Cebuana ready to take the leap?

BECAUSE Cebuana Lhuillier joined as title sponsor of the ongoing PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, league fans are speculating if the Cebu-based company owned by businessman-sportsman  Jean Henri Lhuillier is ready to move up to the next level.

This was the question I asked Jean Henri when I got the chance to talk to him during the pre-Finals press conference at Sambokojin Restaurant in Eastwood City, Libis, last Tuesday.

As early as the previous season, when the Coca-Cola franchise was put on the market, there were reports that Cebuana was one of those interested in buying it. No one bothered to check the veracity of the reports, though, and GlobalPort’s Mikee Romero eventually made the purchase.

“Are you nurturing plans to join the PBA soon?” I asked Jean Henri.

I wonder if his company’s ballclub is ready to make the big, bold leap from the developmental to the professional league.

In other words, can Cebuana Lhuillier meet the stiff standards set by the league for its member teams?

To put it simply, does Jean Henri have the resources?

I’ve always thought Cebuana is “just” a pawnshop/low-cost jewelry business.

* * *

“I’m happy where we’re at,” was Jean Henri’s reply to my query.

By that he means he’s content to be involved in sports as president of the Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines, manager of the national  men’s tennis team, and owner of a championship-contender team in the PBA D-League.

“Our thrust in sports actually is in developing athletes,” he pointed out.

Cebuana has not won a title in the D-League but the team has produced two MVPs in Vic Manuel, who was drafted this season by Meralco, and Allein Maliksi, Barako Bull’s new recruit.

The interview was cut short when Jean Henri was requested to join PBA commissioner Chito Salud and championship contenders Alaska, led by coach Luigi Trillo, and Ginebra, led by mentor Alfrancis Chua, at the presidential table.

Since Jean Henri had said earlier that he would leave immediately after the presscon, I knew the rest of the questions I wanted to ask would be left  unanswered. These concern the resources of Cebuana Lhuillier.

The presscon started and big brown Manila envelops containing sheafs of statistics and a profile of Jean Henri was distributed to the media.

One look and I got the answers I needed.

* * *

Jean Henry is president-CEO of the PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies, Cebuana Lhuillier Services Corp., Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions, Cebuana Lhuillier Bank, Le Soleil de Boracay Resort, Inc., Just Jewels Diamonds Boutique Corp., Phiten Networld, Capital Ventures, Inc., etc.

I’m glad I never got to ask Jean Henri about his company’s resources. The family business has grown a lot ever since I last looked—upwards, sideways, every which way.

One promise he made to me before  he walked over to the presidential table, “ If I do decide to move up to the PBA, you’ll be the first to know.”