Luis Raymund Villafuerte

Childhood

Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte Jr. was born on 3 June 1968 in Manila to Luis Villafuerte Sr. and Nelly Favis. In elementary school, LRay was part of the De La Salle University’s track team, running short distances, sprints, and the 100-meter dash. He received his primary education from De La Salle University and his secondary education from La Salle Greenhills.

College life

In 1990, Villafuerte held the highest grade-point average in the graduating Political Science class in De La Salle University. He also garnered the highest grade in the Political Science Comprehensive Examination, won the “Best Thesis” award for his work on “Local Autonomy”, and was the Department Gold Medalist in the Political Science department. He also earned an executive education from Stanford Graduate School of Business (2003) and joined a leadership program in Institute of International Studies and Training in Japan (2006).

Business

LRay, along with his wife Lara, owns Lara’s Gift and Décor, Inc., an export company serving clients in different countries. They were the only Philippine business directly selling to Target branches in the United States.

LRay was the President of Lara’s Gift and Décor, Inc from 1990 to 2004, and President of Lara’s Gift and Décor, Inc. U.S.A. from 2000 to 2004. He was also the President of Bicol Broadcasting Systems, Inc. (2001–2004), Global Merchandising Services Ltd. (2001–2004), Digitext Asia Corporation (2002–2004), and the Philippine Association of Medical Transcription, Inc. (2001–2004).

Currently, LRay is the Chief Executive Officer of Republic Wakeparks Inc., President of Blank Boardsports Supply Company Inc., Vice-President of Breddas Inc., and a Trustee of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship.

As a businessman, LRay proved to be a success, bagging award after award, including the following:

LRay is also President of Villafuerte Brotherhood Foundation, Inc, (2001-present) and of Philippine Water Ski and Wakeboard Federation, Inc. (2006-president). He is also Vice-President of Asian Wakeboarding Association (2001-present) and an Executive Board Member of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines Camarines Sur Council (2003-present).

He is also a Paul Harris Fellow at Rotary International and is associated with the following organizations:

Family Life

When he’s not at work, he is a full-time husband to Lara and a hands-on dad to Miguel Luis (Migz), Julio, Luigi, and Gabriella.

Sports

LRay regularly visits the gym. He is also into running, biking, swimming, and wakeboarding. He has also done Bikram Yoga. He likes trying different things as long as it can keep him fit, but he thinks running is the best way to be fit. He tries to run about four or five times in a week. The first running event LRay joined was the Unilab Run. He followed it up with a performance at the Adidas King of the Road. He started running 10k distances in 2009. He also ran 21k in the 70.3 Ironman run in Phuket, Thailand.

He also learned wakeboarding from his son and current CamSur Governor Miguel Luis “Migz” Villafuerte.

Life as Governor

LRay became the Camarines Sur governor in 2004 and served until 2013, following the footsteps of his father, who was governor from 1986 to 1992 and 1995 to 2004. LRay’s grandfather, Mariano Villafuerte Sr., was also governor of CamSur from 1942 to 1943 during the Japanese Occupation. LRay’s best accomplishment as a Governor was making Camarines Sur a first-class province. In 2010, CamSur became the number one tourist destination in the country with more than 2 million tourist visits. He also turned CamSur from the 39th poorest country in the Philippines to the 10th richest in 2009.

LRay paved the way for the development of the Caramoan Peninsula, now widely known as Caramoan Islands, which has hosted numerous editions of the popular reality show Survivor. Considered as a premier tourist destination in the world, Caramoan’s natural beauty is what attracts most tourists to CamSur. LRay’s love for its natural beauty helped him shape the province’s long-term program for tourism.

LRay also led the establishment of the CamSur Watersports Complex, dubbed “the best wakepark in the world” by The Wake Magazine. Here, national and international wakeboarding competitions are held. This attracts the finest and well-renowned international wakeboarders and other wakeboard and watersports enthusiasts to CamSur, giving them a firsthand experience of the province.

LRay’s programs for tourism has helped him provide free education, broader medical services, agriculture programs, and livelihood programs, among others, to the Camarinenses.

In 2011, LRay also pioneered the El Verde Movement, CamSur’s program for making a greener environment. The program employed a partnership package with different stakeholders, allowing the people to make a living out of planting trees. The Food-for-Tree Package allowed families to plant, maintain, and take care of trees through a food-for-work scheme. The Building Communi-Trees project allows corporate sponsors to invest and pledge a donation that will correspond to the number of trees they wish to be planted. The Back Tree School program is a sponsorship program offered to organizations that can sponsor an out-of-school youth to go back to school by planting trees.

Through these schemes, the El Verde Movement managed to plant 12.7 million trees in 35 municipalities by the end of 2012. It also bagged two Guinness World Records; for planting 64,096 trees in 15 minutes in the municipality of Siruma, and for planting 1 million mangrove propagules in just one hour. When LRay passed the reign to his son Migz, the current CamSur governor continued the program, aiming to plant 40 million trees by the year 2020. Most recently, LRay led the establishment of the CamSur Information Technology Park, a booming economic destination located in the heart of the Provincial Complex. LRay envisioned the CSITP to be the province’s information technology, information, and economic capital. To date, it has attracted numerous information technology locators, giving thousands of jobs to the people in and around the province.

Located within the park is the CamSur Animation Studio, the first LGU-run digital center in the Philippines. CamSur Animation Studio was established in 2006 by the Provincial Government of Camarines Sur headed by LRay. It invests in the development of graphic arts and animation talents through top-industry and world class training programs in 2D and 3D animation. To date, it has produced more than 900 Filipino graduates – some of them now creating animated content in Hollywood.

One of the biggest issues LRay faced during his term as governor was the call of CamSur politicians, including his own father, to divide the province into two provinces to create Nueva Camarines. LRay sternly opposed the rally, saying that it would be better and more convenient to run CamSur as one province. LRay also noted that the creation of another province would cost too much money to the national government. Today, CamSur stands as a single, wealthy province.

His achievements as a governor won him the following award:

Life in Congress

LRay is serving his first term as representative of the second district of Camarines Sur in Congress, beating Assuncion Arseño in the 2016 elections. Although considered a neophyte legislator, Congressman LRay has already filed close to a hundred bills as of writing — a strong display of commitment to his constituents and the public. Through legislation, he seeks to develop policies relating to the environment, education, information technology, and health, among others.

On his first day at work, he filed three revolutionary bills: (1) An act establishing e-government (House Bill No. 262), (2) An act integrating bicycle lanes in the Philippine transport system (House Bill No. 263), and (3) An act using digital technology in the public education system (House Bill No. 264).

He has also filed bills that aim to convert roads into national roads in the province of CamSur to accelerate the province’s development and increase economic activity within the province. He has also filed bills to convert several secondary schools in the province into national high schools to better provide for the needs of the students.

Congressman LRay spearheads the 17th Congress Neophytes Fellowship, a first-of-its- kind, non-partisan monthly gathering of first-term representatives designed to strengthen the camaraderie among the 104 neophytes in the 298-member chamber.

LRay is also the Vice-President of the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Local Government, and the Committee on National Defense and Security, and a Member of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Tourism. He is also a Member for the Majority on the Committee on Agriculture and Food, the Committee on Aquaculture and Fisheries Resources, the Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries, the Committee of Economic Affairs, the Committee on Information and Communications Technology, the Committee on Legislative Franchises, and the Committee on Ways and Means.