A SUNRISE industry right at its inception, Solanaland Development Inc., true to the very meaning of its name, has since been unceasing in spreading sunshine wherever it homes in.
Richmond Homes. Sunshine Homes–San Fernando. La Vista Solana. Two Solana.
Solana Country Homes. La Tierra Solana 1 and 2. Solana Frontera. Solana Zaragoza. Sunshine Homes–Angeles 1 and 2. Solana Casa Real. Twelve affordable, as well as premium, subdivisions developed in Pampanga alone, each evolving into a vibrant community.
Easily serving as template for other developers is its flagship project Solana Casa Real: A 43-hectare development along the Jose Abad Santos Avenue in Bacolor town comprising a chapel and function hall; pocket parks, pools and playground; and a commercial plaza housing grocery and hardware stores, a bank, pharmacy and wellness shops, a dental clinic, and eateries.
Location, location, location. The real estate agent’s mantra most manifest in Solanaland’s achievements, is as much a testament to the visionary entrepreneurship of Ms. Eloisa L. Valerio.
As company president, her presence impacts on every Solanaland project from its conception to its completion: taking charge of the design with a team of architects, and the construction with the engineers and builders. And even to marketing where she is hands-on too.
More than 5,000 housing units built to date, and the counting continues. No mean feat, indeed, for Solanaland since being rebranded from PMV Homebuilders Inc. established in 2006. The initials there referencing to life partner Primo M. Valerio. The couple holds 100% proprietorship of E.L. Valerio Realty engaged in the real estate development and marketing (medium scale) of townhouses, condominiums, and subdivision housing and development.
It comes a surprise to developers and other realty stakeholders that the now celebrated lady of the Solana manor was not to the estate born – real estate, that is.
With a BSBA degree – cum laude – from the University of the East, Manila and subsequently acing the CPA Licensure Examination, Ms. Valerio’s very first job was with the premier accountancy firm in the Philippines, SGV – Sycip Gorres Velayo.
Thence, followed IT-focused posts at the Asia Computer Services Inc. and Union Carbide Phils. Inc., onto government – the Office of the Executive Secretary’s development management staff, Philippine Aerospace Development Corp. where she rose to vice-president level at the age of 26, and Tourist Duty Free Shops as general manager and COO.
Next stop: the luxury market. VP for marketing and planning of Rustan’s Commercial Corp., and GM of Stores Specialists, Inc., the country’s largest specialty retailer of signature brands including Salvatore Ferragamo, Polo Ralph Lauren, Cole Haan, Lacoste, Anne Klein, Nine West, and Marks and Spencer. And managing director of Bright Glory Stores, Inc., the operator of Chomel, a leading fashion jewelry and accessories brand retailer in Singapore.
Transitioning to entrepreneurship as co-owner of Tradex Innovations Corp. which is engaged in bank consulting and documentation services; and franchising three Greenwich Pizza parlors. Finally, into real estate as marketing director of Bes Minds Land Development Corp.
Ms. Valerio’s multi-faceted career is buttressed by equally myriad specialized studies: Executive, Leadership and Management Course from the Development Academy of the Philippines; Air Transport Management Course from the Asian Institute of Management; Risk Management and Insurance, Study and Observation Tour, International Risk Management Corp. and Lloyds of London, England; and various seminars on credit and collection, international trading, and foreign exchange risk management.
Even as she excelled in the retail industry, she “moonlighted” in housing build-and-sell which could have caused her to take the Real Estate Licensure Board Examinations where she emerged Top 2.
With her husband and another couple as business partners, Ms. Valerio’s first take on real estate was Earthrise Condominium, a mid-rise condo close to pasong Tamo in Makati that sold fast. The next, the Valerio couple did on their own – a subdivision for mid-income groups and OFWs in Muntinlupa City which, to their delight, sold as fast. Then, they decided to move to Pampanga.
And the rest, as cliched, is the continuing Solanaland saga.
Advocacies
It is not all about subdivisions though. Spreading sunshine inhered in its very name finds definition too in Solanaland’s corporate social responsibility and the Valerio family’s advocacy.
A story holds that while her husband built homes for the poor, Ms. Valerio, as senior member of the Couples for Christ established the Kapitbahayan Program for the ANCOP-Gawad Kalinga villages in Bagong Silang and Tala Leprosarium of livelihood programs for women like candle-making, doormat-weaving, cooking, and the establishment of a talipapa operated by a cooperative.
Ms. Valerio is co-founder of three foundations.
The Solanaland Foundation Inc. provides scholarship grants to children of Solanaland employees especially the construction workers. It also undertakes regular feeding programs for malnourished children in schools and in poverty-stricken areas, and in Aeta communities in Floridablanca and Porac, as well as medical care programs in far-flung Pampanga barangays.
At the time of the pandemic, it provided funds for the livelihood of displaced jeepney and tricycle drivers due in one Pampanga parish.
The foundation has even reached out to communities in distress outside Pampanga: donating and building homes in Marawi after the siege, donating artesian wells to a remote community in Nueva Ecija, providing solar lights to an isolated tribe in Mindoro.
Pampanga High School 1965 Foundation Inc. which, over the years, supported 350 high school students from 1st to 4th year high school, and some 200 scholars to UP, PUP, and universities in Pampanga. Beneficiaries also included batchmates funded for masteral degrees, and those financially challenged were provided 10 row houses for free. It also engaged in medical-dental missions and feeding programs in elementary schools in and around Pampanga.
For the alma mater, two infirmaries with medical supplies and beds; two toilets of 10 cubicles each; drinking fountains, books, and computers for the library; classrooms through donations solicited from the Chinese-Filipino Chamber of Commerce, and four rooms as center for livelihood for OSYs.
BES HNS Foundation Inc. comprising Beta Epsilon Sigma fraternity brothers and Hiyas ng Silangan sorority sisters – all UE alumni – principally aimed at providing scholarship grants, leadership training and improvement of written and verbal communications among its scholars. It also provides them assistance in their CPA Licensure Exams, and in job placements after graduation.
On her own, Ms. Valerio is a major contributor to scholarships for financially challenged but brilliant students primarily of PUP, UE-Manila, and UE Caloocan. The Editor
