3 Decades In

The Philippines

By EMMIE V ABADILLA

Bhe longest servingPresident of the Eu

ropean Chamber ofCommerce in the

Philippines ECCP

Hubert d Aboville first came toManila in 1977 as a backpackeraged 17 slept at Luneta Parkand befriended local thugs whoinvited him to their Tondo shackand showed him around

The Philippines conqueredme maintained the BrittanyFrance native To date he hasspent 30 of his 67 years in thiscountry His home family andbusiness are all here

Headline 3 Decades In The PhilippinesMediaTitle Manila BulletinDate 29 Feb 2012 Color Full ColorSection Business Bulletin Circulation 304,440Page No B6 Readership 1,522,200Language English ArticleSize 989 cm²Journalist Emmie V. Abadilla AdValue PHP 178,876Frequency Daily PR Value PHP 536,629

After globe trotting Hubertreturned to Manila in 1981 asHead of a French multinationaltimber trading firm He fellin love with Araceli Ara Valenzuela daughter of Dr PioValenzuela close associate ofAndres Bonifacio and memberof the Katipunan s SupremeCouncil

Accidentally seated next toeach other over dinner in afriend s house he could onlyremember her talking abouthow much she loved Paris whilehe went on and on about howmuch he loved the PhilippinesWe mirrored each other Araexplained

A Foreign Service graduateshe worked in a five star hotelfor half a decade and studiedin Sorbonne Then she handcrafted two thousand shell

necklaces and sold half in Avi

gnon for ten thousand francsto finance a year of adventurein Paris

Hubert and Ara married in 1982But he had to return to France

in 1986 to be Deputy Head ofMarketing and Sales in EuropeYet he pined for Manila So in1988 he left his high paying jobin Paris and came back to es

tablish his own company ParisManila Technology CorporationPAMATEC specializing inelectrical power

From the timber business hesought to shift into reforestation I really wanted to go intohigh impact eco cultural projects he declared But he sawbetter opportunities to do it inthe power sectorHubert envisioned PAMATEC

as a social enterprise that willbring power generation technology to the country s poorestcommunities In addition hefounded a non profit NGO Together Ensemble FoundationInc in 1992 to provide reliefin disaster areas and promote

rural development

In 2000 he spearheaded a17 5 Million Euro PhilippineRural Electrification ServicePRES initiative for the National Power Corporation NAPOCOR The French Ministryof Finance funded project wasmeant to provide solar powerfor 120 000 impoverished peopleliving in the remotest parts ofMasbate

But as soon as PAMATEC broke

ground for the PRES Masbatecommunist insurgents demanded revolutionary tax from theFrench CEO When he refusedto pay they razed down multimillion pesos worth of projectequipment and supplies

Undaunted Hubert flew to Europe and sought an audiencewith an exiled top rebel leaderLuis Jalandoni He had alwaysbeen upright and fair in hisdealings He even walked outon lucrative deals refusing topay bribes But he refused togive up on this oneAfter he talked with Jalandonithe Masbate insurgents lefthim alone A decade two Presidents and three Departmentof Energy DoE secretarieslater PAMATEC completed thePRES project in 2010

At present the PRES supplies electricity to 131 remotebarangays covering 18 000households of which 5 000 areequipped with solar energyHubert even managed to writea book about the Masbate

PRES project His Management of an InternationalProject against Poverty waspublished in France detailingthe unforeseen difficulties and

challenges his company faced

Last year the PAMATEC undertaking won the prestigiousEnergy Globe Award for thePhilippines over 150 other global entries in Vienna Austria

Today he hopes that DoENAPOCOR and the Energy

Regulatory Commission willappoint a private company tooperate and maintain the PRESso people can continue to benefit from the project

On top of his PAMATEC duties Hubert has been standing at the helm of the ECCPfor five years now He servesthe Chamber s 700 members

and encourages Europeancompanies to invest in thePhilippines

He also discovered a new passion this time for nurturingFilipino artists and championing indigenous peoples in hisneighborhoodIt all started after he stumbled

on a 40 hectare property onthe ridge of 7 000 foot highMount Malasimbo overlookingPuerto Galera Bay in OrientalMindoro He built his familyhome there calling it VillaMalasimbo and considered set

ting up an eco friendly subdivision for retirees on the rest ofhis vast land

That was until he hit on the

idea of hosting annual musicfestivals with four outdoorstages and camping sites forartists

For him it made sense He fer

vently believed in the Filipinotalent Of his four children twodaughters are artists The youngest daughter is still at school andhis eldest son an engineer helpshim in his business

Now the PAMATEC CEO aspiresto nurture the creativity of the

Filipino to make Filipino music and art better known to the

world In conjunction with thesehe aims to transform Puerto Galera as a prime tourist hub

Already Hubert has installedPuerto Galera Bay in the globalmap by making it a member ofthe UNESCO approved orga

Headline 3 Decades In The PhilippinesMediaTitle Manila BulletinDate 29 Feb 2012 Color Full ColorSection Business Bulletin Circulation 304,440Page No B6 Readership 1,522,200Language English ArticleSize 989 cm²Journalist Emmie V. Abadilla AdValue PHP 178,876Frequency Daily PR Value PHP 536,629

nization of the Most Beautiful

Bays in the World

Last year his Villa Malasimbohosted the first internationalmusic and arts festival in PuertoGalera

Artists displayed their sculptures and opuses outdoorsamong the trees in the mountains while musicians from all

over the country performed Inaddition the festival showcased

the art and tribal way of life ofseven Mangyan tribes livingnearby

Next month March 2 4 2012the PAMATEC CEO will hostthe second annual music festival in Malasimbo And he looks

forward to hosting it every yearthereafter

After all is said and done Hubert regards the Philippinesas his real home He has even

mastered the native languageLegislators nearly fell off theirseats when he was summonedin the House once and he ad

dressed them all in TagalogHe may have French blue bloodin his veins being descendedfrom Brittany nobles but in hissoul he confessed he feels trulyPinoy

Headline 3 Decades In The PhilippinesMediaTitle Manila BulletinDate 29 Feb 2012 Color Full ColorSection Business Bulletin Circulation 304,440Page No B6 Readership 1,522,200Language English ArticleSize 989 cm²Journalist Emmie V. Abadilla AdValue PHP 178,876Frequency Daily PR Value PHP 536,629

Headline 3 Decades In The PhilippinesMediaTitle Manila BulletinDate 29 Feb 2012 Color Full ColorSection Business Bulletin Circulation 304,440Page No B6 Readership 1,522,200Language English ArticleSize 989 cm²Journalist Emmie V. Abadilla AdValue PHP 178,876Frequency Daily PR Value PHP 536,629