‘Men Who Matter 2014’

(Part 1)

When does a man matter? When he lights up a room both with his good looks and his marvelous deeds; his charisma and his power; his humility and his brilliance. A man who matters is missed when he is not around, and when he is, he is exalted.

PeopleAsia magazine was founded by a man who truly mattered: the late STAR chairman Max Soliven. Since 2005, the magazine has been honoring men of top caliber, from different fields and of different ages.

This year, PeopleAsia’s “Men Who Matter” include Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, Citibank Philippines CEO Batara Sianturi, actor Piolo Pascual, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office GM and acting chairman Jose Ferdinand Rojas II, journalist Ricky Lo, champion figure skater Michael Christian Martinez, basketball stars Jeric and Jeron Teng, broadcast journalist Paolo Bediones and Atom Araullo, chef Tony Boy Escalante, Coca-Cola director Juan Carlos Dominguez, businessman Luigi Nuñez and the youngest Filipino ever elected governor, Camarines Sur Gov. Miguel Luis Villafuerte.

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I have had the privilege of interviewing Almendras who was Energy Secretary before assuming the post of Cabinet Secretary. Why he accepted both government posts is crystal clear to him: “Because my President asked me.”

President Noynoy Aquino and Almendras were classmates at the Ateneo de Manila and are good friends.

“The President’s life has been a series of good friendships. Because of what his family has been through, the President values friendship in the truest sense,” says Almendras, giving an insight as to why Noynoy Aquino’s trusted circle is composed mostly of his so-called “KKKs” (kabarkada, kaklase, kabarilan). 

Prior to joining the Aquino Cabinet as Energy Secretary in 2010, Almendras was president of Manila Water. He was instrumental in setting the stage for the expansion and growth of the company. Under his leadership, Manila Water was consistently named one of the Best-managed Companies in Asia, the Best in Corporate Governance, one of the Greenest Companies in the Philippines and the World’s Most Efficient Water Company.

His first CEO position was as president of a bank, that was when he was only 37 years old. As president of City Savings Bank, he made it one of the most profitable in its category in the entire country.

He started his corporate career at Citytrust Banking Corp. and later moved to Citibank. After his stint with Citibank, he was invited by the Aboitiz Group to be the company’s treasurer for two companies. In 2001, he joined the Ayala Group through Ayala Land Inc. and appointed CEO of Cebu Holdings Inc. and Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corp.

But when his former classmate asked him to give up the pay and perks of his private sector position to join government, Almendras felt it was his duty to do so. Not only as a friend, but also as a Filipino.

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Management is his strongest suit, believes Almendras. When he was asked if he is the “Little President,” Almendras replied that Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa is. “My job is to make sure nothing falls between the chairs,” he added.

As Cabinet Secretary, Almendras is tasked to effectively integrate and implement the programs of the Aquino administration and ensure the effective coordination of policies and projects of the different departments and agencies of government.

“Others call me the slave driver,” he told Büm D. Tenorio Jr. in an interview for PeopleAsia. “In 48 hours, after our meeting with the President, and you still have not submitted what you promised to submit to him, you will get a memo from me.” He is also reputed to be an efficient problem solver.

Like his President, he has the same goal — “to leave the country a better place than the country we inherited when he took office.”

Despite his grave tasks, Almendras doesn’t lose track of what is truly essential in life — ties that bind. Half the team that covered him for the PeopleAsia spread were moved to tears when he talked about his late father. When Almendras took on the duty to lovingly bathe his father during his twilight years, he realized, “that power and strength are fleeting.”

He also told the magazine, “My wife (Marides) is everything to me. I wouldn’t be where I am now if not for my wife.”

***

Ricky Lo awed the PeopleAsia team because of his humility and his solicitousness towards everyone. A giant in the industry, STAR’s Entertainment editor and associate editor is touted to be the newspaper’s most widely read columnist, and yet he sports no airs.

He first aspired to be a priest, but after his mentor died in a boating accident, Ricky turned to his other calling: writing. He finished AB English at the University of the East. And the rest, as they say, is Philippine history — I kid thee not, for Ricky has helped shape contemporary history, young as he still is.

“What’s important is that you’re read by as many people as you can attract. What’s the use of writing if you’re not read? It’s like you’re talking but no one’s listening to you. Writing is not to impress, but to inform people,” Ricky told writer Denise Roco.

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Writer Monica Tiosejo was inside the studio of photographer Mau Mauricio when she heard hysterical shrieks. When she peeped out the window, she saw what the hysteria was all about: Piolo Pascual had rolled down the window of the passenger seat of his orange Hummer and was about to alight the vehicle. He is stardom personified.

A star in the showbiz firmament for 20 years now, he has seen his glow flare like the sun, dim at times, but never flicker away. He’s done romantic comedies and searing independent films, like On the Job. “I’ve reached the point in my career when it’s not always about proving something in the box office. It’s also about doing something that excites you, something you haven’t done before,” he told PeopleAsia’s Jose Paolo dela Cruz.

On the secret to a star’s continued luster, he says, “You can be here for as long as you want, to create a path for yourself. Do your homework. Do not shortchange your destiny.”

(To be concluded) (You may e-mail me at joanneraeramirez@yahoo.com.)