CHAYE CABAL-REVILLA
Women Leadership
Sure, it goes without saying, but we need to say it again and again: Women are all sorts of super, in every sense of the word. Who else gets the job done, maintain a household in this dynamic generation, tend to the self and well, so much more? Yes, the women who really, truly rule and run the world.
June Cheryl Cabal-Revilla is that kind of super woman, one that takes on the world with great skill, tenacity and warmth. As the SVP and Controller of PLDT Inc. and Chief Financial Officer of Smart Communications, she is a powerful figure in the industry she has toiled at for 18 years. While onlookers will affirm that she has made it, the doting and devout wife and mother reasons otherwise, citing that while she did work hard to get there, it wasn’t one without challenges she had to overcome. “I had to learn all areas of the business to be a value creator and consequently, to be respected,” she says in an interview with Lifestyle Asia. “I had to really understand the dayto-day operations to make an impact.” This led her being the only Filipina awarded CFO by the CFO Innovations Forum in Singapore for 2015, as well as Asia’s CFO of the Year at the prestigious Golden Globe Tigers Awards in Malaysia.
And impact she did.
However, the no-nonsense professional holds a distinction for her other efforts in life, one that involves a crucial building block of our great nation—education. “Education is a great equalizer,” she reasons. “If you invest in yourself through education, it’s not something anyone can take away from you. Education will always stay with you.” This sparked a conversation between her and like-minded friends, compelling them to establish Gabay Guro, the education arm and a flagship project of the PLDT-SMART Foundation that provides scholarships, livelihood programs, trainings and housing facilities all in the name of ensuring that the learning of society persists to the next generation.
Being at the helm of what is at its core, a passion project, Chaye has not only redefined giving back, but she has in a sense empowered people to do their part in society, and to most importantly take education seriously. True to this, she has been recognized for her refreshing efforts in community service as the Chairperson of Gabay Guro with nods as a Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardee and most recently as one of the Woman Super Achievers at the 5th World Women Leadership Congress in Mumbai, India.
An empowered woman creating and sustaining efforts that matter, Chaye Cabal-Revilla isn’t just a vision of confidence and power, but of influence and inspiration as well. More than all the glowing accolades to her work, what matters most to this super woman is to keep giving and moving forward. “Just like a fire, we need to know how to ignite the flame and start the spark from within,” she says in her speech in India. “After all, a step made today will definitely shape tomorrow.”—ARDC