Ayala Land President’s Message

ALMOST everyone has a pandemic story and usually, it’s a story of change or discovery. To some, it is even life-changing. After all, the last two and a half years have been challenging in many ways. For me, it was simply about a shift of mindset. The pandemic allowed us to pause and find our center by balancing work and family, giving importance to health, and pursuing our passion to live a holistic life.

With the frequent lockdowns, the extended pause enabled me to spend more time with my family–Lani, Sabrina, and Jed–despite the busyness of work. We enjoyed a lot of shared meals together–long breakfast and dinner conversations with our kids on what is important such as values of being kind, generous, and appreciating all your blessings because they are now at that phase in life where you have to provide guidance on what truly matters. From our conversations, I learned from them, too. I’m happy with how they have matured as people, and a bit more confident about letting them go out on their own as the world slowly opens up so they can pursue their dreams.

I also became more conscious of health and wellness and how important these are, especially as you get older. I also started lightening up on meals, particularly during dinner. I started swimming again, and took up yoga via Youtube. It has now become a regular routine that helps me get a sense of balance to manage the stress that goes with the extremely difficult business environment we faced over the last couple of years. 

Business-wise, ensuring the company’s sustainability has been challenging, but has shown the resiliency of Ayala Land. I realized two things as we slowly ease out of the pandemic. First, the developments that we planned and built have become safe havens for the community and have proven their relevance and resiliency during this period. Second, despite all the challenges we faced, the pandemic shall pass. True to this, we are now coming back strong in many parts of our business.

I’m excited about our continuing road to recovery and being able to personally interact with people again–something that we sometimes take for granted, and then realize how valuable it is to our lives. Moving forward, continuing challenges and rapid changes are just part of the new normal that we must face and meet head on. I believe it is a way for us to evolve and keep ourselves engaged, relevant, and fulfilled in the post-pandemic world.