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By Jose Katigbak, STAR Washington bureau   (The Philippine Star)


Valerie Santos is a Filipina in a hurry.

She wants to make a difference as Washington’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development and frets there are not enough hours in a day to get things done to bring growth and prosperity to the district.

Appointed in June 2009, she is one of the most visible and highest ranking Filipino Americans in public office.

Santos, 36, is responsible for implementing Mayor Adrian Fenty’s economic development vision and managing a development pipeline worth more than $13 billion comprising public-private housing, retail, office and parks projects throughout the district.

It’s a big job and she describes it variously as exhilarating, exciting, humbling and, for some perverse reason, fun.

In an interview with The STAR, she said her father Dante Santos was the eldest of nine children, all of whom grew up in a one-bedroom apartment in Pasig with their parents.

The Santoses had a small 10 x 10 ft. shop in a local market which sold sewing, quilting and embroidery supplies, buttons and clasps and threads.

“My grandparents raised the family in a sewing notions store in a local palenke (market),” she said. “That’s how they put their children to school.”

She said her father, originally from Bulacan, emigrated to the United States in the 1960s after college in search of a better life and received his MBA at Santa Clara University in California.

Her mother Milagros was born and raised in Zamboanga, the eldest of five children. She also emigrated to the US in the 1960s, first to Cincinnati and later to California.

“Among the things I learned from my parents is the value of education and hard work,” Santos said.

Like many Filipinos who come to America, she said her parents worked hard to be able to send money home to help their families.

Her mother paid for the education of several of her siblings.

“She put off her life and didn’t get married until she was 40 to be able to help her family,” she said.

Valerie, born and raised in San Francisco, is an only child.

She is a graduate of Santa Clara University and earned her MBA at Harvard Business School and a Masters in Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

After finishing college in 1994 at the age of 20 she went to the Philippines for one year to get to know the rest of her family – she has 22 first cousins on her father’s side and 15 first cousins on her mother’s side – and to give back to the community.

She joined the Jesuit Volunteers Philippines (JVP) Foundation, Inc., a volunteer organization that sends fresh graduates and young professionals to under-resourced communities nationwide for one year.

Volunteers are prepared and assisted by the foundation in developing the skills necessary to address basic community needs whether as teachers, campus ministers, parish or community development workers.

Santos was sent to Ateneo de Zamboanga where she taught three classes of freshmen English and one class of senior literature. She lived in a dorm and received a stipend equivalent to $120 a month.

“I have always been passionate about public service and about using my many privileges in life, whether they be the privilege of education or the privilege of being born in the US to help people,” she said.

Philippine Ambassador Willie Gaa called on her two weeks ago and found her to be a “very decisive and personable lady.”

She is also “substantantive and supportive” and willing to be more active in the Filipino-American community in the area, Gaa said.

Maurice Owens said she and about a dozen other Filipino-American community leaders in the Washington area also met with Santos in October soon after her confirmation as deputy mayor, and described her as “approachable, welcoming, charming and vivacious.“

“It’s nice to see a smart Filipina up there,” Owens said.

Prior to becoming deputy mayor, Santos served as the Planning and Economic Development Office’s chief operating officer. Before joining the district government she worked with real estate groups where she specialized in urban public-private development.

According to the official District of Colombia website, the Office of the Deputy Mayor is charged with bringing federal, nonprofit and private and community partners together to expand the district’s economic base, attract and retain businesses, bring good-paying jobs for residents and promote the city as a competitive, welcoming place to do business.

“The scope of what I do is what gets me excited – developing affordable housing for people, looking to improve our waterfront, finding more jobs for our work force – there is such a breath of issues and diversity across the city that we have an opportunity to touch all aspects of life while advancing the mayor’s core mission of increasing tax revenue and promoting growth,” she said.

Santos visits the Philippines regularly.

“I was there in 2003 and 2006 and it’s definitely time to pay a visit again,” she said.

Her paternal grandmother, Iluminada or Lola Luming as she calls her, still lives in Pasig on Lopez Jaena street.

Santos speaks emotionally of the sacrifices her grandparents and parents went through to improve the lot of the family and says that “even when I am having the worst possible day, I know how fortunate I am compared with those who came before me.”

“People tell me it’s exciting to see a Filipino-American doing well because of hard work and all that. I feel honored but don’t consciously try to see myself as a role model,” she said.

It is unfortunate Filipinos have to go overseas to make their mark because “with so much energy and intellect in the Philippines all one needs there is a chance,” she said.

Asked what her normal day was like, she replied, “I don’t know if I have one. I typically work 14 hours a day and I find the work fun.”

“But I do make time for friends, for other things that are important to me.”

She relaxes by reading, spending time with friends and cooking for them and hanging out with her dog and her cat.

She says she is a good cook but cooks Filipino food only when her parents visit her.

With White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford and Deputy Mayor Valerie Santos leading the way, Filipinas are making inroads in the capital city of the world’s only superpower.

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