Assunta, Jules to donate 60 percent of wealth
Assunta De Rossi claims she and husband Jules Ledesma, re-elected congressman of Negros Occidental’s first district, are staging the “largest philanthropic bequest” in the country. They are donating 60 percent of their wealth to the workers of their hacienda in San Carlos City.
In an interview with Yahoo! Philippines OMG!, the 32-year-old actress said this multi-million peso philanthropic deed will make millionaires out of their over a thousand workers.
“This is our own version of the CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) and we really hope it will succeed. Because if it doesn’t succeed, wala nang susunod [na land owners],”she said. “Believe me, it’s going to work. We pray that it’s going to work para all the other land owners will follow.”
Assunta adds that their two combined estates in Hacienda Euzkara, San Carlos cover a 28 sq. km. land area—bigger than Makati City’s 27.36 sq. km.
While she and her husband of 11 years will be left with 40 percent of their wealth—technically making them minority stockholders of the Ledesma Group of Companies—Assunta clarified that they will still run the hacienda for the workers.
“The trust, the document that my husband made, took almost five years to finish. Siya ang gumawa lahat,” she said, pertaining to the scheme that will make up the country’s “largest social enterprise.”
Inspired by 2008 global financial crisis
Assunta said everything happened when their hacienda was hit by the 2008 global financial crisis.
“In 2008, when the world was having a meltdown, [an] economic crisis, ang ginawa niya [Jules] baligtad: Instead of letting go of workers or mag-lay off, he did the other way around. We paid off all the debts of our larger estate. While paying for that, sinusulat na niya ‘yung trust kasi sabi niya, ‘Ipapamigay ko ‘to sa workers ko kapag nag-zero na siya. And it’s all free.’”
“We put everything in a trust para, you know, it’s self-perpetuating and nobody can break it apart,” she further said.
The actress also related that this effort may have regained the trust of Jules’ constituents and given him another term at the recent midterm elections.
Records show that Jules has been consistently absent in the plenary, and that he attended only three out of the 50 sessions in the 15th Congress.
‘Baby’ project next
In December 2002, Assunta, then 19, married Jules, 41, in civil rites at the groom’s hometown in San Carlos City. The couple are still childless.
Assunta says a first baby is their next project.
