Cynthia Villar on not spoiling kids
Daniel Padilla in Andrew Tan’s Madrid skyscraper, Alfonso Zobel & BYD, Endika Aboitiz’s book and Boracay resort king’s success secrets
A secret weapon behind the success of visionary, multi-billionaire realty tycoon Manny Villar is his supportive wife, Senator Cynthia Aguilar Villar, who the hardworking Senator Imee Marcos once told me is “a workaholic.”
One of her key contributions to the Villar family’s success is helping raise three kids who were not spoiled: Senator Mark Villar, Congresswoman Camille Villar, and Vista Land and Lifescapes president Manuel Paolo Villar. How did she raise three down-to-earth kids amid their wealth?
At the Pandesal Forum with media held on October 16 during World Pandesal Day, a civic project giving away 100,000 pandesal breads and other foods at Kamuning Bakery Café where she was guest of honor, Senator Villar revealed: “I didn’t spoil my children, because the only inheritance that I really want to give them is a good education. Others who inherited much money, some just wasted them, but education is in the mind and cannot be lost. I was frugal on many things with them, except on their education.”
Where did her passion for agriculture and helping farmers come from?
Senate Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform Senator Villar said, “I care for our farmers. My late grandmother, Manuela Aguilar Riguera, was a farmer who planted ikmo (betel leaf), used for nganga (betel nut chewing). She planted in Las Piñas, regularly taking the bus to sell on the sidewalks of Divisoria market in Manila. She was no read, no write, but she was hardworking and smart; she was able to bequeath four hectares to her kids and to send my father, Filemon Aguilar, to school, who eventually became mayor and congressman of our town for 27 years.”
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Daniel Padilla in Andrew Tan’s Madrid tower
Self-made entrepreneur Andrew Tan recently Vibered me a YouTube video entitled “Sikat ang Pinoy sa Espanya (The Filipino is famous in Spain)” showing how his company, Singapore and Philippines-listed Emperador, had brought actor Daniel Padilla and his family on their first trip to Spain for a TV commercial shoot.
The video showed the actor visiting the 57-story Torre Emperador Castellana, now Madrid City’s fourth tallest building, which Tan purchased in 2015 for P11.5 billion. In that same year, Tan also acquired Spain’s oldest and the world’s biggest brandy producer, Fundador.
The building Daniel Padilla visited is owned by Tan’s Emperador Properties, which on December 19, 2022 became the first Filipino-owned company to be publicly listed in the Spanish stock exchange. That firm also owns the 35-story Torre Caleido Shopping Center in Madrid and the 23-story Torre Diagonal One in Barcelona.
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Tycoons invest in EVs
Some of the most prominent names in business and politics are going into the fast-rising and more environmentally sustainable electric vehicle (EV) industry.
Legado Motors, Inc. (LMI) recently introduced three Dongfeng electrified passenger cars for the Philippine market at an event graced by Legado Motors, Inc. chairman Luis Chavit Singson and President Bongbong Marcos.
Last August, AC Motors of Ayala Group partnered with the world’s largest EV manufacturer BYD in the country. This exciting new venture is led by Ayala Group’s 32-year-old, Harvard- and Columbia-educated scion Jaime Alfonso Zobel de Ayala as its CEO and president.
In 2008, the world’s legendary investor Warren Buffet bought a 10% stake in BYD Auto, predicting that it would one day become “the largest player in a global automobile market that was inevitably going electric.” This forecast was proven correct.
Another EV car brand in the country is the luxury brand Hongqi (pronounced “Hong-chi” in Mandarin), distributed by EVO x Terra, which is part of the Transnational Diversified Group of Companies (TDG) cofounded in 1976 by Stanford- and Harvard-educated Jose Roberto “Robbie” Delgado.
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Endika Aboitiz enjoys photography
Congratulations to Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. chairman Enrique “Endika” M. Aboitiz for coming out with his new, two-volume book entitled Endika Eureka. It features his thoughts and photos taken from all over the world. The book’s editor is his former classmate John Silva, executive director of the Ortigas Foundation Library.
Endika’s son is Aboitiz Power Corp. chief commercial and stakeholder engagement officer Danel Aboitiz, husband of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) senior vice president Mariana Zobel de Ayala and son-in-law of Ayala Group chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.
Endika joins other tycoons who love photography as a hobby, like Ayala Group patriarch Jaime Zobel de Ayala, Jollibee founder Tony Tan Caktiong, and Century Properties founder Joey Antonio.
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Henry Chusuey makes a splash with Henann
Boracay island’s “Resort King” and Hennan Group of Resorts founder Henry Chusuey recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of his company with the groundbreaking of his new, high-end luxury resort project called “Anali.”
One year into the Asian financial crisis in 1998, Iloilo-born Chusuey started Boracay Regency Beach Resort with only 43 rooms; now it is the Philippines’ biggest homegrown resort chain with 2,600 rooms by November 2023.
Former Senate President Franklin Drilon shared an anecdote that he used to keep complaining to his kababayan: Why keep on expanding with many new Hennan resorts all over Boracay but not a single hotel room in their hometown of Iloilo City? Chusuey explained that for the same construction and operational costs, in world-famous island Boracay he charges US$200 per room and customers are happy, but if in Iloilo City he charges people P2,000 per room, the customers would complain!
When Chusuey overheard Drilon recounting to me that anecdote, he immediately said, “Senator Frank, I’m finally building my first hotel in our hometown of Iloilo City, near Drilon Bridge, when you go down, on the right. It will be a semi-city hotel.”
The Hennan Group of Resorts already has seven resorts in Boracay and three in Bohol, plus Chusuey revealed expansion plans in Puerto Princesa, Coron, Mactan in Cebu, Siargao and other places all over the Philippines.
What are the success secrets of Hennan (coined from the name of Henry and his wife, Anna Lissa), which doesn’t hire Western expat managers and doesn’t have management tie-ups with Western hotel brands either?
Chusuey’s children — Henann Group of Resorts president Alfonso Chusuey, comptroller Christina Chusuey and vice president Karl Chusuey — and the founder’s only sister Mary Jean Ong say that Hennan was the first Boracay resort to pioneer modern facilities when before the other resorts had native huts or cottages; and Chusuey pays attention to details, a traditional work ethic, consistency in quality and service, choosing resort locations with beautiful natural tourist attractions.
Henry Chusuey is also a philanthropist and board member of Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII). When I asked if he wants Hennan to go international like Asia’s homegrown hotel brands Shangri-La, founded by Malaysian Robert Kuok Hock Nien; Banyan Tree, founded by Singaporean Ho Kwon Ping; Aman Resorts, founded by Indonesian Adrian Willem Ban Kwie Lauw-Zecha; or Thailand’s Dusit Thani, Chusuey replied, “I don’t think we will invest overseas; there are still many underdeveloped tourism places here in the Philippines. I prefer to invest in the Philippines. I want to help grow our tourism, because we need to help the Philippines earn more foreign exchange.”
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