TALK OF THE TOWN: The cool prince of Saudi

He is the second richest man in royalty, next to the Sultan of Brunei. This member of the Saudi royal family is ranked by Forbes as the 20th wealthiest person in the world. He is the owner of Kingdom Hotels Investments (KHI), which has 33 properties in 19 countries.

His name is Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud. And the good news is that he believes the Philippines is a good place to invest in.

Prince Alwaleed is building two hotels in Makati right now — the Fairmont Hotel with 300 rooms, and the Raffles Hotel which has 30 suites and 189 private residences. That’s a $153-million project at the corner of Makati Avenue and Arnaiz Avenue, which used to be a bus terminal. It will surely be a splendid area, with KHI and ALI (Ayala Land Inc.) handling the project.

The Prince has 300 cars, including a diamond-studded Mercedes Benz SL 600 worth $4.8 million — but that’s according to what has been labeled as hoax e-mail.

So before you think he is just another billionaire enjoying a hedonist lifestyle, hear this: Prince Alwaleed has been dubbed by Time magazine as the Arabian Warren Buffett.

He has charity projects across the Middle East, Asia and Africa, and he donates $100 million yearly to his favorite advocacies, top of which is education for Islamic communities worldwide.

In 2001, Prince Alwaleed offered to give a $10 million donation after 9/11, but New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani rejected it. Reports say the Prince had suggested that the attacks were an indication that “the United States should reexamine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stand toward the Palestinian cause.”

This US-educated prince (BS Business Administration, Menlo College; master’s in Social Science, Syracuse University) definitely has a mind of his own. Though he has stayed away from politics, Prince Alwaleed has been critical of his country’s traditional policies on elections and women’s rights. Why, this cool prince even hired the first female pilot in Saudi Arabia!

You might catch Prince Alwaleed inspecting his hotels’ construction site at the back of Glorietta in Makati. Or in Bohol and Palawan, checking on possible ecotourism projects. Would he go rock climbing or scuba diving? Go ask him.— Millet M. Mananquil

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Martin Nievera takes on opera in ‘Beloved Encore!’

Martin Nievera will be singing opera for the first time in the “Beloved Encore!” fundraising concert on Oct. 17 at the Makati Shangri-La Manila.

The first “Beloved” was staged three years ago to great acclaim; this year, in addition to Nievera, the starry roster includes singers from the New York Opera like soprano Lea Woods Friedman, who is Shangri-La Hotels owner Robert Kuok’s granddaughter, and Louie Ocampo.

Society figure, philanthropist and dedicated charity fund-raiser Imelda Cojuangco is chairing “Beloved Encore!” Cojuangco, who has supported numerous non-profit organizations and programs both here and abroad, is also known as a patroness of the arts. Through the years she has enriched youth education by awarding scholarships to worthy, fine-arts-oriented students.

Co-chairing the fundraiser with Cojuangco is PLDT and Smart Communications chairman Manny Pangilinan. Known for his exceptional achievements in business, Pangilinan is committed to uplifting the lives of the Filipino youth by providing quality education through Smart Schools Programs and Smart Wireless Engineering Education Programs, to name a few of the organizations and projects he has continually supported.

Beloved’s Project Management Committee members include Marietta Santos, Josine Elizalde, and Deeda Garcia Versoza, who are raising funds for two beneficiaries, the Gift of Life Foundation in partnership with the Heart Center of the Philippines, and the liver transplant program.

Marietta Santos has been a keen supporter of numerous foundations here and abroad. Eight years ago she received the Golden Heart Award from the Home Reach Foundation of New York and was consequently appointed Gift of Life coordinator in the Philippines. The Gift of Life foundation, together with other kind-hearted and generous people, has helped hundreds of children with heart ailments.

The program closest to Josine Elizalde’s heart is the liver transplant program, mainly because her stepdaughter has undergone liver transplant surgery. In essence, the program helps indigent children fight this fatal disease by giving them free medical assistance.

“Beloved Encore!” also features internationally acclaimed performers like mezzo soprano Fenlon Lamb, baritone Ryan Taylor, tenor Victor Robertson, and pianist Tyson Deaton from the New York Opera, who plan to perform rousing renditions of opera favorites.

Nievera and Ocampo, for their part, will showcase the musical prowess of the Philippines. “Martin says he’s really quite nervous about singing opera, but he’s crossing over,” says Verzosa. “He’s excited because he’s used to pop, but he’s now changing his repertoire to opera. It’s a challenge for him.”

A rotary-based non-profit organization, the Gift of Life Foundation’s mission is to give new life to indigent children suffering from heart diseases through free medical services. The Manhasset, New York, Rotary Club established the concept of the foundation in 1974, but it was only eight years ago that the Gift of Life Foundation reached Philippine shores.

In the beginning, children in need of open-heart surgery were brought to the United States for treatment, but due to high costs and visa requirements, Santos, with the help of Dr. Rudy Soto of San Francisco, convinced Dr. Ludgerio Torres, director of the Heart Center of the Philippines, to develop a program that would make the process more convenient and accessible to patients in dire need of medical assistance. With the help of the Rotary Club of Manila, of which Torres is a member, heart surgeries were then conducted at the Heart Center of the Philippines.

Today, the Gift of Life foundation, with the assistance of the Philippine Heart Center, has already performed hundreds of life-saving procedures in Metro Manila and the provinces — at the Heart Center, the Makati Medical Center (with the help of the Makati Rotary Club West, then headed by the late Adrian Ocampo), and the Philippine General Hospital through the help of the Rotary Club of Intramuros.

For more information on “Beloved Encore!” or to book tickets, contact Chevy Salvador at 0908-326-8408, Angel Uson at 0917-795-5909, 817-5926 or e-mail belovedencore@gmail.com. Secretariat is located on the eighth floor of the Chemphil 1 building, 851 Pasay Road, Makati City.