Marco Diaz: Transforming a beautiful island into an exclusive 'green' resort

As project director of the Alphaland Balesin Island Club, Marco Diaz has the challenge of transforming a beautiful island into a majestic members’ resort envisioned by Roberto Ongpin. Fortunately, many facets of Marco’s personality complement his work. The adventurer in him is thrilled to explore the white sands while his logical nature realizes that for the Balesin project to prosper, residents of the island need to have sources of livelihood and a better education.

Years ago, Marco worked in Spain. When he realized that he needed to have an MBA to qualify for higher management, our bachelor decided to come back to the Philippines and take his MBA at AIM. He graduated on the dean’s list and was immediately offered work in England. This brought him back to Europe, where he learned how to develop high-end resorts for a venture capital company. Being in the right industry worked well for Marco, whose skills were needed in the Balesin project. Within two weeks of receiving the invitation to work in the members’ resort, Marco returned to his beloved country, the Philippines. 

One of my goals this year is to start the development of the pier and the concrete runway in the beautiful Balesin Island, where Alphaland and Roberto Ongpin are building what is perhaps the greenest and most exclusive club development on this side of the Pacific. This year, we also start building the villa clusters where members and guests can spend their holidays. It’s an awesome undertaking.

My personal style signifier is my Garmin eTrex GPS Navigator — there is no styling if you can’t get to where you’re going!

For grooming and stitching up I rely on Abel Pineda’s haircuts at Razzle Dazzle in Legaspi Village. For first-aid, it’s Agua Oxigenada, Imodium, and Green Cross Rubbing Alcohol.

Trekking to the top of Preacher’s Pulpit in Forsand, Norway, and hanging down from its lip gave Marco the courage to overcome his fear of heights.

The last meal that truly impressed me was freshly cut yellow-fin tuna sashimi from Atimonan, Quezon. I brought the wasabi in my emergency kit. What’s impressive is the size of the fish when they hook it and haul it in. The Pacific side of the Philippines has wonderful seafood! 

A recent find is my old chest of original 19th-century African tribal masks. I spent more time imagining exotic action-adventures when I was young than playing football with friends. 

The last thing I bought and loved was a ticket home to the Philippines. It’s great to catch a wave at the perfect time! 

The thing I’m hoping to buy next is an apartment at Alphaland’s Makati Place development along Ayala. Large apartments kitted out with fiber-optic wires for full HD entertainment, a community mall as well as the members-only City Club that will be filled with all the sports, dining, and lounging facilities I’ll ever want.

If I had to limit my travels to one city, I would visit Bagan, Burma. It was an imperial city until the year 1287. I want to see this temple and palace complex before modernization takes it all away.

A memorable place I have traveled to in the past year was the month-long hike from Florence, Italy, through the Côte d’Azur, and after the ferry ride, through the mountains of Corsica. There is an enchanting town called Bonifacio that hangs perilously off the cliff tops, the Mediterranean Sea crashing below it. It is amazing to think that a piece of the town hangs out just before the tipping point. It reminds me on how I should live my life: close enough to look over the edge, enjoy the beautiful view and see the horizon but safe enough not to fall over.

The souvenirs I choose to bring home are antique masks. Almost every country has a native people that had them. Did you know that in Africa, the tribes used to hang small masks from their hips? This was their primitive passport system so that neighboring tribes could identify them on sight.

The site that inspires me definitely is Balesin Island. Its development will be so closely linked with my own professional and personal development that when the most beautiful island development in the Philippines is done, it will undoubtedly have a part of my soul embedded into it.

The best gift I have given recently is the gift of full-coverage healthcare I gave to my friend, Aia. It may not be romantic but just like a superhero, it will be there when she needs it most.

And the best one I’ve received recently is a dream job in my home country working with some of the best professionals that are available in the Philippines. Destiny has conspired to give me the best gift of all.

In my fridge you’ll always find a whole drawer full of assorted Italian salami (truffle-infused salami being the best), Parmigiano cheese, and a baguette or two.

My favorite websites are Businessweek.com and Fark.com.  

My style icon is Ian Wright, one of the classic travelers from Lonely Planet. If a person ever utters, “I’ve seen everything” and his name isn’t Ian Wright, he’s probably lying.

If I weren’t doing what I do, I’d probably be in resorts management. I grew up fishing by the beach every weekend and I think that the Philippines has room for 100 or more astounding beach resorts.

The grooming basic I am never without are an Oral-B electric toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste. I figure that my mom bugged me to brush my teeth for half my life, so why stop now?

In school, I learned: Men and women are equal. I studied in Assumption for grade school and Ateneo de Manila until college. Taking my MBA and moving to London for all those years taught me that the sexes complement each other in ways that an all-boys’ club will never fulfill.

After being in business, I realized that a great idea is useless without good execution, shareholder buy-in, and an exceptional follow-through. Otherwise, you’re just earning a living.

I choose my employees based on their expertise and their openness to learning new things each day. Arguments and counter-arguments are highly appreciated to come up with apt solutions. Developing an island requires so much quantitative and qualitative disciplines from a number of consultants, master planners, architects, engineers, interior designers, accountants, lawyers, and scholarly consultants. We even learn a lot from the fishermen and town elders themselves. There are lessons around every corner and one just has to be open to receiving lessons from different teachers every day.

A recent setback I had was when I broke my right foot and dislocated my left pinky finger falling down an ice-slicked stairway as I was leaving London for Italy. I ended up having to hobble a couple of kilometers through Milan on crutches while dragging 40 kilos of luggage over 10 inches of snow during one of the decade’s worst snowstorms. Popping the pinky back on was particularly painful. 

A while ago I was browsing www.notcot.org. There’s a lot of lessons to be learned from a great design website.

My talents include listening.

The sport I do the most is badminton, but you wouldn’t think that I do it too well considering I’ve only once beaten my boss, Mario Oreta.

The books I am reading now are on community development. On an island, you are all the offices of the government combined — DPWH, DOH, DOTC, TESDA. Our team is now learning how we can add more livelihood sources to the residents of the island. Root crops management is now my engrossing weekend reading!

The way I plan my day is through my “CrackBerry.” Every half hour is scheduled in with a meeting so that I get the most from my day. My nights then remain my own.

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E-mail aurorawilson@gmail.com.