The Filipino Wonder Woman of Wall Street

BULL MARKET, BULL SHEET By Wilson Lee Flores
The Philippine STAR 09/11/2006

All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them. –Walt Disney

In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can. –Michael Korda

Asuccess story the Philippines can truly be proud of is Dr. Lilia Calderon Clemente, described by US media as the "Wonder Woman of Wall Street." Clemente has managed multi-billion-dollar funds in New York for years from a humble start of only $25,000, and is now a Beijing-based investor in China’s economic miracle. In her rare September 6 speech before the young Filipino-Chinese entrepreneurs of the Anvil Business Club at Astoria Plaza, Ortigas Center, Pasig, she said: "Have positive thinking, believe in your dreams. Be less negative. We need to change the negative perception of the Philippines by others."


It’s inspiring to hear Lilia Clemente urging positive thinking. She has survived eight stock market crashes in 37 years and has overcome. One of the worst was her New York-listed First Philippine Fund, which she launched in November 1989. A month later, on a Manila trip, a bloody military coup forced her to suspend FPF investments.

Educated in UP where she would later be conferred an honorary doctorate and invited as commencement speaker, Lilia also earned her master’s degree at the University of Chicago as one of only seven girls out of over 400 students in her department. Though her dad was a martial law detainee and political foe, in 1977 President Marcos presented her the Ten Outstanding Young Men Award. She has been away from the Philippines for 43 years.

Lilia quietly flew into the country recently to join the 50th Golden Jubilee of her high-school batch in the former Maryknoll (now Miriam College). Among her classmates are Criselda Lontok and Malu Veloso. She and her sisters were "the first Protestants" to have been accepted then to Maryknoll.

From a three-hour dinner forum with the Anvil entrepreneurs on global finance, economics and life, here are some of Lilia’s ideas and pieces of advice:

There are no secrets to success, just hard work, knowing who you are, and self-confidence.

The world is not always fair, but don’t be discouraged. Master the art of stooping to conquer.

We must pursue better science and technology, but without forgetting the humanities. Science and technology must be tempered by human values. The rest of the world is moving towards science and technology, but we’re still producing so many lawyers in the Philippines.

Dare to dream. We need dreams, for without dreams we wander aimlessly. Believe in your dreams.

Have positive thinking. Foreigners keep saying, why is the Philippines like that, why can’t you get your act together? Invest in the Philippines now. Buy low and sell high, isn’t it the wise investment strategy? We have our strengths, especially in our human resources.

When I just watch the Philippine news media through the Internet, TV, etc., there’s too much negative news; it’s always conflicts, issues, personalities. Sometimes I wish the Philippine media would be more like the China Daily, where you read mostly about good news and progress.

The government should not only build infrastructure, but invest more in developing the vast human resources of the Philippines. The tasks are daunting, challenges formidable, but there is hope for a better future.

Filipinos have little difficulty being citizens of the world. The Philippines is the only country that’s truly global. Filipinos are truly the global citizens. We need to work hard to attract more capital and technologies.

Guts, we all need guts to continue challenging our dreams and aspirations.

Think global. Have global vision with local wisdom. You need a global vision. The world has shrunk. The world is shrinking. Even if you’re in the farthest corner of the world, no one can escape shocks from other regions.

China wants to win and to win big. The Chinese are masters of decisive execution since ancient times – look at their infrastructure, from the Great Wall to modern-day Pudong. The progress and reforms are remarkable. When we first visited China in 1980, Shenzhen was only a place with 70,000 farmers. In 1992, Shanghai only had 10 skyscrapers, but today there are 3,000 skyscrapers in Shanghai and they are building 3,000 more. They have lifted 400 million people up from poverty. Their economy has been growing at 9.5 percent per annum for 28 years. They’d like to double the economy by 2012. I believe this growth is sustainable. The government wants to slow down, and there’s nothing wrong if they have 6 percent annual economic growth in the future.

We launched the first private equity fund in China. There are now 60 million stock market investors in China. Before, their companies were all 100 percent state-owned, now it’s less than 30 percent state-owned. President Bush spends US$1 billion a day. Bush should be grateful to China and also Japan, because China buys 30 percent and Japan buys 40 percent of all USA treasury bonds, thus extending credit to the Americans.

The Philippines is a nation of super-achievers. We need more optimism. We need more confidence. Even if we’re short – I’m only five feet – walk 10 feet tall!

My late mother taught me if hit by lemons, turn them into lemonade. In the 1960s on my first trip to the US, I took a bus ride and it stopped in Mississippi. My order for food was not served, because they pointed to a sign that said colored people wouldn’t be served. It was my first encounter with racial discrimination. I showed them my Philippine passport, asked them if they’d heard of General MacArthur and how we Filipinos fought with them against the Japanese. After I cried, the bus driver later brought me my food and apologized that they’d never seen a person from the Philippines before. When Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights march to Washington, D.C. and made his "I have a dream" speech, I joined the rally.

I was studying in Chicago when Harvard then didn’t accept women students. In those days, an MBA graduate earned US$15,000, but as a PhD candidate I got only $8,000 because I didn’t have a green card. I was the first to go to the office and the last to leave the office daily, and my boss felt guilty. He kept giving me a raise every three months.

President Gloria M. Arroyo's challenge is to create jobs, jobs, jobs. Now the Chinese are returning from the West to China; we should aspire for that same situation with our overseas Filipino workers. It’s not easy, the lives of OFWs. If there are enough jobs here in the Philippines, who would like to work as domestics, nurses or engineers abroad?

I think the next 10 years will be the most exciting period to be alive. You young Anvil entrepreneurs have an important responsibility. We need to have more people with passion for life, to be anxious to use your knowledge, to be interested in human values. Don’t give up the search for universal truths, be always driven by a need to excel.

Have faith in God. Whenever I make business decisions, my associates know that I have to ultimately consult my boss up there.