Not problems, but challenges
“IT’S SOMETHING THAT I WILL TREASURE. AND I WILL ALWAYS endeavor not to tarnish it, not to diminish its value,” Lilia de Lima says of the 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Award that she will receive on Aug. 31.
De Lima is being recognized for “her unstinting, sustained leadership in building a credible and efficient PEZA, proving that the honest, competent and dedicated work of public servants can, indeed, redound to real economic benefits to millions of Filipinos.”
De Lima served as director general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) for 21 years before retiring in June 2016, and during her tenure she made sure millions of her fellow Filipinos reaped and enjoyed real benefits from major economic investments.
She was appointed to lead PEZA by then president Fidel Ramos in 1995, when the Philippine economy was increasingly tainted with corruption and Filipinos were suffering from endemic poverty. Years later, Ramos, himself a general, would refer to De Lima as “my longest serving woman general.”
Her first order of business: Trim the bureaucracy.
“When I came in, there were over 1,000 people! That’s always the problem with the government: it is overstaffed. And I always wanted to work with just a few people,” she says. “So, the first thing I did, I restructured, I removed more than half of the staff and started a culture of honesty and efficiency.”
With De Lima at the helm, the number of PEZA ecozones rose 2,000 percent – from the initial 16 she inherited in 1995 to 343 by 2016. The number of registered enterprises also skyrocketed, from 331 to 3,756.
In terms of investments, PEZA under De Lima garnered P3 trillion, remitted P16.6 billion in corporate taxes and dividends to the national treasury and paid off the P4.6 billion of its predecessor agency. Exports reached $629 billion.
Indeed, the figures are astounding that the award described her accomplishments as “nothing short of spectacular.”
“When I left last year, we were the only government agency that is ISO 9001: 2008 certified for all processes in all our offices,” De Lima beams with pride.
The most gratifying of all, though, were the 6.3 million jobs – in direct and indirect employment – PEZA had generated for Filipinos during her term. “My organization helps the poor, because always on my mind was to bring in investments,” she explains.
PEZA under De Lima’s stewardship turned the country into one of Southeast Asia’s top investment destinations, thanks to such radical policies as a shift from government-financed to private sector-led ecozone development and streamlined one-stop shop operating 24/7, among others.
“In PEZA, there is no red tape, no red carpet treatment. Most importantly, in PEZA there is no graft and corruption. And I brag about this, especially abroad during forums, because the organization gets incentives for that,” she declares, speaking of her legacy. “So, when I come home and I get reports of misdeeds, I get angry.”
De Lima, however, admits that all those fruits were not harvested, so to speak, without heartaches.
“I’ve even lost many friends outside because they want to do this and ask me for this, and I cannot. You defend. But my (real) friends understand that I am just doing my job.”
For the firm and fearless leader, cleaning up her own backyard was “the most bruising experience” of her career.
“If you really believe in something, do it – at whatever cost. My office was just a small office, but I believed that it had to be cleaned up. It was painful,” she shares. “There were instances when I was asked to do something and, if they insisted, I’d rather resign than compromise myself.”
Speaking to STARweek at her cozy office in one of the highrises with a view of Manila Bay, De Lima speaks of her admiration for the man after whom the award is named. “Ramon Magsaysay epitomized someone who is humble, that’s why I think he was the most loved among all the presidents. He never changed, like power got into his head. And he was very sincere. I noticed, too, that most of the Ramon Magsaysay awardees have been doing selfless work for the poor. He is one of the
most admired.”
De Lima’s road to the well-deserved award – often considered as Asia’s Nobel Prize – started when she decided to become a lawyer after she graduated from high school, inspired by her brother, the father of the De Lima regularly hitting the headlines, detained Senator Leila de Lima.
“Yes, there are the two of us. She’s my niece, the daughter of my brother,” she confirms to the curious and the still-confused.
“But I am the original,” De Lima says in jest. “Although I’ll say also that she’s the upgraded version because, admittedly, she is the senator and I’m a director general.”
“My brother passed the Bar when I was in fourth year high school. He had a law office right in front of my school, La Consolacion Academy, so I would go there to ask for snack money. Because he had many clients, he would get irritated if I disturbed him inside his office. So, while waiting, I read books on cases, and I found law interesting.” Although she wasn’t thinking of politics then, the young Lilia ran for the Constitutional Convention and became a delegate. She also ran for Congress but lost.
In the years hence, she held various senior positions, from being director of the Bureau of Domestic Trade to commissioner of the National Amnesty Commission. She was also a guest lecturer at her alma mater, Manuel L. Quezon University, and the Lyceum of the Philippines – until fate led her to PEZA.
“In PEZA, I was lucky, as I was able to do what I wanted to do because of two things: I had very good support of the board and I had the luxury of time,” she says, reflecting on her career. “My romance with PEZA was a very beautiful romance. And I enjoyed it because I think I made a difference.”
After climbing one mountain, you’ll realize that there are other mountains to climb,” De Lima quotes the late former South Africa president Nelson Mandela who, she points out, was already old when he received an award.
These days, De Lima sits on the board of various corporations. She is also the director for Fatima Center for Human Development, which she holds dear. “That’s an NGO of my sister, a Catholic nun. She has a school there. If I have some money, I give them financial aid,” she says.
“I thought, after PEZA, I’d just lead a retired life. I cannot! I cannot imagine myself not doing something for others when I can do it,” De Lima adds.
For those who have the potential to make a difference, De Lima advises them to just continue what they are doing right.
“Along the way, there are so many hindrances… You’ll find so many discouragements, so many challenges,” she says, but reiterates a never-say-die mindset she got from her late father Agapito.
“Don’t call them problems; instead, challenges. And there are challenges to be overcome. When you are faced with difficulties, consider it an opportunity, not a crisis. It’s easy to say,” she admits. “Sometimes, I also fall prey to that. But I remind myself – challenges, not problems.”
The 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Awards ceremony will be held on Aug. 31 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Other awardees for this year are Yoshiaki Ishizawa of Japan, Abdon Nababan of Indonesia, Gethsie Shanmugam from Sri Lanka, Tony Tay from Singapore and the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). Ishizawa, an eminent scholar of Southeast Asian history and onetime president of Sophia Univer- sity, has devoted 50 years of his life working alongside Cambodians and international experts to protect and conserve the Angkor Wat. He is being recognized for “his selfless, steadfast service to the Cambodian people, his inspiring leadership in empowering Cambodians to be proud stewards of their heritage.”
Nababan is being recognized for “his brave, self-sacrificing advocacy to give voice and face to his country’s IP communities.”
Shanmugam is being recognized for “her compassion and courage in working under extreme conditions to rebuild war-scarred lives” and “her tireless efforts over four decades in building Sri Lankas capacity for psychosocial support.”
Tay is being recognized for “his quiet abiding dedication to a simple act of kindness – sharing food with others – and his inspiring influence in enlarging this simple kindness into a... volunteer movement that is nurturing the lives of many in Singapore.”
Recently celebrating its 50th anniversary, PETA was founded with the vision of creating a “national theater.” It is known today as one of the country’s leading theater companies.
PETA is being recognized for “its bold, collective contributions in shaping the theater arts as a force for social change, its impassioned, unwavering work in empowering communities in the Philippines, and the shining example it has set as one of the leading organizations of its kind in Asia.”