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SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2017
Business
Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@thestandard.com.ph
ACCOR SUPPORTS SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD ACCORHOTELS Philippines, a part of AccorHotels, the worldleading travel and lifestyle group and digital innovator with over 4,000 hotels and residences has expressed its commitment to the sustainable seafood initiative.
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HOME DEVELOPER.
P.A. Properties chairman Romarico Alvarez (right) and president Jonathan Lu
PROPERTY DEVELOPER EXPANDS TO MEET PH HOUSING SHORTAGE A 2.7-hectare inheritance in 1993 became the foundation of a property development company that has now provided 25,000 affordable, high-quality homes to Filipino families.
“P.A. Properties was established in 1993 from a four-hectare lot in San Pedro, Laguna that my father—Pelayo Alvarez—inherited from his parents. He gave the 1.3 hectares to farmer tenants and we developed 2.7 hectares into our first project called St. Joseph Village at the height of real estate boom,” says Romarico Alvarez, chairman of P.A. Properties, a leading first home provider in the southern fringes of Metro Manila. The 200 units at St. Joseph Village were sold out in less than four months, encouraging P.A. Properties to build more projects in Laguna and later in other parts of Luzon. After developing 39 housing subdivision projects and 25,000 housing units, P.A. Properties now has 423 employees, 2,500 in-house sellers and 1,000 brokers and indirectly employs thousands more. The company positions to expand to other parts of Luzon with a mission to fill the large housing gap of 5.7 million units, says P.A. Properties president Jonathan Lu. “We cater to the Filipino families. We provide affordable first homes to families and we intend to continue this mission. We will remain affordable, because this is where the demand is,” says Alvarez, who graduated with an Accounting degree from the University of San Juan de Letran. “We have 7 million to 8 million OFWs [overseas Filipino workers]. They left the Philippines, because they wanted to provide a home for their families,” says Alvarez, adding that P.A. Properties
will continue to play its role of providing homes, and not just pieces of investments that other companies try to develop. Lu, who is also an accountant, says P.A. Properties has made its mark in the housing sector by building beautiful and high-quality homes at affordable cost and at a quick pace. “Our chairman wants us to be known as a developer that delivers on 4Ms – mabilis, matibay, maganda at mura,” says Lu. Alvarez says the company completed the construction of 1,500 units in 2016 and aims to complete another 3,000 units this year. “In the next five years, we aim to construct 5,000 to 10,000 units. The more houses we construct, the more Filipino families will realize their dream of having a home,” says Alvarez. He says P.A. Properties is best known for enabling first-home buyers achieve their dreams of owning a place of abode that they can call their own and be proud of. PA Properties has lined up several housing community projects in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) region and Central Luzon. Citing the emergence of mega-urban centers and the increasing population and economic activities in the fringe areas of Metro Manila, Lu says the company’s 20-year experience in catering to individuals and families seeking to own their first homes gave the company a “certain degree” of competency and proficiency in terms of knowing exactly the needs and wants of the “countryside market”. He says P.A. Properties is in a good position to deliver quality yet affordable housing units and communities in the country’s fast growing areas. “Countryside developers [like us] could more than comply with the task of creating quality and affordable housing communities side by side with the emergence of mega city environments outside of the megalopolis,” he says. “Our role is critical in helping the government address the country’s ever-increasing housing
backlog,” he says. Lu cites the efforts of housing agencies—specifically Pag-Ibig Fund that has allocated more than P50 billion for housing loans for its members nationwide— to provide available funding support to address the housing shortage. “Likewise, banks and other financial institutions have steadily provided the much needed financing support and lower interest rates for qualified home buyers,” Lu says. P.A. Properties had focused mainly on building and developing housing communities in Laguna and Cavite until 2010. Alvarez, seeing the expansion of major road arteries and accessibility of other provinces in Calabarzon following the completion of South Luzon Expressway link to Southern Luzon Arterial Road, led the company in landbanking activities in the area. This opened up property developments in Lipa City and Calamba. PA Properties also opened subdivisions in Bulacan, Pampanga and Tarlac as North Luzon Expressway linked up to Subic-Clark-tarlac Expresway and Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway. Alvarez says to help first-time home buyers from low and middle-income families, PA Properties keeps the prices of its housing units within the Pag-Ibig Fund support bracket. Projects of P.A. Properties start from P400,000 up to P3 million. Lu says demand for this segment remains strong, as the Philippine population continues to increase and the economy grows. Alvarez attributes the steady growth and brisk sales to the quality and affordability of the company’s housing units. “We always make sure that our homebuyers will have a sense of pride in their home ownership decisions and in the end be grateful that they decided to acquire their homes from us,” he says. PA Properties broke ground for their latest projects in Bulacan, Pampanga, Laguna and Turn to C2
The group is comprised of five hotels in the Philippines including Raffles Makati and Fairmont Makati, Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila, Novotel Manila Araneta Center and Mercure Manila Ortigas. Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila hosted the one-day workshop where stakeholders including environmental groups, hotels and restaurants, government and non-governmental organizations have come together to discuss the roadmap on how to have sustainable seafood in the Philippines.
The different stakeholders identified the gaps at each stage of the fisheries supply chain including the need for rigorous documentation of fish catch, and country-specific standards in the processing of seafood. This is in addition to key priorities in conserving seafood resources such as proper ecolabelling, appreciation of the seasonality of certain species, enforcement of labor laws concerning fishers’ welfare, more affordable methods for monitoring fishing vessels, and complete registration of fishers and boats. The sustainable seafood used was sponsored by Meliomar, a seafood-processing and export c o m p a ny fo c u s i n g o n t h e development and trade of highquality sustainable seafood. “AccorHotels Philippines is committed to supporting Sustainable Seafood and assuring our diners that an ever-increasing percentage of the seafood served in our hotels is sourced from nonendangered fisheries,” says Adam Laker, area general manager of AccorHotels Philippines.
SOLAR PANELS GET CURVED TO PRODUCE MORE POWER
By Alena Mae S. Flores
SOLAR technology is growing at a fast pace and local solar energy provider GreenHeat, together with partner Sun Man, is introducing The Curve, the latest in renewable energy solutions. Taking inspiration from the curves in nature, Curve is a flexible, durable, ultra-thin, highly adaptable solar panel that can be integrated into surfaces where regular panels are not compatible. Green Heat Corp., one of the leading solar providers in the Philippines, is looking at putting up 6.5 megawatts of solar rooftop projects this year as it introduces the latest
technological breakthrough in the industry. Green Heat director Glenn Tong said around 70 percent of the solar rooftop projects lined up this year would be located in Metro Manila with some of the projects already carrying The Curve solar panels. He said the company installed a total of 4.2 MW of solar rooftop projects last year. Tong said The Curve panels are the latest in solar power solutions, which has many advantages over conventional solar panels. He said while the newly-developed product was more expensive than the conventional solar panels, Green Heat made “prices equal to the traditional” by absorbing the extra cost. “The Curve is a flexible, durable, ultra-thin,
highly adaptable solar panel that can be easily integrated into surfaces where regular panels are not compatible,” he said. Tong said because it is lightweight, The Curve solar panels can be applied to surfaces that cannot handle conventional panels. The Curve weighs only 7.5 kilograms while conventional panels weigh 27 kilograms. He said The Curve can also physically adjust to structures like arches and domes, which is possible through its Flexicell technology. “Installation is also easier because The Curve requires no drilling of holes on rooftops which in turn doesn’t produce leaks, owing to its unique roof bonding technology,” Tong said.