A couple of months ago, we had our company outing in
a newly opened resort La Andreax Beach Resort, named after the children of
Antonio an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) who did well working abroad
optimizing his talents. The resort is situated along the clean and pristine
beach of
Cabangan, Zambales. As with any other newly opened resort, the services
were still short of perfect, but one can already prophecy a future profitable family enterprise as our
group truly enjoyed our stay in his resort.
What is the story of the resort?
Antonio's 3 children (2 boys and a girl) loved to go on outings. It seemed
natural that when he decided to come home for keeps that he would buy land near
the sea.
FOOD SERVER CUM GRAPHIC ARTIST
Antonio was a graphic artist and
designer of architectural plans. He studied at Central Luzon State University
(CLSU) enrolled in agricultural engineering that he did not get to finish. It
is a course mainly focused on landscape,
drainage and irrigation. He loved to draw and he was more interested in graphics and design.
He had the opportunity to go to the
Middle East, specifically, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia where he worked close to 20
years. He first applied as food service crew in Kuwait
working during the day and at night did
part time work doing sign boards. Then
at the time when war between Kuwait and
Iraq broke out, he transferred to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There he continued to work as food service crew and part time graphics,
draftsman artist and designer of house plans. In the 1990s, there was not much use of computers, but when
computer graphics became popular he learned through trial and error.
START UP OPERATIONS
For 5 years, his income a month was
at 400 dollars however, when his talent as graphic artist was
discovered in one month's time it jumped to $ 2000 dollars a month. In his part time job done mostly at night he was doing designs of football
grounds for royalty, tensile structures for tents, Arab type hotels among others. He did designs, computed for structural materials,
then executed, Thursdays and Fridays, the typical Muslim weekends. He worked and bought books and engaged in self
study.
In 2003 he came home and tried
different businesses while dreaming to have a beach house. He came to Cabangan
(he was originally from Isabela). He realized using his talent and experience
that the place had good potable water,
he saw the sand as a natural resource . He started to design a sketch. The
place was 3,200 square meters. He was amazed at his discovery: free sand and
potable water within a few feet.
BUILDING THE RESORT
He started work Dec 28, 2012 went full blast Jan 2- March 30
(in 90 days), built a swimming pool (in
40 days) used mainly using local residents. But he got experts: a welder, a plumber, the person who did the swimming
pool. It was difficult to grow plants in
sandy soil so he decided to convert his beach property into a resort.
Through the help of his children they
started to build the family business. At first,
he started in the transport business but later moved on to the resort.
The children started to buy their own "kudos" a certain number for each child, their participation in the
business. Then he came across the
Zambales property. He quickly checked out its location in Google Earth and
found out it was a good location that only a tsunami can destroy.
He quickly adjusted to the neighborhood, getting to know the
barangay and municipal officials. He has
a grand design for the future: two pools (a kiddie pool and an adult pool) with
fountains, 10 airconditioned rooms, a water refilling station; a mini canteen.
In the coming months he wants to build a parking lot to accommodate big buses. He is still
thinking through the suggestions of local officials for a function room and a
multi-purpose hall. He notes his resort
is a pleasurable 3 hours drive from
Metro Manila, quite accessible for tired city folks seeking communion with
nature.
OFW SUCCESS
What attributed to his success as an
Overseas Filipino Worker? He mentions his diligence, perseverance and ability to use both his innate talents and
acquired skills. He dreams to use these same talents such as his knowledge of design to do what is necessary
to develop the land on which the resort is built.
He also mentioned his sense of values.
He rose from poverty, he was loyal to people he worked for, he delivered good
service, he expressed gratitude to people who gave him the "breaks".
Today he wants to be a role model to others, specially to his children, a
legacy built on strong values.
Brgy. Laoag, Cabangan, Zambales
