The Build Build Build Committee’s Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo on spending time to make sure that, like her, people are going places.
Asked about her forte, Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo can rapid-fire facts off the top of her head. These include that in 2012, the Philippines lost 2.4 billion a day due to traffic, and that six years after, that number had gone up to P3.5 billion a day, and even that road usage in the metropolis is currently at about 13.4 million trips per day.
She’s been complaining since high school about what a lot of Filipinos still loathe – traffic.
“We are given an immense opportunity to be part of the solution and revolutionize the way Filipinos travel and navigate about,” says Anna Mae, who currently chairs the Duterte Government’s Build Build Build Committee.“ (The program) is not only an infrastructure and an economic solution. It is a program that would afford its citizens more control of their time.”
The program, started in 2016, was said to be impossible – but is projected to by 2022 – cut travel time from the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) to the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) from 2 hours down to just 30 minutes.
“Every city in Metro Manila will be accessible within a 20 to 30 minute timeframe. This will be part of the new normal,” shares Anna Mae.
The Road to Malacañang
Matching her herculean efforts at traffic infrastructure, Anna Mae’s origin story is similarly heroic. She tells of camping out in Starbucks to study for her exams, when she met an old acquaintance. “It was then Las Piñas Representative Mark Villar — wearing a UN hoodie, shorts and flip flops.” After some banter, she was offered an initial interview and a question.
“He asked ‘Wala kang balak bumalik sa politika (Don’t you have any plans of returning to politics?)’ I joked — ‘Kung kukunin niyo ako, Boss’ (Only if you hire me, Boss). She got the job.
Since then, she’s quickly risen up in a primarily male-dominated field, appearing on the cover of People’s Asia, as well as being featured on CNN – all this while writing for Manila Bulletin and Esquire Magazine.
“But I don’t consider myself successful,” says the gregarious Anna Mae, “I may have a few wins but these are ephemeral.”
What she most values is grit – “the strength and resolve to continue a purpose, regardless of circumstance.” Anna Mae believes that it’s easy to come to work when you’re a winner – far more important is to show up and try harder when things do not go as planned.
To this, she also credits her speedy work through government, by following the advice of those who’ve gone before her – her mentors. Anna Mae’s Who’s-Who of guides include: Elnora Yu Lamentillo, Mark Villar, Loren Legarda, Dioceldo Sy, Gina de Venecia, Emmeline Aglipay – Villar, and Gaby Concepcion.
And like her mentors – she dreams big. “If The Philippines is able to maintain its projected GDP Growth of 6.5% in the next decade, then the tiger cub economy might well be part of the trillion-dollar club,” says Anna Mae, who aspires to see the Philippines at par with economic speedsters like the United States, China, India, and Japan, “I dream of the Philippines achieving its full potential.”
The Woman Who Dreams
Anna Mae shares that if she had 10 billion dollars poured into one initiative, she would go for Inter-Island Mega Bridges. “We already started with pre-feasibility studies that would connect Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao,” she quips.
But for her dreams, and indeed the success she now carries lightly on her shoulders – she had to sacrifice much. “When I was still in law school — there was not much time,” she recalls “my day could start as early as 12:01 a.m, when the DPWH opens a new road, bridge or flood-control project. After work, I head to UP Diliman for night classes, which would last until 9 p.m. My weekends are usually spent studying.” To this she says she does not mind making sacrifices on a personal level, to ensure that the Philippine Government delivers on its promises of a more efficient infrastructure system.
‘Tis also not a wonder how her favorite past time is sleep – perhaps to Schonberg’s One Day More, Sondheim’s Not While I’m Around, or Webber’s All I Ask Of You. “I also like Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Michael Buble, Jack Johnson and Moira Dela Torre.” She adds.
As Anna Mae, who juggles phone, espresso, laptop, pen and paper, and a broadband stick to work – her aspirations for people reclaiming their lives back from traffic – is a dream she navigates wide awake.
Connect with Ms. Build Build Build through : AMLamentillo@gmail.com
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