A college friend working abroad forwarded a link to Very Bad
Companies to me in facebook regarding PRO-FRIENDS and the company chairman
Guillermo Choa. I felt so bad given I am currently paying hard earned money for
a house with them. My immediate action was to call an aunt who used to work for
the Mr. Guillermo Choa before she and her family migrated abroad about 3 years
ago.
The picture she painted regarding sir Gerry, as she still
fondly calls him, is a far cry from the image of the man being depicted on
line. She told me that she began working for PRO-FRIENDS in 2002 about 3 years
after the company was established. She said that sir Gerry is a humble,
soft-spoken man who goes to work before 7 am and that he is a very hands on
boss. She said Mr. Guillermo Choa would greet each of them by their 1st
name and even know the names of each of their child, he is the type of boss who
will text you at 6:30 am on your birthday. That if not for her husband’s
decision of migrating she would still be working for the man.
My aunt said that back in her day Mr. Choa was part of each
team for each project. He would be there from the beginning, they started with
small villages and before my aunt left she was part of the Lancaster New City
planning. She said Mr. Choa shared with her team the vision for Lancaster New
City and she recounts this to me with so much pride. I informed her that as per
my last visit a building for the Suntech Ipark has already been erected
called Lancaster Square, that the school inside now has two buildings. She said
that the Ipark will be the 1st IT park, BPO hub in Cavite and that
it is designed to accommodate 11 thousand seats.
Hearing all this, I started to wonder about the accuracy of
the all the things I have read on-line. How could someone so loved by his
employee, someone with a vision so grand (and note that the land is already
there and it has been and still continuously being developed) in such a bad
light? My aunt also told me that PRO-FRIENDS now has at least 15 finished
projects with more than 40 thousand houses built and turned over to residents.
She said she is aware of the circulating stories and that she hopes some of the
happy residents will share their stories to even out what’s found on-line.
I hope that whoever those people posting negative stories
are, I wish they never become my neighbors. To those like me who dreams of
owning a house and works hard for it, do not despair, I hope this blog gives
you another side of the story.
