The original 'L. de Lima'

With another Attorney de Lima now on center stage for her steel will and deft handling of a potentially explosive investigation, this other lady likes to refer to herself as “the original Attorney L. de Lima.” “L” standing for “Lilia.” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is her niece and godchild, and Lilia refers to Leila as the “upgraded” version. In fact, the justice secretary was named “Leila,” almost like her aunt’s Lilia, because her mother wanted her to become a lawyer, too.

The “original” De Lima, like her niece, is feisty and brilliant. As director general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority since 1995, Lilia de Lima has served four Presidents — Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo and Aquino III. She packs her bags and clears her desk after every administration, but is always asked to stay.

And why not?

The PEZA has brought in P1.5 trillion in investments into the Philippines since 1995. When she took over the PEZA in 1995, there were only 331 companies in the country’s economic zones. Today, there are 2,300 companies operating in 229 economic zones all over the country (compared to only 16 in 1995), most of them belonging to Fortune’s top 500. Forty-one percent of these companies are into electronics. The electronics sector is followed by metal and IT companies, the fastest growing sector. Very few are into garments these days.

One of the biggest investors is Texas Instruments, which invested $1 billion into the country. De Lima recalls she got very stiff competition from other Asian countries wanting to host Texas Instruments. One even offered free land and free building for its use, but in the end, the Dallas-based company chose the Philippines for the talent of its people.

“In their meetings in Dallas, the company heads agreed that Filipinos are among the best engineers in the world,” said De Lima proudly at the Bulong Pulungan lunch forum at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza the other day. “And the percentage of success of the company is best assured by the quality of its engineers.”

The Baguio-based Texas Instruments factory gets its engineers from the cream of the crop of small colleges in the countryside. De Lima says these engineers are strongly motivated because they know their work is their ticket to a better life.

De Lima also announced that many companies are investing in the Philippines because the Filipino accent is easily understood globally.

Call Centers and service-oriented companies also like the Filipino for his caring touch. De Lima recalls an American who commended a Call Center agent. The American had to hurriedly book a flight from the West Coast to New York because his wife had just died. The Call Center agent took time out to condole with the man and ask what more she could do to help after booking his flight. The American called the Call Center to find out who the voice on the line was and found out it belonged to a Filipina!

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De Lima likes to tell the fairytale-like story of this small sleepy town in Cebu called Balamban that was once so poor. Because of its deep waters and skilled workers, a Japanese company set up in the late ‘90s a shipbuilding business there in what is now the West Cebu Industrial Park. When De Lima inaugurated its 34th ship in 2009, the town was “already like a resort.”

The town has produced a total of 42 ships now, and is said to be even more liquid than Cebu City! According to De Lima, the ships Balamban manufactures are bulk carriers that can carry as many as 5,000 cars!

The shipbuilders of Cebu “are at par with, if not better, than those from Hiroshima,” declares De Lima proudly.

“I tell Japanese investors that if they want to manufacture cheap sandals, the Philippines is not for you,” says De Lima.

Investors are bullish on the Philippines now because of the “little things” that add up to a major difference in the country. They like the President’s giving up of his wang-wang, for instance. His promise of eradicating corruption from the top is a big deal to them, because corruption and pay-offs to corrupt government officials form the bulk of their so-called “additional expenses.”

De Lima is also proud that under her watch, the PEZA has become not only a one-stop shop but also a “Non-stop shop.” PEZA personnel are on duty 24/7 so as to avoid the kinks and irritants, the molehills that become a mountain of problems for investors. One Taiwanese investor who arrived at midnight with two nieces was held because she couldn’t prove they were really her nieces. But since the PEZA knew her and could vouch that she was not into human trafficking, a representative immediately went to the airport to help her out of her fix. She is still doing business in the Philippines today.

“We have no red tape, just a red carpet for our investors,” claims De Lima, who says she has never married because she is married to the PEZA.

De Lima is also a talented artist — she sings, dances and paints. She collaborated with former President Cory Aquino for two paintings, which went on exhibit at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in 2004 along with 10 of De Lima’s own paintings. One of her interaction paintings with the former President, who passed away last year, was sold for P200,000 during the exhibit. The proceeds went to an orphanage in Bicol. De Lima is getting offers for her “interaction” painting with Mrs. Aquino for P1 million now. But the painting is no longer with her.

Fortunately, De Lima has one such interaction painting left. Mrs. Aquino began it, and she put the finishing touches on the painting during the former President’s wake last year. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, but it was something she had to finish.

It was a labor of love, just like her 15-year stint with the PEZA still is.

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