‘Mutual admiration’

In an emotional cocktail reception held at the City Club in Alphaland Makati Place, Alphaland chairman Roberto “Bobby” Ongpin said farewell to lawyer Mario “Babes” Oreta who has decided to move on after 10 years with Alphaland as its vice chairman and president.

The farewell party was attended by employees and some shareholders of Balesin and the City Club. Not even the band or the lechon could disguise the sadness that the business tycoon felt during the occasion — which is understandable considering that both Bobby and Babes have been longtime business partners and even longer as friends; they have known each other for four decades.

A lawyer by profession, Babes found himself dabbling in real estate because his family owned a construction firm, getting absorbed in the challenge of growing a modest development company that he soon found himself leaving the legal profession to concentrate on the business. In 2007, Babes got invited by Bobby to join Alphaland. 

Together, they worked to make Alphaland become one of the country’s major real estate development companies with such high-end, top-of-the-line projects as Alphaland Makati Place and the super-exclusive Balesin Island Club. No doubt their business partnership has made the friendship even stronger, as both men found themselves facing challenges along the way.

Indeed, during the reception, former trade minister Bobby Ongpin talked about the deep friendship between him and Babes — and it was therefore not surprising that Babes also became emotional during his response, recalling the lessons that he has learned from working with Bobby whom he regards as his “mentor.” 

On several occasions, Babes would talk about how Bobby has impacted his career and his vision, saying that everything he ever learned from the business tycoon, he also wants others to learn, among them the passion for excellence and the refusal to settle for mediocrity.

For sure, all the lessons he learned will be applied by the successor of the outgoing president and vice chairman of Alphaland — who is no other than Bobby’s daughter Anna, who has been trained for more than a year by Babes Oreta to take his place.