By Joanne Rae M. Ramirez
Aside from numerous edifices and virtually all the foundation work of buildings from Cavite City to Smokey Mountain, from Batangas to Pampanga, Taguig to Pasig, Alice G. Eduardo has also built ports and airports; power plants, bridges and buildings; highways and Skyways. And now, she’s building a city.
There are people who reach the summit of their dreams, take in the view, then take a well-deserved rest. But there are also those who reach the summit, take in the view — and then look for the next highest peak to conquer.
Among those people constantly seeking to outdo herself is a woman — dubbed as the Philippines’ “Woman of Steel.”
Aside from building virtually all the edifices you see and foundations you walk on in the reclaimed areas, as well as in buildings at least four-stories high from Cavite City to Smokey Mountain, from Batangas to Pampanga, Taguig to Pasig, Alice, president and CEO of Sta. Elena Construction and Development Corp., has also built ports and airports, power plants, bridges, highways and Skyways. All in the last 24 years, starting when she was only 30 years old. And now, she’s building a city.
Today, on her drawing board, is the blueprint for a township she is building in Metro Manila, a virtual city nestled on over 60 hectares, with a panoramic view of Laguna Lake and a five-hectare park. The park will be lined by low-rise buildings, so it will be visible to all. The township will be 15 minutes away from Makati and around five minutes from the Bonifacio Global City.
Building it from the ground is no walk in the park, but Alice is launching the township early in 2020 and inaugurating it in three years. It is no longer just a dream or a goal — she’s got this.
“I’ve always wanted to build a city where the standard of living for residents is above average,” Alice explains. “So, even as a private citizen, I can do my part to build a city within a city that looks and feels like Singapore, where life isn’t perfect but the quality of life sets a standard in the Philippines.”
Alice believes a city’s success begins in its planning. And if a city or a township is planned well and sustainably right from the start, it will afford its residents the quality of life they only dream about.
“It will be comfortable, not so luxurious. It will make them feel, ‘Ah we’re so special here.’ It will be safe, clean, and beautiful.” Aside from the view of the lake and the park, the township will have pieces of sculpture in public areas, a reflection of Alice’s keen eye for art pieces.
“This is going to be my legacy,” vows Alice, who was lauded by Forbes Asia as one its “Heroes of Philanthropy” for 2018. “I just want to be businesswoman with a heart.”
“I really like what Winston Churchill said: ‘We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give’,” adds this mother of three: Jacqueline, Jessica and Jameson. Alice is also the favorite “Ate” (big sister) of hundreds.
Cheerful giver
According to sources, this soft-spoken lady has quietly donated over P260 million to charity in recent years.
She is a frequent visitor to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), where she built an isolation ward for children with cancer and then had it fully air-conditioned. In 2018, upon the recommendation of PGH director Dr. Gerardo Legaspi, she also financed the construction of a dormitory in the PGH compound to house patients’ families who have no home in Metro Manila. She is a benefactor of Tuloy Foundation, which cares for and educates abandoned children in a 4.5-hectare compound in Muntinlupa. After “Yolanda” struck in 2013, Alice dug into her pockets for the construction of 100 homes for the super typhoon’s victims. In her hometown, Alice built a new P80-million structure to replace the old and small church of the San Agustin parish, which has 60,000 devout parishioners. She also contributed to the building of the St. Michael the Archangel Church at BGC in Taguig.
Alice also believes in helping others by “teaching them how to fish,” so to speak. Aside from mentoring young entrepreneurs, Alice has also donated to Go Negosyo, the advocacy of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE), a non-stock, non-profit organization that believes that Filipinos can address poverty through entrepreneurship.
Alice has always wanted to be an engineer, one who wore hard hats in dusty construction sites and built things from scratch. But the porcelain-skinned and soft-spoken Alice, who comes from a very traditional Filipino family, was discouraged by her mother Elisa, from what was thought of in the ‘80s as a man’s job.
“Mom wanted me to become a doctor, or nurse,” says Alice, now an “AAA” (meaning with capitalization of at least P1 billion) and large B (which qualifies her to bid for any billion-peso project) contractor, with almost all projects coming from the private sector.
As a compromise, Alice graduated with a degree in management. Then she managed a rice mill owned by her parents. The road to Alice’s wonderland opened up in 1995 when she was asked to supply steel to a construction project. “We were big in rice supply, but when Concrete Aggregates contracted me for its steel requirements, I delivered!” That was the start of the fulfilment of Alice’s childhood dream. And it was built on steel.
Thus Sta. Elena Construction and Development Corp. was born in 1995. It is now one of the leading construction firms in the country, providing foundation works, ports and harbor and horizontal construction. The firm now employs over 750 people, mostly males who are heads of their families. If you will include the employees of Sta. Elena’s subcontractors, the firm gives livelihood to over 1,500 people.
Alice’s first big project was the Bacnotan Steel Plant in Batangas, where she was responsible for pile driving (foundation construction). She followed this up with more big projects—the construction of a power plant in Sta. Rita, Batangas and then in San Lorenzo,Batangas.
According to her, she doesn’t undertake projects with government.
In all these 24 years, Alice believes her greatest hurdle was the Asian financial crisis of 1997, which left her with heavy equipment that she couldn’t immediately use because construction in the country had slowed down. Other firms decided to sell their equipment but Alice held on to hers. Her prudence was rewarded.
Thus, when tycoon and visionary the late Henry Sy Sr. decided to build his sprawling SM Mall of Asia and other big malls despite the crisis, Alice was one of the very few who had the equipment to undertake the construction. Aside from the doing SM MOA, she was also tasked to build the foundation of the SM Pampanga, SM Bacolod, SM Seaside City Mall in Cebu, SM City Cabanatuan, SM Olongapo City, SM City Tarlac, E-Com One, E-Com Three, Sea Residences, Shell Residence, Shore Residence and the SM Bay Arena at the MOA complex. When opportunity knocked, Alice Eduardo was ready!
It wasn’t long before MOA’s neighbors and prospective investors in the reclaimed area took notice of Sta. Elena.
“They probably said, ‘This girl can deliver!’ I had a track record for completing my projects ahead of schedule, without compromising quality,” says Alice. Soon, she was doing the pile-driving works and pre-casting of Solaire Manila, Belle Grande Casino and Resort and the Manila Bay Resort at the Entertainment City in Parañaque. In fact, people quip that Alice has actually built 80 per cent of the Entertainment City, parts of which she continues to build now.
For Alice, who also built the First Gen-Siemens San Gabriel Power Plant in Batangas, the foundation of her success isn’t only steel. “It is hard work and passion for what I am doing, and being honorable. It is also the gift of discernment, of knowing which projects are worth undertaking,” she shares. The Siemens project she is especially proud of, because she successfully outbid big international construction firms from all over the world. According to Alice, it was the first time a Filipino contractor did a power plant for Siemens.
Ain’t no mountain high enough
The most important lesson her success has taught her is humility.
“l always thank God and ask myself how did I get to deserve all these blessings? I know God is fair — my mountain is so high but anytime, He can scrape it. It’s as if the Lord is telling me, ‘I will put you on a mountaintop, not just to feel its height but also for you to see how the rest are doing, and if you could also bring them up.’ But if I don’t use my vantage point to see how I can help others, then maybe my summit can just be scraped off.”
Loving what she is doing (as a child, she would put together soft drink cartons to make play houses and would use a blackboard as their roof) drives Alice. But literally, the lady likes cars and whenever she has the chance, she likes to take the wheel herself. Abroad, she usually likes to drive a Mercedes G wagon.
She likes to collect watches, because to her, they are machines that work efficiently. But she also likes to collect Flora Danica bone china, likes to spruce up her house with vibrant floral arrangements and is partial to hand painted De Gourney wallpaper to accent some of her walls.
A devoted daughter to her parents Andres, a dentist, and mother, Elisa, a Certified Public Accountant; and sister to Small, Melba and Joel, Alice likes to give the world on a silver platter to her loved ones. When she needs advice, she turns to her parents, who were her constant companions to construction sites when Sta. Elena was just starting out.
If steel is her backbone, smiles are her weakness.
“When I see other people happy then I’m happy. How can one be happy when the people one encounters are sad? “
“Marami pa akong pwedeng gawin (There’s so much more I can do). My prayer is, if you cannot help other people, you pray for them. And when you give, you give from the heart, otherwise, manghihinayang ka lang (you will feel the cost of what you had given).”
“I am an ordinary person,” Alice says. “But I was given an extraordinary opportunity to help others. I’m taking that opportunity as a blessing.”
