Socorro Ramos is one of the most popular and successful
entrepreneur here in the Philippines because she was prepared for everything and that’s because of
Entrepreneurial Readiness.

Connection has a very big role especially it contributes in her ability to seize business
opportunity, and because of this Connection her business is one of the most popular business in the
Philippines. The role of connection is to help Mrs. Socorro Ramos with her business especially when
she was just starting out when it comes to business, because it is very helpful for us as an
entrepreneur if we have lots of connection because it will going to be easy for us to do some task,
create some ideas, plan, and etc. Also it is good if your business has a healthy connection not only
with the customers, supplier, co-owner, and etc. Like what Mrs. Socorro Ramos do before she set
up her business, she just asks and consult some people of what they thought about her business,
also to the inspectors, investors, and many more, before she did what he planned for her business.
Connection is one of the most important to Mrs. Socorro Ramos because of this her organization in
her business became even stronger and it continues to grow and become popular in the Philippines.
 F. Sionil Jose’s short story “Tong”, the theme was shown in the story where
Alice is getting married into a rich Chinese-Filipino that was arranged by Mr. Tan
because it is in the culture and they are poor and need of a good life as well. In
the story, Conrado were convincing Alice to come with him but Alice stopped him
by telling him that she is already engaged to a rich Chinese-Filipino that was
arrange by her uncle. This Chinese helped her family a lot by giving those jobs and
money and since they are poor, she accepted her fate as it will help her family
greatly. In the end, Alice accepted her misery for her brothers and her uncle to
have a future thus proving that family is all about culture since Alice followed
theirs.

In my analysis, the characters in this short story accepted their misery in

terms of poverty. Family is all about culture in these three stories because of the
fact that they are in poverty and all they could do to earn an opportunity is to
accept the cultural norm of their respective families. “Tong”, the social class
distinctions between Chinese-Filipinos is classified by where you live based on the
story. The poor like Alice lives on Ongpin and the rich Chinese lives in Greenhill.
She accepted her misery since she is poor and has no options but to conform to
the culture of their family. According to Narayan D. (2000) poverty is humiliation
in the eyes of society they are dependent on the rich and is forced to take
rudeness, insults, and indifference when they seek help. Nobody will hear the
poor because it is the rich that is always heard. Every family has its own culture
which is always obeyed, in which these characters honored and respected. These
cultures play a very important role in determining our family values. For me,
culture is everybody’s lifestyle because it integrates our qualities, traditions,
dialects and convictions and it is reflected in our history and how we express our
thoughts and imagination.

Cirilo Bautista’s short story “Resurrection” tells us that even we are a

successful person still we make mistakes. And even people in lower levels should
not be stepped in their reputations. God make as equal. And we have also rights
that no one should be stepped on. Time passed by but we should not hurt other
people even we know that we are greater than them. People in lower levels
should be helped and should be treated in a right way. Hurting someone can be as
easy as throwing a stone in a sea. But do you have any idea how deep that stone
goes? Don’t hurt other people because you have problems. Let them help you to
solve it. Don’t push other people to do a thing that they can’t especially if there
life is in danger. Care also for others not only for yourself. For me, Lazaro Corpuz
make a wrong thing that he will never forgot in his whole life that is stepping on
someone’s life. Even he is drunk he should know it. Again, know first the way you
want to be treated and treat is to other. Because if you treat them wrong, they
might also treat you worse than you treat them.