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ALICE G. EDUARDO Builder and Philanthropist One of the most admired businesswomen and philanthropists in the country today, Alice Eduardo balances the demands of working in the construction industry with the joys of living life to the fullest, surrounded by family and friends. Alice Eduardo is a driven mother of three and the dynamo who founded and runs Sta Elena Construction and Development Corporation, a highly successful construction and engineering company. She’s been dubbed “Woman of Steel” by many, a reference to both the nature of her business and the strength and resilience that has allowed her to reap today’s rewards. In work as in life, she conducts herself with grace, intelligence, and compassion; not to mention grit and determination. Daring to carve out a career in a male-dominated world of construction and engineering raised more than a few eyebrows in the beginning. Nevertheless, she persisted. While it may seem that she now lives a fairy tale existence, she has had her fair share of challenges, and she has worked hard for the comforts and blessings she enjoys today. Gender these days is hardly an issue; in fact being female has come to be an asset. Her team’s involvement in the building of substructures or what is called the foundations of buildings was what led her to one of Sta Elena’s landmark projects, SM’s Mall of Asia Complex, the foundation of whose actual mall was built by Sta Elena. Other projects in the MOA complex followed—like the E-com series of office buildings, the Arena, and SMDC’s cluster of condominiums (the Sea, Shell, Shore, and Sail Residences). The work in the Macapagal area expanded to the Entertainment City where Sta Elena built the foundation for the City of Dreams, Solaire Resort & Casino, Okada Manila, and Resorts World Hotel and Casino (Bayshore City), not to mention national infrastructure projects like the Sarrat Bridge in Ilocos Norte, Pantal Bridge in Pangasinan, as well as the NLEX and SCTEX. Santa Elena has been entrusted with the construction of at least three natural gas-fired power plants for a combined total project cost of over USD1.5B. These are efficient combined cycle power plants, namely the 1000MW Sta Rita, the 500MW San Lorenzo and the 450MW San Gabriel, all in Batangas. For all these projects, Santa Elena had worked closely with leading worldwide engineering firms: German Siemens, British Balfour Beatty and Dutch Ballast Nedam. When it comes to her philanthropy work—which has involved building homes for displaced victims of Yolanda as well as homes for Habitat for Humanity, a parish church and hall in her hometown, not to mention helping soldiers affected by the war in Marawi rebuild their lives—she sees it as more than just “giving back.” Other charity organizations she supports are the Asian Cultural Council which gives grants to young artists, Philippine General Hospital where she built pediatric hematology and oncology isolation ward for terminally ill cancer patients and had it fully air-conditioned and PGH’s New Bahay Silungan for medical frontliners and patients, Child Protection Network, Red Cross Charity, Philippine Cancer Society, Go Negosyo for young and aspiring entrepreneurs, Young Musician Development Organisation, BGC Arts Foundation’s Millenial Circle, an art campaign program that targeted the students and young professionals, Caritas Manila, Tuloy Foundation, and other foundations. Alice Eduardo continues in all aspects of her life to build foundations fortified by love, strengthened by humility and nourished by generosity. Thanks to her, many have found their home. “I am an ordinary person, but I was given an extraordinary opportunity to help others. I’m taking that opportunity as a blessing.” PREVIOUS PAGE: Alice Eduardo enjoys the serenity of her garden's various vistas. THIS PAGE, TOP: Love Rite in her expansive living room. THIS PAGE, BOTTOM: Jose Joya, National Artist Jose Joya had already solidified his preeminence in Philippine art by the 1970s. Even before Joya ushered in the new decade, he became the first Filipino visual artist grantee of the Asian Cultural Program of the John D. Rockefeller III Fund (the forerunner of the Asian Cultural Council) in 1967-68 and the Ford Foundation in 1968-69, which both allowed him to study at New York’s prestigious Pratt Institute. In 1971, he received the highly prestigious Patnubay ng Kalinangan Award during the 4th centennial of the City of Manila. The following year, his name would be listed in the International Who’s Who in Art, published by the London-based Melrose Press. Joya became a guest artist of the Australian Government in 1977. Throughout almost the entire decade, specifically from 1970 to 1978, Joya helmed the UP College of Fine Arts, his alma mater. Progressing from his “loose” gestural paintings of the 1960s, the 1970s also witnessed Joya exhibiting his refined dexterity in rendering what has become his iconic assemblage of block-like forms, which adhere to an expressionist (and almost geometric) language of abstraction that is entirely his own. He would also begin to incorporate native motifs and themes into his works. These elements that defined Joya’s art in the 1970s are evident in this monumental 1979 work titled Love Rites. Painted by Joya on February 13, a day before Valentine’s, we see the romantic facet of the revered abstract expressionist in this aptly titled piece. Joya captures in the varying shades within the color spectrum of red the distinctness of the numerous courtship practices in a nation endowed with the vibrancy of cultural diversity. In this perspective, Love Rite can be seen as Joya’s celebration of his Filipino sensibilities, in which his colors sing the praises of the motherland. Love Rite can also evoke a sublime language of endearment to someone adored and cherished. The warm palette Joya employs evokes an immaculate expression of devotion to a beloved, in which a subtle hint of sensuality is also implied. A circular form at the lower right corner of the work seemingly resembles a window into the depths of humanity’s spirit teeming with sweet intensity. The bold, striking colors of this piece, dominated by fiery reds, blazing oranges, and earthy browns, encapsulate Joya at the height of his creative flair in keenly capturing a consummate declaration of love—a splendor of warmth, passion, and intimacy. It is in his monumental pieces that Joya was able to express in an unbridled manner the emotions stemming from his consciousness and subconsciousness. Thirteen years before Joya made this piece, Eric Torres wrote in the February 22, 1966 issue of The Manila Times: “For him [Joya], a large scale augments the sense of empathy… Bigness becomes a means of making…certain the spectator isn't missing any of the emotional points expressed…” It is the sublime celebration of passion and intimacy that drew the warmhearted Alice Eduardo into this ethereal Joya. Leon Gallery is deeply humbled by the presence in this sale of this exceptional piece, which once proudly hung in the living room of Ms. Eduardo’s lovely Forbes Park abode. As an ACC trustee, she warmly imparts the tender experience that this Joya work showered her throughout the years to the myriad Filipino artists ready to embark on that pivotal moment of thriving in the international arena, one that would profoundly benefit the continued flourishing of Filipino virtuosity. Encapsulated in this piece are Joya’s monumental legacy and the showering of blessings for the prospering of other Filipino artists abroad like he did more than five decades ago. Indeed, it is a gift of love—a heartfelt love rite. And as Joya was the first Filipino visual artist grantee of the ACC, the work evokes a full circle journey for the artist, just in time as the ACC Philippines gears for its silver anniversary. (A.M.)