LAOAG CITY—Caesar I. Agnir is not a diehard follower of the San Miguel Beermen, yet he admires their resilience and winning culture.
These are qualities Agnir continues to instill at Northern Christian College, an evangelical Christian school he runs as president in this city—the rooftop of the Ilocano nation.
The Beermen are striving to capture a record 26th championship in the Philippine Basketball Association at the expense of the Magnolia Hotshots in the finals of the league’s popular Philippine Cup.
Down 0-1 the Beermen are expected by their fan base to bounce back against the Hotshots in their best of seven games series watched by millions on national television.
With its famous flagship product, San Miguel beer and a sterling corporate footprint, the San Miguel Corporation is not lost on Agnir, a former senior executive of the Ayala Group of Companies.
Agnir, a treasured friend, smiles while recalling his lifelong fascination with basketball as a game and a metaphor for life during lunch of Ilocano cuisine including pinakbet pizza at Herencia Garden Restaurant near the Marcos Stadium and Sports Arena.
In Ayala’s Harvard University-style development program, he moved up the ladder and was at some point a country manager in Malaysia for the conglomerate’s insurance business.
After 28 years with the Ayala Group, he retired and took on a new challenge, choosing the NCC to run. He has since been offered the presidency of three of PH’s biggest Christ-centered universities.
“My choice of Laoag was easy. Your Manang Del (his wife Adela) decided for me,” he joked.
Actually, the couple picked this city because of family roots. He was born in Claveria, Cagayan, but Agnir’s mom hailed from Banna, Ilocos Norte. Mrs. Agnir, although born in Sarangani grew up in Badoc town.
They met at the University of the Philippines-Diliman in the mid-1950s. He obtained degrees in liberal arts and law. She finished a degree in nursing.
Among Agnir’s multiple achievements as a college student was becoming editor in chief of the Collegian, the UP student publication.
Agnir arrived at NCC in 1995 and immediately directed the renovation of decrepit buildings and the construction of new ones.
He transformed an ailing school into a robust institution with the marketing motto “the institution for better life” both financially and academically.
When he assumed office, the NCC was in the red by P15 million. By 2017, the school had a surplus of P92 million.
Manong Caesar is spry and able bodied at 84. Manang Del, still the school vice president for administration, remains a mestiza beauty at 82.
Their five children, all UP graduates are well off.
One of them, Lucris Carina Agnir-Paraan, Ph.D, is vice president for academic affairs. Voted incognito by the school’s board of trustees as the next NCC president, she takes over in July at the earliest when her dad steps down.