By Marianne Grace Sarmiento
LEADING real-estate developers and designers from the country’s top markets, including Mega Manila Cebu and Davao, will again be recognized at the fourth Philippine Property Awards to be held on April 7, 2016, at the Fairmont Makati, the awards’ official hotel venue sponsor.
The Philippine Property Awards is part of the Asia Property Awards—organized by Ensign Media, publisher of Property Report, a monthly luxury real estate, architecture and design magazine—which is the region’s premier awards series that celebrates Asia’s biggest and best achievers in real-estate sector.
“Philippine Property Awards is a showcase of our commitment to the country’s exciting real-estate market, and to recognize and reward the most significant contributions to the sector from local developers, building on our experience with Asia Property Awards in the past 10 years,” said Terry Blackburn, CEO of Ensign Media.
A total of 26 trophies will be given away covering three main categories—Developer, Development and Design—all coming from the condominium, housing, hotel office, retail, green and villa segments.
Nominations officially opened on October 29 and will close on January 15 next year. All entrants are free to join and must be nominated by a third party, including peers, professionals and consumers.
Among the criteria that judges look out for are design and amenities, value for money, use of construction materials, location, unique selling point and stage of completion.
“For the last 10 years, the main thing that we are excited about is to see how many more categories we can add successfully outside of Metro Manila. We always look at how we can encourage and get more high-quality interest in a few more locations,” Blackburn shared during a media conference held recently.
For the next six months till the black-tie awards gala, nominations will be evaluated by an independent panel of judges and will be supervised by BDO International, the world’s fifth-largest accounting and consultancy firm. Short-listed nominees will then be included in on-site visits “to further look at the more relevant facets of the project.”
BDO International co-managing partner Paul Ashburn shared that being with Ensign Media since it started the Asia Property Awards in 2006, their main role is to “provide an extra layer of confidence” in the integrity of the judging process.
JCV & Associates Chairman Eric Mangosing, a representative of the panel of judges, said that one of the reasons that the awards is successful is because of its credibility and transparency, adding that all judges are knowledgeable in real estate and without conflict of interests.
An additional award—chosen by editors of Property Report—will be presented to the Real Estate Personality of the Year whose influence and achievements resonate across the country. Past recipients include Antonio Aquino, president and CEO of Ayala Land Inc.; Dr. Andrew L. Tan, chairman and founder of Megaworld Corp.; Ramon Fernando D. Rufino, executive vice president of The Net Group and incumbent chairman of the Philippine Green Building Council.
Winners of the awards can represent the country in the next Southeast Property Awards.
Ayala Land Inc., a former winner of Best Developer accolade, claimed the Best Developer (Southeast Asia) title during the Southeast Asia Property Awards grand finals held in Singapore in 2014.
Image credits: Marianne Grace Sarmiento