People who rose from the ranks usually have inspiring stories to tell.

NLEX Corporation executive Ronald Dulatre is a perfect example.

After leading the Road Warriors to six titles, including four in a row from 2011 to 2013, in the Philippine Basketball Association D-League, Dulatre is back as he had been appointed as alternate governor starting 1 August.

In his new role, he will work hand in hand with team governor Rod Franco with the ultimate goal of applying his old magic and leading the Road Warriors their first PBA title.

"We believe that his experience and leadership capabilities will make the Road Warriors better and more competitive," said Franco, referring to Dulatre who has been with the company for 23 years.

Now, Dulatre is serving as finance vice president and head of the Treasury, Risk and Insurance Management Department of NLEX.

But climbing the corporate ladder wasn't easy. It took Dulatre a lot of hard work, perseverance, dedication and, of course, prayers to get to where he is right now.

Dulatre admitted that long before those championship runs, long before the emergence of NLEX legends like Kevin Alas, Calvin Abueva and Ian Sangalang in the PBA D-League, he was just a humble weaver of blankets and towels in Vigan City.

"That's my work and it helped me send me to school in Vigan," the 53-year-old Dulatre told Daily Tribune in an interview.

"Through hard work, I managed to graduate from the University of Northern Philippines with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Major in Accounting."

Later on, he earned a Master's of Business Administration degree at De La Salle University, something which he is now using in running the finances of NLEX.

How he values education is more important to success and this is something he shares to his three children from wife, Lilibeth, who works at the Rustan's Group of Companies.

Their eldest, Jeka, is a dentist while their second Ron, is an artist and a writer with a degree in Digital Filmmaking from College of Saint Benilde. Their youngest, Andrei, is a Grade 12 student at San Beda University.

Best of both worlds

Dulatre said his love and passion for basketball is one of a kind.

But it wasn't meant to be.

Despite dreaming of becoming a professional player, fate brought Dulatre to NLEX in 2000 in which he was one of the three accounting staff in the then two-year-old tollway company.

"NLEX, which was then called Manila North Tollways Corporation, was just a two-year-old company when I joined. I was one of the three accounting staff. We were just a small company back then," Dulatre said, recalling his humble beginning.

When the Road Warriors joined the PBA D-League as one of the six founding members in 2011, Dulatre was tasked to serve as team manager. It was such a big challenge but for Dulatre, it was a golden opportunity to reunite with his first love — basketball.

True enough, with Dulatre at the helm, the Road Warriors took the league by storm. NLEX advanced to the finals seven times and won six titles with elite amateur stars like Alas, Abueva, Sangalang, Garvo Lanete and Filipino-Americans Cliff Hodge and Chris Ellis doing damage.

The Road Warriors were the toast of the D-League that in 2014, they decided to face a bigger challenge.

"We feel that it's about time for a bigger challenge, which is the pro league, the PBA," Dulatre said, adding that their first option was to enter the league as an expansion team.

"But we had a change of heart. When the franchise of Air21 suddenly became available, we decided to grab it." In the PBA, Dulatre played an active role by serving as team manager, whose main task was to serve as the link between the Road Warriors and the management. At the same time, he also held the senior manager position, another crucial task in his area of expertise.

"I was having fun," he admitted. "It was a dream job."

"You know, my passion is basketball so serving as team manager while holding a corporate position was something I really love."

But good things eventually came to an end.

When the Road Warriors hired Yeng Guaio as head coach and general manager in 2017, Dulatre was asked to take a less active role of becoming part of the management committee. At the same time, he was asked to take a higher position in the corporate ladder that prompted him to focus more on running the business.

"I was given two options: Stay with the team and as senior manager or become an AVP (assistant vice president)," he said.

"I chose the latter. I feel that it's about time for me to take a bigger role and help further grow the company." Six years later, he was given both. Dulatre is back in the game.

"It was really a blessing because last March, I was promoted as vice president for Finance. Then recently, they asked me if I can be the alternate governor of our PBA team," he said, delighted over having "the best of both worlds."

"As Boss Rod stated when he wrote the PBA, we also requested our NLEX president, Boss Luigi (Bautista) for the new role. The bottomline here is that we want to help the team. Me, Boss Rod and Sir Luigi as well as the rest of the management committee."

Bigger challenge

Dulatre said he is still keeping himself fit by playing basketball regularly together with friends composed of coaches, team executives and former players of the franchise.

They play every Saturday and make sure to swap basketball stories after every session.

He is also very much involved in doing community projects.

In fact, just recently, they sponsored a fundraising event for the students of Judge Juan Luna High School in Quezon City, an event graced by basketball legends Alvin Patrimonio and Jojo Lastimosa.

Dulatre said paying it forward is something that isn't new.

"We're no strangers to doing those things, community projects for the barangays in different areas in the north but also in the south as well as we have CALAX (Cavite-Laguna Extension) there," said Dulatre, who was the recipient of the Achievers in the Field of Sports in 2015 and speaker in the opening of the Ilocos Regional Athletic Association Athletic Meet in 2017.

Still, there is a big challenge he has to face.

"That's the PBA, of course," he said, bursting into laughter.

"Our goal is to win our first PBA title. We have been very successful in the PBA D-League in the past and we want to bring that winning formula to the PBA. I hope we get all the support."

Dulatre said there's still a lot of work to do. But with him back in the game, topped with a lot of hard work, dedication, sacrifices and prayers, the Road Warriors can easily do it like a speeding car on a wide-open highway.