Ramon Jimenez, Jr.—MonJ to most everyone– passed away on April 27, 2020. Still reeling from his death, four of his mentees created a Viber group to commiserate and pay tribute to a man who is arguably the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) in Philippine advertising and communications. Today, 15 July 2024, a day after what would have been MonJ’s 69th birthday, we publish parts of that four-year old thread, edited for clarity.

TD:  The Last Dance… Napanood n’yo na?

LB:  Baket

MC: Yup.

EK:  Musta bros 

TD: Aaytden.

(One week passes.)

TD: Gun to your head: who is MonJ most comparable to MJ, LBJ, or Kobe? Just one. Una na kayo.

MC: Bawal ba sagot Atenista hehe

LB: Kunin ko na yung MonJ as LBJ. His superpower was never about making ads themselves, which is akin to scoring like MJ or Kobe. His superpower was elevating everyone else’s game. He had a way of bringing out the best in everyone around him. Of turning them into winners. Not by bullying, but by wisdom and insight. He was a man of both majesty and mischief. Catching people unawares with his video games, his addiction to watches, his search for the hottest hot sauce. Then dropping lines like: “Wherever I sit, IS the head of the table,” which he used to respond to a junior’s courtesy of offering him the cabeza one meeting when he arrived a few minutes late. MonJ had no need to create fear. But he did generate awe. And reverence. He never demanded compliance. At his prime, people gave it just because. MJ and Kobe carried their power like burdens. LBJ uses it as a means to live a life larger than basketball.

TD: Haba amp… if my memory serves me right, MonJ didn’t really like him. And… 2011 NBA Finals? MonJ would never do a chokejob like Lebron

LB: Teka pwede na ba agad kumontra??

TD: Hehe sorry sorry sige lang

EK: Agree.

LB: Kanino ka agree?

EK: That of the three, LBJ is the least MonJ. 

LB: Wait lungs! Hindi copycat si MonJ so ‘di pwedeng Kobe. Hindi psycopath si MonJ so hindi pwedeng MJ.

MC: LBJ is the most obvious answer. Sec Mon was never a bully, so Jordan would seem a stretch. Si Kobe— much as it’s diificult to disagree with his greatness— is from all objective measures not part of the conversation kapag THE greatest na ang usapan. Bakit LeBron? If there’s one thing that LBJ definitely has over the other two, it’s his court vision— and Sec Mon was a visionary, not only in the sense that he had foresight, but more importantly (analogy-wise) he had this uncanny ability to pull back and see things as part of an interconnected whole. He knew what the moving pieces were; where they were, where they’ll be, and how to most impactfully utilize this knowledge to his advantage. He saw “the game”— the communications milieu— as an ecosystem, knew how things affected other things and how they all fit together. 

TD: Lebron na si Lawin, bro. Naunahan ka na. Puro ka meeting e.

MC: Maraming ganap sa demokrasya ‘tol! Hahahaha

EK: Given na choose one ang parameters: Was MonJ more Jordan or Kobe? 

MC: Pwede bang neither? Sec Mon played the game the right way, to put it analogously. He lived with compassion, with integrity, treated people right. Not a single soul from any team that he worked with would say that he cowed them into performing better. He was competitive in his own way, but he never let his ego get in the way of anything. And we all gladly hunkered down in the trenches with him, fought the good fight, not because it was our job, but because his light shone through and inspired us to do so.

TD: So none of the above. Magbasa ka ng mechanics.

MC: Wag ka magulo. What he could do better than anyone else was to cut through the clutter and get to the heart of the matter in a few sharp, powerful utterances. He was a god when it came to this. Simple basketball, ‘ika nga nila. In that way— like Kobe and MJ who were creative basketball geniuses but also deeply schooled in the fundamentals— MonJ was both.

TD: Tagal ng point.

MC: Relaks ka lang, darating tayo diyan. The case for Kobe: MonJ was also an eternal student of the game. At his core, MonJ was a craftsman, and his trade was ideas. Goddamn, he delighted in ideas. Kobe could be seen as a copycat, but I prefer to see this as humility— knowing that all genius is part of a long chain of learning that stretches back to the first person who held a ball and tossed it toward a peach basket. You study all those that came before you, and never stop studying to keep pace with how the game is evolving. MonJ was exactly like that.

Pero, like it was with Jordan, everyone— and I mean everyone— willingly yielded to MonJ when crunchtime came. He didn’t need to ask for the ball; when the going got tough, instinctively, everyone knew that it was MonJ who’d carry us through. Parang yun ang lamang ni MJ kay Kobe, ‘no? Parang Kobe would, by force of will, take what he thought was rightfully his pagdating sa moments of intense pressure. MonJ never had to do that. The ball was his by default, and everyone knew it.

LB: Nag-Ateneo rin ako pero hindi ako ganito kahaba mag-explain so ano na nga?

MC:  Jordan, hahaha! Dahil, despite the glaring differences, kung gun to the head choice, mas malaki ang pagkakapareho ni Sec Mon kay Jordan dahil sa greatness quotient.

TD: Kobe ako. For concrete, unassailable reasons that will a) become clear later and b) reveal your error. Let me give you one right now: MonJ created some of the best film advertising in his time. Neither Jordan or LBJ made any film. Kobe WROTE and produced one and won an Oscar for it.

EK: Ako na lang mag-determine ng winner ha. Bilang huling nakatrabaho niya. Speaking of The Last Dance…

1) MonJ like MJ was an original; in a league of his own; one for the ages; there will be no one quite like MonJ

2) MonJ like MJ was singular in pursuit and motivation; MonJ always says “what’s single-minded proposition”

3) MonJ had this mental game like no other, he would not let any negativity affect him, not even critics or threats;

4) MonJ and MJ were both mentors — although MJ was the tormenting kind

TD: In The Last Dance, MJ kept on saying, “My mindset was… win at all costs.” After a while it felt weird him repeating it over and over again. As if it were part of a/the script. A narrative that he needed to stay on to somehow explain his drive and diminish his negatives. This I think is the main reason why MonJ is NOT MJ. MonJ is not an “at all costs” kind of guy. He has a conscience, the collective voice of the people that he believes can guide him through.

MC: True. I don’t know kung sino kina LBJ, MJ, and Kobe ang ganito. Pero grabe ang luksa ng tao nung nawala siya kasi he was genuinely LOVED.

TD: On that note. Na-badtrip n’yo na ba si MonJ? Once upon a time, I did. But time wasn’t kind to me or I wasn’t brave enough to rectify. Namatay. Anyway, kinausap ko na lang siya minsan sa aking pag-iisa.

He could, at points in his life, have made his own mistakes. We’ll never know. But even if he did, that doesn’t decrease his greatness in our eyes because of how he was in those moments we were with him. MonJ’s here and now are unmistaken. When you’re with him, he’s with you, here and now and everything will be alright. This is true greatness. No, this is true GOAT-ness.

2010 Finals between Lakers and Celtics. Kobe wanted to win too much that he’s forcing a lot of shots. He wasn’t letting the game come to him. In fact, he was having a bad game, 6 of 24! But Kobe was Kobe. Just like MonJ was MonJ. He will not let you lose. If he’s not making shots, he’ll rebound the fucking ball, 14 total if I remember correctly. MonJ’s lost a pitch, or, heck, he’s in the middle of a presentation that’s not going too well, he’ll save that shit somehow. We are all the Metta World Peace in his team and when the opportunity comes, we might hit the game winner because MonJ got the ball for us and we know he can get it back should we miss. Kobe had nothing to prove. MonJ had nothing to prove. But on the last day, he’ll still show you a thing or two and maybe drop 60 on Utah or It’s More Fun on the rest of the world.

The four of us only got to know MonJ when he was already MonJ. A generation older than us. We knew him as a father. I keep saying this because we never saw the unfinished perfection that he was. We didn’t see him sweat. To him, everything felt effortless and it dropped our jaws all the time. But was he really just a charming genius that never had to exert any effort? Maybe. We don’t know. We don’t want to know. Because he’s great and we’re just thankful.

LB: Well said.

EK: Mahigpit na yakap ‘tol. 

MC: Sa tingin ko, from a meta standpoint, kahit anong sabihin natin na similarities, may “but” yan. He had MJ’s ability to rise above all in moments of intense pressure, LeBron’s selflessness and team-orientedness, Kobe’s commitment to craft. Amalgamation siya ng best qualities nung tatlo.

LB: Cop out!

MC: HAHAHAHAHAHA

TD: That’s the beauty of the exercise. It’s easy to write about personal experiences, nice and sappy. But a take, now that’s brave writing I think. We play in a sandbox, and unfortunately there’s only MJ, Kobe and LBJ there to play around with. Kung ipa-publish natin ito, our readers will understand. 

Third Domingo is Founder and Chairman of IdeasXMachina Hakuhodo. Lawin Bulatao is Chief Creative Officer of the same agency. Mikael de Lara Co is Editor-in-Chief of this publication. Atty. Eugene Kaw was MonJ’s chief of staff during his years as Secretary for Tourism