It goes without saying that we in the media and advertising industry were shocked by the passing of sportsman, advertising professional and media person, Mike Ochosa.
I for one almost fell off my seat when I saw the post of a friend on Facebook that Mike had succumbed to a heart attack last Monday, April 26, 2021. It was shocking to me because we were just chatting on FB Messenger an hour before he left for glory.
We were basically talking about the last project I did in Out-of-Home Media which was the largest abstract painting in the Philippines. From then on, I knew something was brewing in the mind of Mike. That's how he was. Innovation would be simmering in his mind even in unfamiliar territory.
Nevertheless, Out-of-Home media (or OOH as we now fondly call it) would not be far from Mike Ochosa. Some people may not know it but Mike prepared the way for the OOH specialist Posterscope to enter the Philippines.
Way back in early 2012 when Posterscope had not made its name yet in the OOH or media landscape, Mike and I were discussing stuff such as the advertising expenditure monitoring, a task I already had done previously for Nielsen Media Research in 2008 until 2010. Later on, Posterscope had become a become a big name in OOH. But I believe the groundwork was prepared by Mike under the Aegis Media banner.
Our conversation last Monday revolved about some possibility he was seeing in OOH and something we could work on.
He said we'd reconnect next week. Then again, as the Bible says, "
Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails." (Proverbs 19:21)
Who would have thought that Mike was destined to step into glory that afternoon?
Such are the days of our lives. There is no certainty to the days we have except the certainty of God's blessed assurance through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Mike's last post on his Facebook earlier that day before he left was:
Love for Jesus Christ his Savior was evident.
Our prayers go out to the family left behind by Mike Ochosa. A sportsman who has in his life of 55 years, could say as the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7,
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
Godspeed Mike. You've entered the heavenly stadium now.
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