Miguel Belmonte: Guardian of a Galaxy

By JOANNE RAE RAMIREZ  

At the young age of 30, Miguel Belmonte was raising a family of 500 — his own children and the 500 employees of the The Philippine STAR Group of Companies. His beloved mother Betty Go-Belmonte had passed away, and the baton was handed on to an unlikely heir: her third son Miguel, who at first had set his sights on being a hotel executive. But imbued with a deep sense of duty, not only to family but also to fellowmen, Miguel accepted the challenge and never looked back.

When Mom died at the young age of 60 back in 1994, we didn’t know exactly what the future of The STAR would be because she was pretty much the anchor that we were all hitched on. And after her death, things were a little bit uncertain in terms of management because she was also the spirit behind our editorial group. It was a big challenge because you didn’t know what to expect,” recalls Miguel as The STAR celebrated its 30th anniversary last July. Of those 30 years, 18 were under Miguel’s helm as president and CEO, years when The STAR not only caught up with the competition but overtook them.

“My first real big challenge when I became the president of The STAR on July 1, 1998, which was at the height of the Asian financial crisis, was that not just the print industry but the entire economy was struggling. That was quite a tall order to assume the presidency of the company during that particular time,” adds Miguel who saw his role at The STAR not only as a opportunity to make his parents proud of him but also as a vehicle to help others.

“I was on my way to open the Palace Hotel in Beijing, so yes, I did give up something also to come here (to The STAR),” he admits. But he did it just the same. “Number one is of course to try to help Mom. Number two,  I found that working here is also very fulfilling. Having started here as personnel manager 28 years ago, my immediate responsibility was really dealing with the employees of the company. And as much as I enjoyed the hotel business and I felt I had a good future there also, the opportunity of helping other people presented itself here. When I saw that I was actually given a position where I could make a difference with the lives of many others, I took it.”

Miguel, as The STAR employees would attest, worked the same hours as they did — even longer. He worked out with the rest of the boys in the company gym, and played basketball with them. Like his mother, he kept an “open-door” policy in his office, so it was not rare that you would see visitors in stiff collars and pressmen in sandos sitting side by side on the visitors’ couch in his secretary Myrna’s office.

His sweetest triumphs in life include the lives he has bettered because he worked hard to steer the company to number one.

“You know I’ve been so focused on dealing with the competition that it’s hard to think of something that is actually a sweet triumph aside from achievements that are directly related to beating competition,” says this Xavier and UP alumnus. “One thing we are also proud of is, we were able to continue the legacy of my mom with her social work in Operation Damayan. That for me has made working here all the more worthwhile. Because of the profitability of the company, which everything is rooted in, we have the funds to return all the blessings via also our projects.”

He cites The STAR’s Adopt-a-School program which has already built more than 60 classrooms in about 16 public elementary schools all over our country, not just in Luzon but even in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“I’m very proud of that. In terms of other triumphs, on a personal basis, we managed to grow the company and provide employment to so many people, that’s a great personal triumph. Especially because that was my mom’s instruction to me one day before she died —  to take care of all the people here in The STAR. We’ve done our best to do that not just for people she left when she passed away but even the new staff that joined the company as we continue to grow. We continued her legacy, it is still her management style of taking care of everybody, making the staff the priority.”

Miguel is a distinguished alumnus of Xavier School, having been conferred the Xavier-Kuangchi Award for Exemplary Alumni in 2014. He is also an “adopted” son of Manila, which awarded him the Outstanding Manilan Medallion of Honor in 2011. In 2015, he received the Gawad Parangal Most Outstanding Citizen Award of Quezon City and was recognized by the International Association of Business Communicators with an award for Communication Excellence in Organization (CEO Excel).

And now he is not just the guardian of The STAR but an entire galaxy of publications under the STAR group.

Born & built with faith

The STAR was the 23rd newspaper to hit the streets after freedom of the press was restored under the presidency of Corazon Aquino in 1986. Betty, along with veteran journalists Max Soliven and Art Borjal, founded the newspaper on faith. Faith in God, faith in the new government, faith in her people manning The STAR. She was not let down. The first issue had eight pages, no advertisements and had a circulation of only a few thousand copies. It had the gripping, unforgettable headline, “Wear Yellow and Die,” the story of a Cory supporter Stephen Salcedo, who was mauled to death by Marcos loyalists as passersby looked on helplessly. Betty was so moved by his senseless death she reached out to his family. Till her last breath, Betty was determined that “Truth Shall Prevail” within The STAR, and that biblical exhortation remains on its masthead today.
In 2006, on its 20th year of existence, The STAR overtook its competition in advertising revenues, the lifeblood of any newspaper. Today its the 30th year, it is a P5-billion multi-media enterprise with a total of 1,500 employees.

The formula was composed of more than 50 percent employee relations.

“First is you to take care of what is closest to you, obviously that is our people. Every single company or manager you talk to will say, ‘We’re a family’ but it’s not always the case. I can honestly say because of my mom’s management style and the culture she developed in the company, The STAR was a family. And then she got the support also from Uncle Max Soliven and Uncle Art Borjal and later on, Teddy Benigno. Everybody shared that approach, that this is a family. So, when the staff feel that they’re sincerely cared for, the owners and the managers of the company really have a sincere love for them, then they (staff) work better, because they also want to return the favor, they want to show their appreciation. When that happens and everybody is working hard towards the same goal, that’s already the first step to performing well.”

Betty once wrote that at The STAR, they treated people outside the office, newsboys, readers, advertisers alike — as “stars” who gave light to others. Miguel believes that treating others fairly is definitely good business practice.

“Strategy in advertising and building circulation is really in a way similar to how we treat our staff in that we always treated everyone we spoke to no matter how high or whatever level, up to the newsboy, we always treated everybody and spoke to them with utmost respect and fairness. We give them importance because everybody plays a certain role in moving the company forward. Not just the employees who are working with the company but also people we work with outside the company,” Miguel points out.

Happily married for almost 30 years now to a beauteous and supportive wife, the former Milette Francia, and father of three beautiful and accomplished children Regina, Mikey and Santi, Miguel feels that he has ticked off almost all the boxes on his wish list.

The Guardian

But is he content? Content, perhaps, but not complacent. A former champion badminton player, he remains very competitive.

“We are still flourishing. We still earn big money from our traditional dyaryo, so to speak. We are even in an acquisition mode, we’re looking for other titles for our group. We are in the  process of seriously discussing with another newspaper company,” he discloses.

“We are not giving up on print. We are not trying to see how do we get out of print and move it to digital. Yes, we are not naïve, we know that it may go there and we’re developing our presence there also but it doesn’t mean that we can’t do it simultaneously to grow in all aspects of the newspaper at the same time. Do I have to do one or the other, when I can do all?” he believes firmly.

Miguel’s boundless dream for The STAR is affirmed by its chairman, lawyer Ray Espinosa.

“I don’t know if I can have it all, that sounds greedy but I was told recently by our chairman Atty. Espinosa that, ‘If your dream does not make you nervous because of how big the challenge is, then that means your dream is too small’.”

It’s not a nervous Miguel Belmonte that we see in The STAR these days. But it’s not a Miguel Belmonte who’s taking it easy, either.

Now the “father” of over 1,500 employees on the cusp of a new era in government, publishing and technological trends, Miguel Belmonte remains steadfast in guarding a legacy, a galaxy, while adding his own luster to it.

One of the best compliments he has ever received is from his father, Sonny, a workaholic like his son.

“I take some comfort from what my dad once told me — that he knows and believes that we have managed to take the company far beyond the vision of my mom already. And that’s great coming from my dad who knew my mom better than anyone else.”

(Photography by GEREMY PINTOLO | Art direction by RAMON JOSEPH J. RUIZ | Grooming by ERWIN ONING) 

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