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pines (ASAPHIL) since 2007 and is also supporting and sponsoring the Philippine softball national teams RP Blu Boys and Blu Girls in their international training and com- petitions. RP Blu Boys and Blu Girls are perennial champi- ons in Southeast Asia and are one of the strongest teams in Asia. RP Blu Boys finished runner up in the 2009 and 2012 Asian Men’s Championships and placed 10th in the World Men’s Championships in 2009. RP Blu Girls, on the other hand, placed 4th in the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games and finished 7th place in the World Cup in 2014.
“My first major project as ASAPHIL President was the Summer Grand Slam, a yearly softball tournament in the country and considered as the national open for soft- ball in the Philippines,” Lhuillier said. He also started sponsoring and supporting various softball activities and tournaments like the National Inter-Collegiate and Sec- ondary Tournaments, Department of Education’s Batang Pinoy, and the Palarong Pambansa, all of which serve as the primary youth development programs for softball in the Philippines.
“My next goal is to have our RP Blu Girls qualify and fight for a medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I’ve always believed that softball is the team sport where Filipinos can be at par with the world’s best.”
Lhuillier also used to own and manage a basketball team that played in the Metropolitan Basketball Associa- tion and in the Philippine Basketball Association Develop- mental League, the Cebuana Lhuillier Gems.
He gave opportunities for basketball amateur play- ers through the Tryouts ng Bayan program, a nationwide activity in partnership with the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) that aimed to discover hidden talents from all over the country and develop the talent pool for the National Team. Lhuillier supported nation- al teams such as the 2003 Philippines Basketball Team which bagged the gold medal in the 2003 Southeast Asian Games, where he acted as Team Manager. He also sup- ported the Team Gilas Pilipinas, which made a historic run in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
All these efforts have resulted to numerous awards throughout the years. Some of the most recent and notable
were his Gold Stevie Award for the Executive of the Year
for Diversified Services and for the Financial Services cat-
egories from the 2015 International Business Awards. He
also received a Silver Stevie Award for Maverick of the
Year, Chairman of the Year, and for the Executive of the
Year for Conglomerates categories, and a Bronze Stevie
Award for the Innovator of the Year and for the Execu-
tive of the Year for Insurance categories from the same 45 award-giving body. He was given the Gold Award for
the CEO of the Year category by the 2015 Golden Bridge Awards, and another Gold Award for the CEO of the Year category from the CEO World Awards in 2014.
His work in education advocacy, was recently rec- ognized by top PR awards such as Anvil and Philippine Quill. Lhuillier was even cited earlier this year by the Phil- ippine Sportswriters Association for his valuable contri- butions to sports development in the Philippines.
Some may wonder how Lhuillier has found time to be the CEO and President of his company and also invest so much time and energy into supporting so many athletic events. Lhuillier answers, “I combined my love for sports with my interest in helping the plight of many Filipino athletes by boosting sports development and awareness of those sports in the Philippines.”
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