ASEANA CITY: FACE OF RP'S RESILIENCE

Delfin Angelo “Buds” Wenceslao has a tough call to make: showcase Aseana City as the face of the Philippines’ resilience in overcoming economic challenges such as this COVID-19 pandemic that is now playing out all over the globe.

Aseana City is a 204-hectare reclaimed area fronting Manila Bay that Buds, the CEO of D.M. Wenceslao & Associates, Inc., a listed company on the Philippine Stock Exchange with the trading symbol (DMW), envisions to be the entertainment and lifestyle center of the Philippines.

And he comes prepared for the role as he constructs a business model that seeks to show the country’s proven resilience to weather any disruption in its economy. And to do that, he has to make sure that Aseana City becomes the “next generation city.”

He is passionate about his role and his love for the Philippines is unmistakable. And as he continues DMW’s vision of making Aseana City “contribute to overall nation-building,” and become the symbol of the country’s resilience - Buds, makes sure that the reclaimed land is a liveable city for the “well being of human society depends upon our knowledge of how cities live and breathe.”

Buds find the COVID-19 pandemic a challenge like no other. “I think the most challenging was not knowing,“ he said but as he is devoted to life-long learning and the kaizen way, doing baby steps to evolve into a successful organization, plus his defining passion for grit, the goal he has set for himself and for the country is within reach.

“We’re a 55-year old company this year,” he said, in a wide-ranging interview with The Financial District, “and we’ll chalk COVID-19 to the list of challenges we will overcome.”

“The Philippines has always been resilient,“ Buds, who had dreamt before of becoming a doctor to join other relatives in the medical profession, emphasized. “With our demographics, pricing and standing, I’m confident in the Philippines’ medium and long term economic fundamentals,” he continued.

Expressing optimism about the future, he is set on making a strong message on the offering of DMW. “We are here to build liveable cities,” he said, citing that as city builders the company’s “mission is bigger than any of us as individuals.”

With a Master of Science in Real Estate Development degree from the iconic Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston USA, Buds comes prepared for the role. In 2002, he became the first employee of DMW's real estate development department, building on what his grandfather Delfin M. Wenceslao started in 1965 and his father Delfin J. Wenceslao expanded in the eighties.

Now, he is making a meaningful pivot for the erstwhile construction firm that has put together a reclaimed land by the Manila Bay where four years after his entry into DMW, the company finished its first building in 2006 and it now has finished six commercial buildings and a residential condominium.

Aseana City is seen as the next Central Business District after that of Bonifacio Global City because of the primness of its location. And for Buds, he is confident that the company will weather the pandemic’s challenge much like that of the country.

After all, top-notch leisure and entertainment centers are within or just a stone’s throw away from Aseana and that is what excites Buds, who had a two-year stint with an international real estate services and consulting firm.

With almost two decades of experience in financial analysis, leasing and brokerage, development, project management and property management, Buds wants to cement another challenge that DMW has overcome in its amazing journey from doing construction work for others to doing construction work for the business.

Buds is bent on continuing the long-term strategy of DMW which had its humble beginnings in 1965. The company has since reclaimed more than 2.4 million square meters of land, leased or developed 245,000 square meters of land and buildings, and completed over 140 construction projects and infrastructure projects that include complex government projects.

There is no let-up as the company continues its land banking activities even as it confronts the challenges of COVID-19. It now has land bank in Cavite, Quezon City and Makati and is eyeing a possible reclamation project in Mandaue City.

In the engaging talk with The Financial District’s Ardee Urbina and Mike Olalia, the unmistakable glint in the eyes of Buds is discernible as he unveils the prospects of Aseana City and its all-encompassing vision to showcase the country’s resilience.

But there is one attribute that Mike and Ardee saw and that is the fact that even as DMW faces the spectre of COVID-19’s after-effects, the company saw to it that their employees’ health and safety are not compromised.

Buds, after all, graduated with a degree in Management Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University which inculcates in its students that they should be "a man for others.”

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