People That Build Your Homes | 3

Proof that calm can lead

Magis Men and Women

David, Minus the Noise

Company culture is easy to underestimate. Like background music, it hums along unnoticed—until it turns jarring. In 2018, ours was deafening: toxic behavior, outdated machismo, and the belief that a heavy hand was the only way to build.

We rebuilt from within. Half our management team changed. Sixty percent of our site engineers today are women. We wrote a Culture Book—not a corporate ornament, but a North Star for who we let in, and who we keep out. We were finished with the talented jerks.

Which brings us to David.

David doesn’t grandstand. A civil engineer with deep experience, he’s what happens when expertise meets humility. He is curious enough to question old methods, but skeptical enough not to fall for the new and shiny. His sites stay on schedule and on budget in spite of what the world seems to throw at him (even a once-in-a-century pandemic). Architects and clients point out the quality unprompted. His team follows, not because they’re told to, but because they want to.

What makes him tick is as telling as how he leads. His family—his wife Lina and son JC—anchor him. David’s vision for his work is the same as his vision for his son: no compromises, no shortcuts, just the best possible future.

In an industry where shouting is too often mistaken for strength, David is proof that integrity can be quiet and still be heard loudest.

Thank you, David.

Update: David is now an Associate Partner of Magis and oversees Construction Operations. He saved two engineers from being fired, asking for some time to whip them to shape. One is now a core member of our Operations Team. The report card is still pending on the other, but David is optimisitc.

Magis Men and Women

Walang Preno Pedro

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote that success is to “know even one life has breathed easier because you lived.”

Pedro knows this instinctively. He lives in Isla Verde, Batangas—four hours by bus, one by boat, and a lifetime away from Manila. The distance means he rarely sees his wife Jenalyn and their three children, but he works with their future in mind. “Pangarap ko mapagtapos ko sila kasi hindi ako nakapagtapos,” he says. His goal is simple: to give his children the education he never had.

Happiness, for him, is just being with them. Nothing more elaborate than that.

On site, Pedro is the same man—quiet, consistent, and exacting. Last month, he turned in flawless work while nursing a severe toothache. More often than not, he skips his breaks to finish what he starts. His masonry is careful and precise, pride visible in the walls he builds.

This is why his peers—without hesitation—named him Employee of the Month. He has their trust, their respect, and more importantly, their affection.

Pedro may not talk about success in Emerson’s language. But his life, his work, and the futures he’s building for his children—those are the things that let others breathe easier.