Fil-Am Billionaire Loida Nicolas-Lewis: ‘I’m Almost Giving Up on the Philippines’
Filipino-American businesswoman and philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis is well-known as a true Filipino success story. In late February, Lewis was in Manila for a quick stopover on her way to her home province of Sorsogon to celebrate the anniversary of the Lewis College, which she founded in honor of her late husband.
On the evening before she flew to Sorsogon, Lewis met with a group of business and community leaders, executives, and select media during an intimate dinner hosted by the Asian Consulting Group and Asia CEO in Bonifacio Global City. Attendees had the chance to ask questions to Lewis during an informal chat after dinner.
After one question about advice to aspiring business executives, the conversation shifted to politics and Lewis couldn’t help but voice her frustration about the upcoming midterm elections. She expressed displeasure at the current crop of senatorial candidates leading in various surveys and said she was beginning to lose hope for the Philippines.
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“Those who are really good, like Bam Aquino, Kiko Pangilinan, and Heidi Mendoza, and there are others who have integrity—they will not steal, they will not make themselves rich,” she said. “But are they going to win? They have no money, and the business class do not support them. The business class supports those who will be in their favor.
“So I'm sorry to say I am almost giving up on the Philippines,” she added. “Because we have to support those who will be…for the people and not for the pocket.
Loida Nicolas Lewis speaks during an intimate dinner in Bonifacio Global City
Lewis, who, besides being a lawyer is an astute businesswoman known for running a billion-dollar company after her husband’s death, also couldn’t help dispensing advice to the businesspeople in attendance, although, in the end, she threw her hands up in resignation about what she said was the “dismal” state of the country.
“Just do good for your business,” she said. “And don't forget, in the Jewish community, 10 percent of what they earn is to give away. So if you have P1,000 to spend, 10 percent is not yours, so just plan on the 90 percent.
“I don't know. I cannot advise you. I don't live here. But all I see from television is dismal for the poor and the young. For the middle class and the upper middle class, walang problema, but for those who say they are poor. Kawawang-kawawa. So I don't know. I don't have a solution for you.”
Quoting the national hero, she did express a glimmer of hope for the country through the youth.
“Rizal said, the youth is the hope of the motherland, and you are all young,” she told the audience. “You are all eager to make this world (a better place), but you will have to be the change that you want to see in the world.”
Who is Loida Nicolas Lewis?
Born and raised in Sorsogon, Lewis graduated from the UP College of Law in 1967 and passed the bar a year later. She moved to the United States soon after and became the first Asian woman to pass the New York State Bar without having studied in a law school in the United States.
Lewis practiced law in New York and then met businessman Reginald Lewis on a blind date. They married in 1969 and had two children, Leslie and Christina Lewis. Her husband Reginald acquired Beatirice International, which, for a time became the largest African-American-owned company in the United States. Loida Lewis took over operations of the company after Reginald died in 1993.
Lewis sold the company in 1999 and has since doubled down on supporting various causes, particularly issues affecting women and Asian-Americans. Today she is recognized as one of the most influential Filipino voices in the United States.
