What are the issues relating to starting and growing - from brainstorming to business plan construction - a business? Are you an entrepreneur? Share your stories. Post away :)

I’ll take a stab at this thread. My responses below are random thoughts that popped up strictly from experience (versus MBA school) and limited to what I’ve done here in the US.

Don’t believe everything you hear including what I say here. Validate the information to make sure the advice you hear is true or false. When we started our health care business four years ago, we got advice left and right from well meaning people who seem to be in “the know”. For example, we were told that our capital need will be in excess of $250,000 in order for us to succeed. We were able to do it at less than $100,000 by avoiding consultants, Do ItYourself whenever possible, and learning the business like the back of your hand.

Going into a business with a partner is like going on a long trip with someone. It is always easy to find someone to come along with you, but not as easy to get rid of them if the relationship sours. :bash: If you can do it alone, grab the opportunity. Don’t go into partnership with someone just because he’s you’re old classmate or he’s your best drinking buddy. :cheers: Compatibility in personality, values, integrity and goals are more important. What is that potential partner bringing on the table to increase the viability of success for the business? How does this person take winning or losing? Can they hang with you when the going gets tough? What about you? Can you work with someone or are you better at working alone?

Are you a risk taker? Can you walk down Tondo in the middle of the night and yell “Stelllllllaaaa”? (A la Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire) :ohno: Accept risk like a wicked mother in law. You’re stuck with her as long you’re married to her daughter called Business. If you’re truly serious about pursuing Business, ask yourself this question, “What’s the worst that can happen to me if I fail?” If you can get up after you stumble, go for it. Otherwise, look for other opportunities.

It takes money to make money. Do the budget and determine how much it will take to make the business succeed. Some people go into business with lots of inspiration but very little capital, not understanding that there’s a period of time when all you do is bleed before seeing any green.

Can you herd cats? Running a business means wearing many hats, knowing to juggle multiple tasks and working long hours for peanuts. If you have the skills and willing to make the sacrifice, the rewards are there.

It’s going to get worse before it gets better. :nuts:

my first venture into entrepreneurship was at the age of 10. my dad gave me an idea and that was to sell "agogo" (hindi yung dancer ha :lol:). agogo in negros refers to ice candy.

ang target market ko...mga laborers from the farm who would converge in the house to get their week's wages. they would be there in the front yard the entire saturday morning waiting for their names to be called by the office personnel supervising the payroll. in the meantime, umiikot ako with my styrofoam ice box selling agogo at 25 centavos per. mga 150 agogos yung binebenta ko per saturday. gross sales...P 37.50 . capital ko mga P15 to P18. going home with an extra P 20.00 per week wasn't all too bad in 1978 :)

i will always treasure that time when i was a kid. it did well to lay a foundation for future ventures.

I was supposed to email this to one of the forumers with whom I share a start-up project. Initially email was in mind but then I thought of posting it here instead for the benefit of all ;)

The 20 Most Important Questions In Business
Brett Nelson, 11.21.07, 6:30 PM ET
Forbes.com

excerpts.....


Companies fail for a host of reasons. Bad luck plays a role, sure, but disaster usually strikes because of a more fundamental flaw--in the original idea, the strategy, the execution or all of the above.

When it comes to building a business, even Warren Buffett would agree that no one can spot every opportunity or anticipate every threat. There are simply too many variables. And in an increasingly competitive global economy, those variables are changing faster than ever before.

What entrepreneurs can do is ask the core set of tough questions that govern the fate of any enterprise. Armed with those answers, they stand the best chance of beating some fairly dire odds: Studies estimate that just two-thirds of all start-ups survive the first two years, and less than half make it to the fourth.

Make no mistake: Digging for those answers is a grueling exercise--one that takes serious intellectual and emotional honesty. With any hope, the process begins long before money's been spent, products are built and customers are lost.

The real challenge, though, is to keep digging as the business grows. New opportunities and threats emerge, and yesterday's answers may not--and probably won't--suffice. Relentlessly asking the tough questions is how behemoths like Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ), Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) and General Electric (nyse: GE - news - people ) stay on top.

With that in mind, we present the 20 most important questions entrepreneurs need to answer--and keep answering--to build their businesses. Some highlights:

What is your value proposition?

This is the single most important question of the bunch. If you can't explain--in three, jargon-free sentences or less--why customers need your product, you do not have a value proposition. Without a need, there is no incentive for customers to pay. And without sales, you have no business. Period.

Does your product address a viable market?

Entrepreneurs are passionate to a fault. Many fall in love with an idea before confirming that there's any viable market for it, let alone one large enough to attract investment capital. If a market doesn't yet exist--the toxic term of art here is "white space"--they assume they can create one. (Hint: There may be a reason for all that white space.)


What differentiates your product from the competitors'?

Few companies can rely on--let alone afford--clever marketing schemes to separate themselves from the competition. Yes, Starbucks (nasdaq: SBUX - news - people ) made people believe they wanted $4 caffeinated concoctions, and Louis Vuitton lulled people into shelling out $1,500 for denim handbags, but those are the exceptions that prove the rule. If you want to win in business, you need to offer something tangibly valuable that the competition doesn't. Examples: rock-bottom prices (Wal-Mart); ingenious product design (Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people )); extreme convenience (Fed Ex (nyse: FDX - news - people )).

How much cash do you need to survive the early years?

It doesn't matter how much money your business might make down the road if you can't get out of your garage. Plenty of business plans boast hockey-stick-style financial projections but run out of cash before the good times kick in. (Remember all those busted dot-com companies from the tech boom?) Three words: Mind the cash.

What are your strengths?

Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) writes powerful search algorithms; Steinway works wonders with wood; Cisco (nasdaq: CSCO - news - people ) sniffs out promising new technologies and buys them. Figure out what you're good at and stick to it. An obvious notion, perhaps, but plenty of zealous entrepreneurs lose their way--especially when the world seems so full of possibilities.

How big is the threat of new entrants?

If you're smart enough to spy a profitable business opportunity, you can bet competition isn't far behind. Some barriers to entry--patented technology, a storied brand--are more fortified than others, but eventually someone will find a way to do what you do faster, cheaper and maybe even better. If not a direct competitor, then a substitute technology might take a chunk out of your hide. (Think what digital film did to Kodak.) The trick: building a loyal following before that happens.

How much power do your suppliers have?

Convincing customers to buy your products is tough enough without suppliers breaking your back. Basic rule of thumb: The fewer the number of suppliers, the more sway they have. Take the steel industry, which relies on a handful of companies for its iron feedstock. If two of those big guys should get together--as BHP Billiton (nyse: BBL - news - people ) and Rio Tinto (nyse: RTP - news - people ) have been discussing--they would have significant pricing power, potentially crimping steel producers' margins. On the flipside, beware getting hooked on low-cost providers who don't keep an eye on quality. ("Lead-laced" Barbie, anyone?)

Does the business scale?

Bill Gates plowed piles of money into developing the first copy of Microsoft Office. The beauty: Each additional copy of that software program costs next to nothing to produce. That's called scale--and it's the difference between modest wealth and obscene riches. What models don't scale? Think service businesses, where the need for people grows along with revenues.

What price will your customers pay?

Get this answer wrong and you could leave bags of money on the table--or worse, send customers running into the arms of the competition. When Apple sliced the price of its iPhone by a third after only two months on the market, even loyal customers screamed, forcing chief Steve Jobs to apologize and offer a partial rebate. Consultants get paid handsomely to help companies arrive at the right price. For more affordable advice, check out The Six-Step Guide To Pricing Your Product. Wannabe consultants should read How To Price Your Consulting Services.

How committed are you to making this happen?

About a year ago, Chuck Prince, recently resigned chief executive of Citigroup (nyse: C - news - people ), addressed a group at New York University's Stern School of Business. An audience member asked what life looked like at the helm of such a colossal firm. Prince responded that, save for a few exceptions, every evening for the next five months was already accounted for. Fair warning: If you want to run the show, get ready to give everything--and then some.

This is one skill that I don't have. I hope someone can teach me how to sell something.

I remember back in HS, we were selling pina polvoron for our entrepreneurship class and each of us had daily quota to meet. Just to meet my quota I sold my polvoron 50% off the original price. I just paid the loss I incurred just to meet the quota.

In elementary I already recognized that I don't have the faculty to do business. :ohno:

What are the issues relating to starting and growing - from brainstorming to business plan construction - a business? Are you an entrepreneur? Share your stories. Post away :)

@sinj... maybe you should post this in the Samahan or in the Economy subforum to get more responses. Suggestion lang.

This is one skill that I don't have. I hope someone can teach me how to sell something.

I remember back in HS, we were selling pina polvoron for our entrepreneurship class and each of us had daily quota to meet. Just to meet my quota I sold my polvoron 50% off the original price. I just paid the loss I incurred just to meet the quota.

In elementary I already recognized that I don't have the faculty to do business. :ohno:

You can learn it @soul. It just needs one good start-up project that you really believe in such that you can throw your heart and soul behind the venture. You'll be surprised you can do it.

Besides, business nowadays is not limited to selling or moving products. ;)

This is one skill that I don't have. I hope someone can teach me how to sell something.

I remember back in HS, we were selling pina polvoron for our entrepreneurship class and each of us had daily quota to meet. Just to meet my quota I sold my polvoron 50% off the original price. I just paid the loss I incurred just to meet the quota.

In elementary I already recognized that I don't have the faculty to do business. :ohno:


Got this from a book:

Forget about selling. People love to buy but hate to be sold. Concentrate on HELPING customers buy what's best for them.


meron na bang lumapit sa yo at pinilit kang bumili ng encyclopedia?

@amigo and @sugarboy - Thank you for the insights. :D Maybe one of these days I can have my own business... Let's see.

Question @soul. You seem to be a good writer. What kind of stuff do you like writing about? Something which you can really say you have a fair amount of expertise on.

?

@sinj... maybe you should post this in the Samahan or in the Economy subforum to get more responses. Suggestion lang.

I agree.

Question @soul. You seem to be a good writer. What kind of stuff do you like writing about? Something which you can really say you have a fair amount of expertise on.

?


Actually any topic under the sun as long as I know what I want to say to my readers. But most of my writings are personal perceptions, understandings, opinions, or ideas. Before I establish my views I always make sure that they are supported by theories, usually theories from mix fields.

Basta kung ano lang masagi sa utak ko. :D

mods, would it be possible to move this to the Economy Thread/Category?

@sinj... maybe you should post this in the Samahan or in the Economy subforum to get more responses. Suggestion lang.

mods, would it be possible to move this to the Economy Thread/Category?

Hope this is moved or else sayang itong thread na ito.

I always see alot of threads on Filipinos working abroad or foreign investments in The Philippines. How about Philippine businesses and their investments abroad.

Alot of Philippine companies big or small have invested overseas and some of them are very sucessful. And their list of clients doesn't just cater to Filipinos abroad but also the locals.

One prominent example would be San Miguel. San Miguel is one of the most successful Philippine companies in HK. It is also one of the leading beer products and are endorsed but some top HK celebrities such as Stephen Chow and Jet Li

IHdTLEGoKm4

What do you think?

those philippine dried mangoes from cebu along w/pnoy mango drink
i see them at costco
knorr sinigang/tamarind mix, i see them on our local mexican stores
so as mang thomas lechon salsa, theyre there

are you sure it's from cebu? hehehe, baka sa mexico galing yan.

^^ Yeah, Cebu is already exporting dried mangoes. :)

-----

@WANCH: The Lamoiyan Corp. has started to go abroad. Their first product to circulate in SE Asia is their Hapee toothpaste. Another one is SM, but to the Chinese market only since their malls abroad are all in China. I hope more and more Filipino companies would start to meet the world market. And I hope the world would accept the Philippines as a global market player as well. :D

are you sure it's from cebu? hehehe, baka sa mexico galing yan.

Dried mangoes are allowed into the US. Fresh mangoes from the Philippines aren't, but "Manila Mangoes" from Mexico are. ;)

Dried mangoes are allowed into the US. Fresh mangoes from the Philippines aren't, but "Manila Mangoes" from Mexico are. ;)


wala kayo nito?http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a325/cbuilt/DSC00025.jpg


sayang naman ang sarap nito, ang tamis:lol: hindi ko natiis kinain ko yung isa kahit wala pa ako sa bahay. hindi ko napigil:lol: zambales galing yan

^^ By way of Mexico, yes! :colgate: There are even little stickers on the fruit that says "Manila Mango, product of Mexico." Things that makes you go hmm....right? ;)

puros pagkain lang ata ang produktong pilipino - manga, niyog, saging, at JOLLIBEE pala. hindi na nabago ang status nating 'consumer economy'.

puros pagkain lang ata ang produktong pilipino - manga, niyog, saging, at JOLLIBEE pala. hindi na nabago ang status nating 'consumer economy'.

Yes Jollibee though their main clients are Filipinos living in that particular area. We have it in HK :D

puros pagkain lang ata ang produktong pilipino - manga, niyog, saging, at JOLLIBEE pala. hindi na nabago ang status nating 'consumer economy'.


hindi pa kasi natin kaya gumawa ng kotse na ang pangalan/brand ay "noypi":lol::lol::lol:

o robot na ang pangalan ay "huwan da botro"

^^ Yeah, Cebu is already exporting dried mangoes. :)

-----

@WANCH: The Lamoiyan Corp. has started to go abroad. Their first product to circulate in SE Asia is their Hapee toothpaste. Another one is SM, but to the Chinese market only since their malls abroad are all in China. I hope more and more Filipino companies would start to meet the world market. And I hope the world would accept the Philippines as a global market player as well. :D

there is an SM in Guam already :D
meron ding Bench sa Daly City, marami-rami na din ang jollibee/chowking/red ribbon dito, with a sprinkle of goldlocks/maxx.

i dont know tho if Seafood city is Philippine based... sabi sabi nila si PING daw ang may ari :D:nuts:

ang pinoy products na palagi kong nakikita naman sa mga groceries eh yung silverswan toyo/datu puti suka tapos yung patis,,, palagi yan sila :lol:

maybe we can include our beloved/be-hated abscbn... may myx kase dito :D puro english naman... :ohno:

there's bench in shanghai i've seen it there last time...some food products, fruits (mostly bananas), candies, biscuits, beer can be seen in local supermarkets in china and taiwan...the rest from the pinoy stores or store;s selling imported goods.

there is an SM in Guam already :D
meron ding Bench sa Daly City, marami-rami na din ang jollibee/chowking/red ribbon dito, with a sprinkle of goldlocks/maxx.

i dont know tho if Seafood city is Philippine based... sabi sabi nila si PING daw ang may ari :D:nuts:

ang pinoy products na palagi kong nakikita naman sa mga groceries eh yung silverswan toyo/datu puti suka tapos yung patis,,, palagi yan sila :lol:

maybe we can include our beloved/be-hated abscbn... may myx kase dito :D puro english naman... :ohno:

Ai meron na bang SM sa Guam? 'Di ko alam eh. :D

Gustung-gusto ko ung tagline ng Bench ngayon - "Born in Manila; sold in the world." -- > Panalo!

there's bench in shanghai i've seen it there last time...some food products, fruits (mostly bananas), candies, biscuits, beer can be seen in local supermarkets in china and taiwan...the rest from the pinoy stores or store;s selling imported goods.

The Bench I saw in Shanghai was Bench Body.

^^ By way of Mexico, yes! :colgate: There are even little stickers on the fruit that says "Manila Mango, product of Mexico." Things that makes you go hmm....right? ;)

manila mango from mexico isn't really from manila right? they just call it manila.

why dont they allow fresh mangoes from the philippines? our mangoes are the sweetest pa naman

^^ It's a variety of the mangoes grown in the Philippines, hence they just tagged the name "Manila" to it. Our fresh mangoes aren't allowed in the US since they have to pass FDA regulations fit for import into the country.

manila mango from mexico isn't really from manila right? they just call it manila.

why dont they allow fresh mangoes from the philippines? our mangoes are the sweetest pa naman

well we could always do something about it, we'll call our mail order brides,...mexican mail order brides from manila...


take that mexico...:lol:

do Philippines telcos and banks have presence abroad?

mostly remmitance center nakikita ko :lol:

mostly remmitance center nakikita ko :lol:

Yes they are present in HK with Metrobank or BPI. But these banks also have offices in HK which is not just remmitances but also the bank's interests in the region.

mostly remmitance center nakikita ko :lol:

Iremit - might be our future equivalent to the western union - it's the only pse listed remittance company. but i'm not updated of the number of branches they have now

PNB, Metro, BPI and Landbank have a lot of branches and rep office abroad.


@wanch i didn't really noticed that Body word after Bench. all i can remember is i saw Bench:lol:

How about LBC? also that Atlas shipping company which is owned by Rico Puno

^ilang balikbayan na ba ang napapadala mo at nangongomisyon ka kay rico j

^^ :lol: ano yun? pwedeng mangumisyon?

may percentage share(kita/komisyon) ka raw for every balikbayan box sent na ikaw ang agent. lol

in UK - Farochilen Group of Companies (dealing with remittance, travel agencies, balikbayan boxes and retail goods), UMAC Forex - deals with balikbayan boxes, PNB & Allied have banks in UK regulated under FSA - Financial Services Authority in UK and they also offer remittance services. Iremit, Metrobank, BPI and other remittance centers are plenty as well in UK

How about those Philippine companies that are listed, and/or having operations abroad...

PLDT is one... IMI too... and SPI.

You could add to the list

There is a BPI branch in Los angeles and New York City. LBC is in the US also as my wifes friend is working there in san francisco. Dried cebu mangoes are in costco. My best friends in fresno buy these allthe time and they are the same that you buy in mercury drug only in the 500g bags. Jollibee is in california although it is quite a failure cause jollibee in comparison to mcdonalds and the such is considered much lower quality so noone goes. In San Diego, there is a jollibee that no matter when i went by it there was no more than 2 cars in the drive thru and the building was very small. PLDT does not have operations in the US as well as any other philippine telco company. They are not in the US. Only pldt is on the New York Stock Exchange though. I have not seen bench or penshoppe or any other philippine clothing company in the US in california, but that doesn't mean its not there. I did hear that there is a goldilocks in las vegas and Los angeles.

there is a goldilocks here in Concord, Ca, malaki siya in fairness :D

PNB and RCBC

diba may red ribbon sa US?

'Yun ding ni-purchase ng Jollibee na giant fast food chain din sa China. :D

Chwoking nalang kasi ipromote nila instead of Jolibee. Masmasarap pa!

Puwedeng pumatok at maging world-renowned ang halo-halo natin. Dito sa amin, marami-raming Koreano ang nagChochowking.

^^ I think they should do something with the variety of their foods. :)

masarap din naman ang greenwich pero talo sila sa papa johns :P

diba may red ribbon sa US?

yup, pero mas masarap ang gawa sa Pinas. yung ube cake sa US parang dry. :puke:

baka fake ang ube ginamit. coloring lang?

Major Filipino brand ignites local competition
Goldilocks empire poses a new threat to independent merchants at Main Street and 12th (http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=a6453a80-0418-4365-9432-6d907684f66b)

The area around St. Patrick's Catholic Parish on Main Street at 12th Avenue is home to a smattering of independent businesses that cater to Vancouver's growing Filipino community.

The church's congregation is predominantly Filipino, with some estimates as high as 90 per cent; and these bakeries, restaurants and grocery stores -- most just a hop and a skip from the church -- are at their busiest after weekend mass services. Basically, the line-ups start when church ends.

Many observers wouldn't have noticed it, but a few weeks ago, a well-known brand name from the Philippines opened its doors in a compact but prime location here, smack against the church's north wall.

The arrival of Goldilocks, a bakery and restaurant chain with some 300 locations in the Philippines and a storied history going back to the mid-1960s, is, for some, akin to Starbucks landing on Commercial Drive's mom-and-pop cappuccino strip a few years ago.

On a recent weekday, Julie Soriano and Norma Surilla nod at this comparison over a morning coffee at this new Goldilocks. The women -- both long-time Vancouver residents who grew up in the Philippines -- say sitting here reminds them of home.

"It's famous in our place. Once Filipinos see the brand -- it's very popular -- they feel like they are in their own country. Even if you are rich or you are a star, [Goldilocks] is the first place you go to," said Surilla.

Across the street and down a block, business at Aling Mary's Filipino Store, a bakery and grocery outlet, hasn't yet seen any impact, good or bad, from Goldilocks, according to manager Raelynne Reyes, but she acknowledges in a phone interview that "they are a huge chain and we are just an independent local company."

Goldilocks was started in 1966 when two sisters from a Chinese-Filipino family in Manila, Milagros Leelin Yee and Clarita Leelin Go, decided to go into business. In particular, they were known for making fancy cakes for special occasions such as baptisms, birthdays, graduations and weddings.

Today, more than 3,500 employees work for the Goldilocks' empire. It spans 300 locations across the Philippines, almost 20 in the U.S., and, now, two in Vancouver.

All of the North American branches are company-owned and run by family members, who migrated from the Philippines in the mid-1970s. About half of the locations in the Philippines are franchises.

In a service that has helped further endear it to Filipino expatriates wanting to stay in touch with farflung friends and relatives, the company ships its trademark tarts, cookies, brioches, and rolls across North America in small quantity, door-to-door, care package-like deliveries.

For example, you can send a young coconut pie to someone in Nunavut (customers have done this) or a sampler bag of pan de sal dinner rolls and shortbread-like polvoron to Yellowknife (again, it's been done.)

You can even help cater someone's birthday celebration in the Philippines by arranging for plates of Goldilocks' party food -- everything from baked macaroni to barbecued meat trays -- to arrive on their doorstep, much like you might use a florist. The delivery charge for Metro Manila is just $8, while more provincial destinations cost $15.

In the U.S., large factories and processing plants in northern and southern California serve the company's branches, plus wholesale clients such as Costco Warehouse and the Marriott hotel chain.

In Vancouver, it is comparatively a much smaller operation. Since 1984, the company has had a retail presence on West Broadway at Fir, just off the Burrard bridge. It ships product to a few Asian food chains, making everything at the 5,000-square-foot [465-square-metre] Broadway location.

The company's original founders and most of their children now manage growing operations in California and Nevada, or have returned to do the same in the Philippines, but one of the daughters, 39 year-old Maj Yee, has remained in Vancouver and currently oversees the Canadian business.

Yee doesn't take credit for the Main Street location next to St. Patrick's Church, which is also home to an elementary and high school. She had been targeting expansion in Surrey or Richmond when property developers approached her with the idea.

She hopes that igniting competition among Filipino merchants here will only widen the pie for everyone. "It's good because it also allows us to broaden the reach of Filipino food," said Yee

Dried mangoes are allowed into the US. Fresh mangoes from the Philippines aren't, but "Manila Mangoes" from Mexico are. ;)

^^ It's a variety of the mangoes grown in the Philippines, hence they just tagged the name "Manila" to it. Our fresh mangoes aren't allowed in the US since they have to pass FDA regulations fit for import into the country.
mangoes from the philippines (specifically from guimaras) have been allowed exportation to the US for a few years. i believe mangoes from other regions are now allowed as well except palawan. look it up. :)

^^ It's a variety of the mangoes grown in the Philippines, hence they just tagged the name "Manila" to it. Our fresh mangoes aren't allowed in the US since they have to pass FDA regulations fit for import into the country.

Aren't mangoes from Guimaras available in the US anymore? They were branded as Philippine Super Mangoes.

ANDREW L. TAN

http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20080412-130012/RPs-shy-billionaire

RP’s shy billionaire
Radio factory worker’s son rises to the top
By Margie Quimpo-Espino
Philippine Daily Inquirer
04/12/2008

MANILA, Philippines—He is one of the Philippines’ richest men (4th in the Forbes 2007 list of The Philippines’ 40 Richest estimated wealth at $1.1 billion) yet he is probably the most low-profile.

Little is known about Andrew L. Tan yet children of all ages know one of his businesses only too well: his Alliance Global Group Inc. owns 49 percent of Golden Arches Dev’t. Corp., franchise holder of the McDonald’s hamburger chain.

His real estate group under Megaworld owns over 200 buildings (defined as four stories and above).

Born of humble beginnings, he was the son of a transistor radio factory worker who came to Manila from China at age 16. Tan has a brilliant mind—graduated magna cum laude with degree in Business Administration from the University of the East. This despite the fact that he used to walk from Sta. Cruz in Manila to the UE campus because he had no money. People who work with him attest to his brilliance but at the same time describe him as extremely shy.

He owns Emperador Distillers Inc., makers of Emperador brandy, the world’s largest selling brandy by volume. But his first brand was Andy Player Special which is not being exported.

Tan agreed to answer several questions from the Inquirer and share old photos that have not been published:

Q: What were your beginnings? How did you start? What was your first entrepreneurial venture?

A: I was about 25, and a bachelor, when I first went into business. I was a partner in a wholesale trading firm that imported appliances in bulk and sold them to appliance stores.

Q: How were you raised? Were your parents entrepreneurs? Who was and is the most influential person in your life?

A: My father worked in a transistor radio factory; my mother was a plain housewife. I have one brother. One influential person in my life was my mother. As a young businessman, I would consult her before I made any important decisions. We discussed not just business matters, but also anything under the sun. She and her guidance meant a lot to me.

When I married, my wife Katherine became the most influential person in my life. Today, we talk about business almost every day, especially when I have to make important decisions.

In college, many of my classmates were better off than I. They had family businesses of their own. Some owned a grocery shop; others a hardware store. Those in Quiapo ran a small textile business. I was sort of envious of their fortune, so I dreamed of becoming a businessman.

I often told my mother that I if had P200,000 in savings, I’d open a grocery store, and that would surely change our fortune. She encouraged me a lot then.

When I started working, I discovered that you learn something from the people you meet. For me, that’s always a blessing, more so if you meet the right people who can help you succeed.

Some people may disagree, but I believe that for a person to become very wealthy, 40 percent is due to luck and 60 percent to a combination of intelligence and hard work. You just have to be at the right place at the right time. If you are lucky, timing will always be in your favor; otherwise, timing will always be off. There’s a Chinese saying that big success depends on the heavens. For me, good luck accounts for 40 percent of all my success.

Q: What were some of the difficult times in your entrepreneurial life? How did you overcome the difficulties?

A: Business was very tough when I started. When you don’t have much capital, it is imperative that you have a very good nose. You are like a dog that must always sniff around for food. You cannot afford to fail. That is how you develop an instinct for success.

This does not mean, however, that I always succeeded in my initial ventures. I failed in some of them. I made wrong decisions, too, but I learned from my mistakes to become better and better. After all, mistakes are always a part of doing business. Some people, however, give up especially after a disastrous failure.

Thankfully, I never gave up. I always pushed on, no matter what. I tried and tried again even if the business was in bad shape. You just pick up the pieces, and then get on your feet again.

Usually, people are fond of asking businessmen this question: When did you make your first million? How did this accomplishment make you feel at that time?

I was lucky to have made my first million at 27. A million then was worth much, much more than it is now. A new car cost about P40,000 then compared with P800,000 or P900,000 today. As such, P1 million then was equivalent to about P20 million now. Definitely a lot of money! When I told my mom about my accomplishment, I believe I made her very, very happy.

Q: I’ve heard good things about your children, how did you raise them despite the wealth that surrounded them? Are they all involved in business? Were they exposed to other companies?

A: Since I’m in business, I naturally want my children to follow in my footsteps. I sincerely wish they would become successful businessmen on their own—or a businesswoman in the case of my youngest child.

You can say that my children were born with silver spoons in their mouths. That is an advantage, I agree, but it could also be a disadvantage. When the going gets tough, people of inherited wealth, who are brought up without any experience of hardships and difficulties, may be wanting in resilience. It may be harder for them to get over a failure. In my case, I’ve had more than my share of life’s challenges. Just like before, if I fail miserably, I will get up and try to recover.

Another thing about being born in fortunate circumstances is that it may not give you that much hunger for success—like a dog that doesn’t need to sniff around that much for food since it’s always available. That is why aside from a good education, I give my children nuggets of wisdom from the school of hard knocks. I find time to chat and share with them my experiences. If they listen to me and remember what I tell them, if they take me seriously, that will save them a lot of trouble in the future. As a father, I believe that talking to my children and having open, honest dialogues with them is most important.

I always believe that if you want to excel at something, you must be genuinely interested in what you’re doing. You must have a passion for it. Otherwise, success will elude you. As a father, I believe my job is to make my children interested in the business. If they’re passionate about it, they will put in the hard work without feeling stressed out.

I must point out that ours are publicly listed companies, and all are professionally managed. We owe it to our stockholders to run our companies well. We’re a big operation, with thousands of stockholders to answer to. I always keep in mind that we’re not running a family business anymore, and I don’t force my children to work for me. Having said that, one of my children is a middle manager; another a junior manager. They report to their senior managers, not to me.

Q: What is your vision for Megaworld and how near are you in achieving that?

A: Today, I’m as passionate as ever about real estate in general and Megaworld in particular. I’m a very hands-on businessman, and I devote a lot of my time running the company’s day-to-day operations. Real estate is the industry that’s closest to my heart. It’s like the lifeblood that runs in my veins. I wake up every morning with a feeling of excitement, knowing that I will be building more homes and helping more Filipinos realize their dream of owning a home.

Our goal is to give Filipinos a good home and do our best to make it affordable by offering good value for money, whether in the mid-income level or in the Triple A level, as in the case of our ultra-luxurious One Central project in Makati.

Q: I understand you have already been paying back society for your blessings, what are some of the good things you have been doing?

A: When you talk about giving back to society, the Megaworld Foundation, over the years, has given hundreds of scholarship grants and contributed to many worthy causes, from helping fight cancer to empowering the blind to supporting the La Mesa watershed conservation campaign. Considering the good fortune that has come my way as a businessman, I honestly feel that I want to do more.

Over the next few years, I will try to devote more of my time for philanthropic activities. Currently, I find that corporate-giving still runs along traditional lines. Many foundations and companies are doing virtually the same thing. One of the things we’ll look into is how we can apply business skills and strategies in the area of philanthropy, and how we can help people, programs and causes in a more cost-efficient manner. I’m aware that it’s impossible for any one foundation to do everything and help everyone, so I intend to look for a formula to help us focus our efforts on one particular area that will give the most benefits to the greatest number of people—in effect, achieve much more for our less fortunate countrymen.

Q: What to you are the secrets of your success?

A: What are my secrets as a businessman? Well, I think one of my accomplishments is the ability to feel the pulse of the market, and of people in general. If you want to succeed in business, you must have developed this knack for knowing and understanding the market and your customers, in order that you can provide the products and services that people will buy again and again.

And it is not enough to know your market and your customers. You must also gain the same mastery and understanding of your employees, suppliers, partners, associates, even your banker and underwriter. If you have a good nose, a good sixth sense, you will be able to fit all of them into your grand plan of success.

Q: What are your passions and hobbies?

A: I’m a businessman, and my most intense passion is creating wealth, creating jobs and creating value for our stockholders.

I also swim when I have the chance; I go to the gym and run the treadmill given the opportunity.

These are the activities that I do at my own time and at my own pace.

Q: What to you would be the key to achieving a progressive Philippines?

A: Ten years ago, the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry was unheard of here in the country. But we at Megaworld saw an opportunity: we established Eastwood City CyberPark as the country’s first IT park. We worked with the government, the private sector and would-be locators. We all worked together to promote the BPO business in the country.

From a very negligible number of employees then, the BPO industry as a whole today employs more than 300,000 people and generates about $5 billion in annual export revenues, based on the latest available data. These figures are projected to go up to 1 million employees and $12 billion in revenues by 2010.

I have observed that we Filipinos have two distinct advantages: our excellent English language skills and the friendly tone of our voice. I thought this was one area where we could excel in.

True enough, foreign customers like speaking to our call center agents. We Filipinos have a naturally pleasant voice, so Americans tend to spend more time talking on the phone. Even if they’re calling from thousands of miles away, they can somehow feel the friendliness, dedication and patience of our agents.

Now, if these foreigners could visit here and get to see our people and talk to us face to face, imagine how much more they’d enjoy the experience.

In the same way that these advantages have worked wonders for the BPO industry, I believe that we should invest in business areas that can utilize our people’s inherent strengths. A perfect example is tourism. Aside from our exemplary language skills and natural friendliness, we as a people are known for our hospitality. And need I say that we have a wealth of picturesque landscapes and scenic spots found nowhere else on earth? Not only that, our country is blessed with a gentle tropical weather all year round—an invitation for foreigners who want to escape the harsh winter in their own countries to flock to our shores.

Over the next 10 years, my holding company, Alliance Global Group Inc., is looking to venture into tourism in a big way. I’m not talking about putting up one or two stand-alone hotels alone; we’re planning to build tourism estates on a large scale and with highly attractive products that will trigger a surge of tourist arrivals from all over the world.

Q: What else do you want to achieve in life?

A: As a businessman with a strong passion for real estate, I hope and pray that we can help our country take a successful quantum leap in the next big business frontier for the country: tourism.

http://www.forbes.com/2007/10/18/philippines-richest-billionaires-07philippines-biz-cz_jd_1018richestfilipinos.html

The Philippines 40 Richest (2007)
Justin Doebele
10.18.07, 6:00 PM ET

The Philippines is making a comeback. Second-quarter growth of 7.5% was the highest in two decades; unemployment was 8%, the lowest since 1997. After a slip on subprime financial worries in August the stock market has made a full recovery and recently posted record highs. It is up 28% for the year.

All of this helped boost the fortunes of many of its richest citizens, who were also helped out by the falling dollar, down roughly 10% against the peso for the year. For the first time in a decade a Filipino broke into the billionaire ranks. The son of a poor immigrant factory worker, Andrew Tan restructured his holding company, Alliance Global, and reaped the benefits; his net worth jumped to $1.1 billion, up from $480 million last year.

The year's biggest gainer is Manuel Villar, the Philippine senate president, who is worth $940 million, up from $110 million last year. He got a big boost from the public offering of Vista Land & Lifescapes. Seven other tycoons including Tony Tan Caktiong and Enrique Razon Jr. saw their fortunes jump by at least $100 million. Fifteen others are wealthier than last year.

But not all rich listers fared as well. Fourteen are worth less than in 2006 but for reasons that often have to do with estate planning and better reporting. John Gokongwei gave away half his shares in JG Summit, the conglomerate he founded, to his family's foundation.

We also learned more details on holding company structures of such longtime rich listers as Henry Sy and Lucio Tan that resulted in lower valuations. As is the case with our other Asian rich lists, we try to focus where we can on individual--or at least nuclear family--wealth, so this year we broke up the billionaire Ayala clan into two separate groups.

The Philippine list is still the easiest to make in all of Asia, requiring a net worth of only $30 million, $5 million more than last year, but $50 million less than any other country we track. The top 40 are worth a total of $17 billion, up from $16 billion last year.

Wealth in public companies is calculated using stock prices and exchange rates from early October, while values of privately held outfits are estimates based on comparisons to prevailing price-to-earnings or price-to-sales ratios for similar publicly traded companies.

"If you want to know the past, talk to an economist. If you want to know the future, follow the tycoons," says Manuel Villar.

In the Philippines, that has lately meant restructuring companies or listing them on the robust stock market, which has seen daily turnover--a measure of liquidity--jump tenfold to $121 million since 2003.

Three companies backed by Philippine tycoons went public in a two-week period in July as these rich listers took advantage of strong market conditions. The first was Enrique Aboitiz, who spun off Aboitiz Power in a public listing, raising $220 million. Next was Villar, who de-listed his C&P Homes and took public a new company, Vista Land & Lifescapes, which included previously private assets as well as those from C&P. The maneuver helped boost Villar's net worth by $830 million.

At the end of the month came the debut of GMA Network, the nation's second-largest media outfit, controlled and run by rich listers Gilberto Duavit Jr., Felipe Gozon and Menardo Jimenez. It ran into some controversy when a daughter of Ferdinand Marcos tried to prevent the offering, claiming that Duavit Jr.'s shares actually belonged to her. Stock exchange officials allowed the listing to go ahead.

Up next is Splash, the personal care company operated by Rolando and Rosalinda Hortaleza, on track to go public later this year. Tycoon-backed companies that will likely follow suit include John Gokongwei's budget airline Cebu Pacific; the beer business of Eduardo Cojuangco's San Miguel, and McDonald's Philippines franchise, in which Andrew Tan has a 49% stake.

Rank/Net Worth ($ mil/age)

1 Jaime Zobel de Ayala & family $2,000 73 (Ayala/Community Innovations/Avida)
2 Henry Sy & family $1,700 82 (SM)
3 Lucio Tan & family $1,600 73 (Eton Prop)
4 Andrew Tan $1,100 55 (Megaworld/Empire East)
5 Manuel Villar $940 57 (Vista Land/Brittany/Crown Asia/Polar)
6 George Ty $870 74 (Federal Land)
7 Andrew Gotianun $860 79 (Filinvest Land)
8 Enrique Razon Jr. $820 47
9 Tony Tan Caktiong & family $790 57
10 Oscar Lopez & family $775 77 (Rockwell/Lopez)
11 Vivian Que Azcona & family $670 NA (Mercury)
12 Inigo & Mercedes Zobel $660 NA
13 Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. $540 72 (San Miguel Prop)
14 Emilio Yap & family $445 81
15 John Gokongwei Jr. & family $430 81 (Robinsons Land)
16 Enrique Aboitiz & family $375 85
17 Alfonso Yuchengco & family $365 84 (RCBC Land/Malayan/EEI)
18 Beatrice Campos $220 NA (Greenfield)
19 David Consunji & family $210 86 (DMCI)
20 Luis Virata $200 53
21 Gilberto Duavit Jr. & family $191 43 (GMA)
22 Menardo Jimenez & family $190 NA (GMA)
23 Felipe Gozon & family $165 67 (GMA)
24 Mariano Tan & family $140 NA
25 Ramon del Rosario Jr. $137 63
26 Ronaldo & Rosalinda Hortaleza $110 48/50
27 Manuel Zamora $105 68
28 Betty Ang $100 NA
29 Tomas Alcantara & family $90 61
30 Frederick Dy $70 51
31 Wilfred Steven Uytengsu Sr. $60 80
32 Salvador Zamora $55 61
33 Oscar Hilado & family $51 69
34 Philip T. Ang $50 66
35 Magdaleno Albarracin Jr. $49 71
36 Jesus Tambunting $47 70
37 Antonio Roxas $36 65
38 Manuel Pangilinan $35 61
39 Marixi Rufino-Prieto & family $33 67
40 Lourdes Montinola $30 79

^^

Umm, di nakaabot sa TOP 40 ang mga Gaisanos

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/dec/04/yehey/opinion/20071204opi5.html

Honoring property titans
By Tony Lopez
Dec 4, 2007

BIZNEWSASIA, the Philippines’ largest weekly business and newsmagazine, ho*nored the country’s property pioneers and taipans with the BREW Award at a gala dinner marking its sixth anniversary Nov. 23 at the InterContinental.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and myself, as publisher and editor of BizNewsAsia, gave the BNA Real Estate Who Is Who (BREW) trophies and plaques to 23 outstanding individuals for their vision, innovative work, achievements and contributions in the field of real estate and its ancillary industries.

In a very real sense, the Philippines has grown on the strength of its real estate sector and the vision and dynamism of its major players. As a sector of the economy, real estate is both in industry and in services. Under industry, it is construction and utilities—electricity, gas and water. Under services, it is ownership of dwellings and real estate, and business services, including BPO.

The BNA anniversary gathered the country’s movers and shakers in government and business led by President Arroyo, Vice President Noli de Castro and Senate President Manuel Villar, Cabinet members Peter Favila of Trade, Ignacio Bunye of Press, Angelo Reyes of Energy, Bayani Fernando of the MMDA, BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr., PCGG chief Camilo Sabio, PEZA chief Lilia de Lima, and Senators Ed Angara and Loren Legarda.

The tycoons and CEOs were led by Henry Sy Sr., John Gokongwei Jr., Oscar Lopez of First Holdings, Raul Con*cepcion, Andrew Tan of AGI, Ramon Ang of SMC, Tessie Sy of BDO, P.O. Domingo of Allied Bank, Roy Navarro of CDC, Harley Sy, of SMIC, Tony Abacan and Placido Mapa of Metrobank, Omar Mier of PNB, King Aguiluz, Francis Lim of PSE, Felix Ang of CATS Motors, Jose Leviste Jr., Willie Soong of Jaguar, Dave Balangue of SGV, Jaime Ayala and Rene Almendras of Ayala, Donald Dee, Mike Varela, Sergio Ortiz Luiz, Elizabeth Lee of CAMPI and UMC, Helen Lee, Noel Oñate, Peter Coyiuto, Kingson Sian, Mike Enriquez, and Baby Arenas.

The BREW Awardees are: VP de Castro, Henry Sy Sr., Tessie Sy, John Gokongwei Jr, Andrew Tan, Frederick Go, Ramon Ang, Alfred Ty, Manuel Villar, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala and brother Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Jacinto Tan Uy, Reghis Romero II, Manuel Serrano, Federico S. Quimbo, Rodolfo G. Valencia, Edgardo Vasquez, Nestor Mangio, Francisco Mañosa, Felino Palafox Jr., Andrew Gotianun, Bayani Fer*nando, and Rose Basa.

BizNewsAsia has unrivalled high-end readership of more than 210,000.

The BREW Awards are a first in the publishing industry.

Henry Sr. was cited for building the country’s largest mall empire (30 as of last count), making him the undisputed retailing king; for cobbling what today is the biggest bank, Banco de Oro, and for his genius in making the right buying decision and real estate acquisition at the wrong time. He opens malls in the middle of a crisis.

Gokongwei was honored for being the second biggest mall owner, the biggest call center landlord, the third biggest wireless provider, a major hotel owner, and for operating the biggest Philippine domestic airline.

Andrew Tan became the latest Filipino dollar billionaire by seeing trends early, like tapping early on the potential of Libis in Quezon City, predicting the demand for call centers, sensing the strong demand for housing by OFWs, and for his Midas touch, presiding over a conglomerate that today has P40 billion in assets, networth of P23 billion and a work force of over 4,000.

Under Ramon Ang, San Miguel is going into boom areas like property, energy, infrastructure and mining, putting depth and dimension to SMC being the largest and most diversified food conglomerate in Southeast Asia and the biggest company in the Philippines in revenues.

Manny Villar, the Senate president, has built more houses than any Filipino—130,000 units (his own count). By so doing, he became the first Filipino brown dollar billionaire when his C&P Homes went public in 1995. Now called Vista Land, his company is back to being a billion dollar company and has four major housing brands catering to low, low medium, medium, and high-end segments of the market.

The Zobel brothers, Jaime Augusto and Fernando, were cited for running the oldest, largest, most diversified and most profitable property conglomerate. After 173 years in real estate, Ayala remains the brand against which other major players are benchmarked.

Bayani Fernando is rebuilding Metro Manila and dramatically changing its landscape. His showcase project is the widening and beautification of Commonwealth Avenue which he promises to become the most fashionable avenue in the Philippines, “better than Ayala.”

Next year, on its 7th anniversary, BNA will give the BNA Business Icons Gold (BIG) Awards to honor individuals who are the gold standard in business and entrepreneurship, and the Second Annual BREW Awards.

New levels of production and exports of banana from Philippines displaces the Ecuadorean fruit in Asian markets. In less than a year, Ecuador lost half of its market in Japan and the tendency is decreasing.

Sales in 2006 reached USD 27.1 millions; last year it only reached USD 15.5 million. Ecuadorean growers are concerned that this trend will occur in other markets such as the Middle East and the EU too.

The Philippines are the most "dangerous" competitor for Ecuador, even more than Colombia and Costa Rica, declared some Ecuadorean exporters. Philippines has 40,000 hectares with a capacity of 120 million boxes per year.

Unifruit a Philippine-based firm will replace 5,000 hectares of rice plantations with bananas during the next five years with expectations to double its production. On the other hand, Ecuador reduced sales to the traditional markets: Italy, US, Germany and Spain. In spite of that, global exports continue to increase. In 2007, sales reached USD 1,250.9 million, 5,7% more than 2006. This is due to increasing exports to markets such as Russia, Belgium, former Yugoslavia, and Argentina among others.

According to Sergio Seminario, grower and exporter of bananas from Ecuador, the Philippines are the most important competitor from Ecuador. It overpasses Colombia and it is almost exporting the levels of Costa Rica. "Bananas from Philippines will not compete only in Asia but will look for new markets where Ecuador has exports. Colombia and Costa Rica have captive markets and will not be affected"

There is a general concern on the necessity to take care of Asian markets. Pompilio Espinosa, president at the Federación de la Cámaras de Productores de Banano, argues "the only thing we need is that government and banana growers/exporters define a certain policy".

Tariffs are also of a main concern for Ecuadorean exporters as Eduardo Ledesma, from AEBE argues, "middle East countries such as Syria, Iran, and Egypt have high tariffs of up to 32%. This does not include shipping costs of 25 days".

According to Ledesma, Costa Rica and Honduras have a special agreement with China to sale bananas in exchange of home appliance products. “We don't have this kind of agreements and we risk to lose these markets. It is urgent to strengthen commercial links and reduce trade obstacles”.

Publication date: 4/9/2008
Author: Jahir Lombana (http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=19723)
Copyright: www.freshplaza.com

those philippine dried mangoes from cebu

yea for $10.. :lol:

we have a lot of philippine exported goods here in America.

Manila's Ayala enters Indian real estate market
http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINMAN5403020080421

MANILA, April 21 (Reuters) - The Philippines' biggest property developer Ayala Land (ALI.PS: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday an affiliate would form a joint venture with India's Mahindra Group to build an exclusive residential development in Chennai.

Mahindra will own 51 percent of the joint venture and the remainder will be owned by an investment vehicle controlled by ARCH Capital, an affiliate of Ayala Land.

Neither company said how much they would invest in the tie-up, which will be called Mahindra Residential Developers Ltd.

"This joint venture through ARCH Capital represents Ayala's first major foray into the Indian real estate market," said Fernando Zobel de Ayala, chairman of Ayala Land, in a statement.

"The Indian market is very attractive and we see many opportunities for joint development and partnerships in the future, not only in residential real estate development but even in high-growth areas such as business process outsourcing."

Ayala Land's entry into the Indian property market comes amid fears of a possible halt to a local real estate boom, as overseas demand for Philippine apartments and houses is hit by the slowdown in the United States.

The joint venture with Mahindra will involve 750 residential units being built on around 55 acres in the Mahindra World City in Chennai, the largest city in south India.

Ayala Land -- controlled by the Philippines' richest family, the Spanish-Filipino Zobel de Ayalas -- builds upscale malls, hotels, high-rise offices and residential condominiums and villages in the Philippines.

Its shares finished 2.3 percent down on Monday at 10.5 pesos, underperforming the general index which was 0.9 percent weaker. (Reporting by Carmel Crimmins; Editing by David Holmes)

^^ It's a variety of the mangoes grown in the Philippines, hence they just tagged the name "Manila" to it. Our fresh mangoes aren't allowed in the US since they have to pass FDA regulations fit for import into the country.

Marami lang arte ang FDA. Naniniwala ka ba na walang halong kemikal yung mga pagkain na binibili dito? Bakit yung iba 'organic' kuno ang mga binebenta sa merkado dito?

^^ Masarap nga ang mga "organic" foods dito na loaded, mura, masarap at malalaki... kaya siguro lumalaki ang aking ti..........











yan... :lol:


So far, maliit pa dede ko... :nuts:

^^:lol:

@askal that's why the chinese in the mainland are curious why other countries especially the us are saying their products are poisonous when in fact they live longer than them:lol: as usual it's business with politics that is going on.

by the way, Chowking is not ours it is taiwanese company

guys this are the list na alam ko mga company na nag-iinvest sa ibang bansa

Real Estate

Ayala - India
- USA
- HongKong
Eton - China
- Russia
- Australia ata?
SM - China
- alam ko may plano din sila ti invest in Vietnam

Water

Manila Water - India

Construction

EEI - Middle East

Banking

May isang banko ata di ko maalala kung RCBC ,bank of commerce etc.ang may agreement sa isang bansa sa africa or central america na sila ang mga hahandle ng Central Bank nila

Port Operator

International Container Terminal Services,Inc.(ICTSI)-
Philippines
Brazil
Poland
Australia
Madagascar
Japan
Indonesia
Mauritius
Cayman Islands
Bermuda.

ayan lang po!

^^:lol:

@askal that's why the chinese in the mainland are curious why other countries especially the us are saying their products are poisonous when in fact they live longer than them:lol: as usual it's business with politics that is going on.

by the way, Chowking is not ours it is taiwanese company

I thought Chowking is owned / partially owned by Tony Tan Ciaktong, owner of Jollibee and Greenwich. San Miguel is also the the largest food conglomerate in SEAsia and owns the biggest food conglomerate in Australia. :)

guys this are the list na alam ko mga company na nag-iinvest sa ibang bansa

Real Estate

Ayala - India
- USA
- HongKong
Eton - China
- Russia
- Australia ata?
SM - China
- alam ko may plano din sila ti invest in Vietnam

Water

Manila Water - India

Construction

EEI - Middle East

Banking

May isang banko ata di ko maalala kung RCBC ,bank of commerce etc.ang may agreement sa isang bansa sa africa or central america na sila ang mga hahandle ng Central Bank nila

Port Operator

International Container Terminal Services,Inc.(ICTSI)-
Philippines
Brazil
Poland
Australia
Madagascar
Japan
Indonesia
Mauritius
Cayman Islands
Bermuda.

ayan lang po!

What's Eton's development in Russia?

What's Eton's development in Russia?

Sorry shimao ng china yung may project sa Russia nag-recall lang ako sa isip ko!:)

^^ Oh I see...:)

I thought Chowking is owned / partially owned by Tony Tan Ciaktong, owner of Jollibee and Greenwich. San Miguel is also the the largest food conglomerate in SEAsia and owns the biggest food conglomerate in Australia. :)

kid you're right sorry i didn't make it clear, it is 100% owned by Tan since 1999 or 2000 not sure about now. the name however is taiwanese/chinese company but unlike the philippines it's selling different producst like cakes and pastries. its not so successful here however compared to chowking there in the philippines.

i wonder if there's also a successful philippine company there owned by a pure filipino, not owned by chinese...spanish immigrants or by their 1st or 2nd, 3rd generations?

i wonder if there's also a successful philippine company there owned by a pure filipino, not owned by chinese...spanish immigrants or by their 1st or 2nd, 3rd generations?

There's one which is the Lamoyan Corporation :)

There produce the Hapee toothpaste and so is Gumtect and Kutitap

kid you're right sorry i didn't make it clear, it is 100% owned by Tan since 1999 or 2000 not sure about now. the name however is taiwanese/chinese company but unlike the philippines it's selling different producst like cakes and pastries. its not so successful here however compared to chowking there in the philippines.

Okies. :)

i wonder if there's also a successful philippine company there owned by a pure filipino, not owned by chinese...spanish immigrants or by their 1st or 2nd, 3rd generations?

ABS-CBN? Ilonggo Tycoon Oscar Lopez' father started the business and I think his grandson manages the company. Correction though. Pure Filipinos is not a matter of race, it's citizenship. You must've meant pure Filipino Malays. :)

^^ You guys heard of Diosdado Banatao (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S3_Graphics#History)

There's one which is the Lamoyan Corporation :)

There produce the Hapee toothpaste and so is Gumtect and Kutitap

ok thanks, hapee i know but gumtect and kutitap are they toothpaste too?

Okies. :)


ABS-CBN? Ilonggo Tycoon Oscar Lopez' father started the business and I think his grandson manages the company. Correction though. Pure Filipinos is not a matter of race, it's citizenship. You must've meant pure Filipino Malays. :)

kid when i refer to pure filipino, that means you would not immediately identify or relate him to be as tsinoy, mestizo katsila, etc. there's none pure anyway except for the atis:)

ok thanks, hapee i know but gumtect and kutitap are they toothpaste too?



kid when i refer to pure filipino, that means you would not immediately identify or relate him to be as tsinoy, mestizo katsila, etc. there's none pure anyway except for the atis:)

Yes they are toothpaste but Kutitap for example targets the low market.

^^ok thanks

^^ You guys heard of Diosdado Banatao (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S3_Graphics#History)

How inspiring. However, S3 is an American corporation not Filipino. We only wish S3 is a Filipino corporation though. :lol:

my first VGA chip was S3. hehehe
no idea na pinoy pala gumawa noon.

How inspiring. However, S3 is an American corporation not Filipino. We only wish S3 is a Filipino corporation though. :lol:

Baka hindi uunlad kasi si Mang Dado kung sa Pinas siya. :lol:


http://asianpacificfund.org/awards/img/DiosdadoPBanatao_1998.jpg
Diosdado P. Banatao
Partner, Mayfield Fund

Diosdado (Dado) P. Banatao is one of Silicon Valley's best-known and most successful entrepreneurs. Before joining Mayfield Fund in 1998, Dado founded three Silicon Valley semiconductor companies: S3 Inc., Chips+Technologies, Inc., and Mostron. He also serves as Chairman of SIRF Technology, Marvell Semiconductor, New Moon Software, Stream Machines, and Silicon Access - all privately held companies - and as a Board Member of ISSI.

A native of the Philippines, Dado looks for ways to translate his industry expertise and contacts into programs benefiting the Philippines. As Chairman of the Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC), Dado works with other Filipino Americans in this region to bring resources together to realize the Philippines' potential as a newly industrialized country by the year 2000.

On a personal level, Dado contributes both time and experience to companies and various institutions in the Philippines. In 1993, Dado was awarded both the Ellis Island Medal of Honor by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations and the Distinguished Asian Leadership Award by the Asian Business League of San Francisco. In 1997, he was honored by Ernst & Young, Inc. Magazine and Merrill Lynch Business Financial Services as "Master Entrepreneur of the Year."

^^ Kaya nga wish ko lang. Libreng managinip :lol:

^^ Kaya nga wish ko lang. Libreng managinip :lol:

Hehehe, I wish la wis-wis kawayan also about his success na sana sa Pinas lahat nangyari ito.
We met him in one of the IT seminar/conf pero iba ang tindida niya.
Alam ko kaagad na Pinoy si Banatao, yung kasama kong Pinoy from Oracle sabi, "pre' Pinoy ba talaga?" sabi ko, yeah, Banatao surname is from the mountain province( nanghula lang ako :lol:), "sige, paglapit natin sitsitan mo siya". Hehehe!
He is indeed a very nice person.

Di ba yung Super turbo charger, jeep and abaka net market di sa ibang bansa?

Boba craze comes to hip Midland cafe (http://www.mywesttexas.com/articles/2008/05/20/entertainment/food/xago_boba_5-21.txt)

Angelica Garcia saunters into Xago in the Mesa Verde shopping center and stares at the bright red furniture, plasma TV and the artwork hanging on the yellow walls.

"This place is so hip," she says under her breath, but loud enough for Xago owner Jingson Morales to hear.

Then, looking over the menu behind him she asks, "What is boba?"

"It's like gummy bears in your drink," Morales says, smiling. "It's chewy and sweet."

While boba has been the craze for the past eight years in cities such as Los Angeles, New York and even Houston, Xago has dubbed itself as the first to offer it in Midland.

Morales opened Xago (pronounced as sago) less than two months ago.

The Filipino native, who came to the United States in 2001, spent several months in Southern California, and knew about the popularity of Tapioca Express -- one of the first chains to serve the boba balls in smoothies, tea drinks or slushies.

Boba originates from Taiwan and other Asian countries such as the Philippines adapted it to their own traditional dishes.

Filipinos call the balls -- made of starch and cassava root -- sago. Hence the inspiration for Jingson's café.

The boba drink is also known as boba tea, pearl tea or bubble tea.

With the drink's popularity in Asia, a Taiwanese trio decided to introduce it in America. They opened Tapioca Express in El Monte, Calif. It was the first chain to popularize the drink in the United States.

More than 60 stores now comprise the chain in the United States in Canada, said spokeswoman Allyson Lin. Two Tapioca Express locations recently opened in Houston.

An entrepreneur's dream

The success of the chain has inspired other mom-and-pop stores, such as Morales'.

"I knew I always wanted my own business," the 25-year-old said. "And when I came to Midland and saw they didn't have anything like it, I decided to give it a try."

Jingson and his five sisters came to Midland to reunite with their parents, who had moved here in 1990 to work in the medical industry.

It took 11 years before the Department of Immigration approved his parents' petition to bring their children to the United States.

"We lived with aunts and uncles at the time," he said. "It was tough and it took a lot of adjustment for me to get use to living with my parents."

Morales said that he saw the sacrifice his parents made and wanted to make something of himself.

"I feel like I have a lot to prove of myself," he said, looking around his store.

And Xago just may be it, he said.

While sago in the Philippines often is sold by street vendors, Morales envisioned a trendy place for customers to spend several hours at a time.

Located at the corner of Midland Drive and Neely Avenue, Morales literally built Xago.

He, along with some friends, built countertops, table tops and part of the lighting fixtures.

"I would be here working from the moment I woke up until the moment I was ready to go to bed," he said.

A friend painted the artwork featured on his walls.

Morales added a touch of fun in his decor. Instead of customers writing on the furniture and bathroom walls, he hung up some plywood and made it the "tagging wall" to hold people's creative expressions.

Because he's close to Lee High School, Xago Boba attracts the younger crowd.

After school and in the evenings, students come to Xago to hold study groups, play Rock Band on his plasma TV or challenge each other to board games.

Professionals and college students also come to have a boba tea while they use Xago's free wireless Internet access.

On any given day, more than 75 customers walk through Xago's doors, Morales said.

Parents come at the suggestion of their children. Others simply come for the drinks. "More than 70 percent of my first-time customers become regulars," Morales said.

Garcia walked into Xago out of curiosity, she says. She had taken her sister to the salon a few doors down and was drawn to the unusual name of the place.

After tasting a strawberry-mango smoothie with boba, she came back less than an hour later with her sister in tow.

"It's really good," the 31-year-old mother said. "I can't wait to bring my kids here. They would love it."

Cebu based products that grows internationally:

-Bo's Coffee- KSA (soon to expand in US)

-Penshoppe- Asia ( soon globally)

-Chika-an Restaurant- has branch somewhere in California



I've read this from Sun.Star Cebu, forgot the date though

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20080608-141422/How-the-scion-is-paying-his-dues

How the scion is paying his dues
By Marge C. Enriquez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
06/08/2008

MANILA, Philippines - At 28, Kevin Tan has sold condominiums, opened a couple of commercial centers, among them the hip City Walk 2 in Eastwood City, and is overseeing several commercial developments.

It helps that his father, Andrew Tan, founder and CEO of Megaworld, gave him work. But he has to pay his dues.

As head of Megaworld’s Commercial Division, he’s into marketing, leasing and property management of Megaworld’s commercial centers.

Aside from handling the family-owned Eastwood malls, Tan is also overseeing the rise of commercial centers in Bonifacio Global City, Newport City in Pasay, Binondo and Iloilo.

In December the Eastwood Mall, the core of Eastwood City, will rise. To him, this flagship project brings Megaworld’s development to new heights as it is a reflection of the elder Tan’s vision of continuous growth.

Tan recalls how his father started the business from scratch. He was only 10 when his father would bring him to properties under development.

“When we started with Megaworld, there were only 10 people. My dad would go to the provinces to choose the properties and take the whole family. We didn’t have a big capital,” he says.

“My dad shielded us from the challenges. It was an uphill battle for a company with small capital and no track record.”

Megaworld was a neophyte alongside seasoned developers, yet it made tremendous strides in growth in the past 19 years.

Its success formula is nothing new, “He (Andrew Tan) always said 60 percent is hard work and 40 percent luck,” Kevin says.

It’s also the Chinese prudence that motivated the father, which in turn has rubbed off on the son.

“You can have money today, but it doesn’t mean you can have it tomorrow. You have to work for it. You can’t stop,” says Tan.

Bullish

Tan cites the example of Eastwood City which laid its groundwork during the Asian crisis 10 years ago.

Libis was grasslands, factories and warehouses. While other developers had a wait-and-see attitude, Megaworld was bullish.

“We took a gamble. Others were skeptical. Erecting high-rises in Libis was unthinkable then since most were two-level structures.”

By 2000, in a vast open space, the lone Citibank Tower was already standing, piercing the sky. Other buildings slowly rose after Citibank—the IBM Plaza, and City Walk, which is known for its night life and restaurant row.

In the past eight years, Eastwood City has evolved into a 19-hectare self-contained community, catering to a hip, young upwardly mobile population.

In a polluted and chaotic metropolis, Eastwood City seems like a modern oasis where strolling outdoors is just as pleasurable as shopping or dining.

With Eastwood, Megaworld, sealed its reputation in the industry despite being a relative neophyte.

Tan is proud the community is alive, people feel safe and that Megaworld has contributed to the economy.

Some 27,000 people work in three shifts at the business profit outsourcing (BPO) centers. “People like the idea of a 24/7 community. They feel safer. Even in the early morning, lights are up,” Tan says.

He adds Megaworld has awarded 3,000 residential units in 18 residential towers.

New concept

Tan refers to the soon-to-rise Eastwood Mall as a community center not just a commercial center.

“We don’t want to build malls as such. We build communities. Megaworld pioneered in the live, work and play environment,” he says.

The concept of the new Eastwood Mall centers around a park where people converge.

Targeting families, the park will have a lagoon, a bird sanctuary and a botanical garden.

As the mall serves as a podium, the upper floors are devoted to residential condominiums and a five-star version or Megaworld’s 200-room Richmonde hotel, making it the only deluxe hotel in Quezon City.

Like any big mall, Eastwood Mall has its anchor supermarkets, drugstore and appliance center.

The entire ground floor is devoted to international fashion brands from Store Specialists Inc. The second floor has foreign brands and mixed premium local labels for a younger market.

The third floor is dedicated to mothers and children while the fourth floor has all the entertainment, including cinemas, large-format video arcade, karaoke, gadget showrooms and a large bookstore. The mall connects to City Walk which is the teen culture hub and the brands for sportswear.

For its tenant mix, Megaworld conducted focus groups to determine the brand preferences of its market.

“Some malls target women shoppers. Our community center wanted a mall that had activity for everyone. It becomes fun. In this country malling is like family bonding.”

Tan adds, “Eastwood is a city of adventure. You won’t be just hanging out but you go around without any need for a car. Completeness is what people are looking for. This is what we can offer.”

Paying his dues

Malls never entered Tan’s mind. He dreamed of becoming an investment banker or an advertising executive. But his father insisted that Tan should get a job related to the family business.

Like most young people, he wanted to explore the world and go to the US with friends. While working on his travel documents, his father asked him to train in one of Megaworld’s affiliates.

His first job was to vend condominiums by giving out fliers in the mall.

“In selling condos, you never let go of the potential customer,” says Tan on his learning experience.
For a low-ranking position, he received two percent commission from selling units worth P5 million to P6 million.

Eventually he moved to the company’s commercial side, doing a one-man job of wooing potential tenants and management.

“In retail you need connections. You must get invited to functions and business clubs because the potential clients are entrepreneurs,” says Tan. “I would just go to the store and ask for the company’s number. I had to buy something for the salespeople to talk to me.”

A natural charmer, he met success. His first mall was Paseo Center in Makati. He joined Eastwood City in 2004, developing City Walk 2 which included the cinemas.

He was absorbed into Megaworld only two years ago—not such preferential treatment for a COO (child of owner).

Sink or swim

His father, naturally, is the biggest influence in his career. Tan credits his negotiation skills to experience. Through the sink-or-swim method, he mastered the art and has closed big accounts in the new mall.

“The essence of my job is service,” Tan says. “We pride our selves in this. Our customers, the tenants, are the life of the company. When we forge a deal with a tenant, it’s not just signing a contract for a lease but a partnership. We are in this together.

“My dad taught me to be very hands-on and understand every detail.”

This explains why he could be relentless as a manager. He insists on weekly reports and regular updates. “I never leave anything to chance. I want to know everything. I ask questions that may seemingly look ridiculous to the engineer. Like how does an air conditioner, exhaust or toilet work? Understanding helps you make better decisions.”

Sometimes the elder Tan chides his son for wearing leather shoes when he should be wearing rubber shoes instead to do his rounds. “He told me it’s not a glamorous job. The manager doesn’t manage from the office.

He has to get out and get his hands dirty.”

He also takes pride in the security of the area. Once a female customer left her car window open. The vehicle contained valuables including her laptop. When the security guard saw the car, he watched it for eight hours to make sure that no one would steal it.

Tan considers himself lucky to be in his position, experiencing the fruits of the previous generation’s labor. Yet, he’s paying his dues. “When you’re young and you have no family, you spend more time working. I take advantage of that since there’s no one complaining yet.”

http://businessmirror.com.ph/0613&142008/perspective02.html

The Uys. Moldex’s patriarch believes fate as a successful father, businessman
BusinessMirror
June 13, 2008

JACINTO Uy believes he’s luckier than most family-centric businessmen: all his children chose to work for him.

“The greatest thing about it is enjoying working under him,” Uy’s son Michael, the eldest of three children helping to steer Moldex Group of Companies in a high oil price environment and ride a booming real-estate sector.

Since the elder Uy helped form Moldex with P55,000 paid up capital in 1967, the plastic-pipe manufacturer now has property development and insurance among its businesses.

“Luck is an important factor of success,” the Uy patriarch said at the 14th floor of the company condominium building.

The 37-story Golden Empire, which Moldex claims as the tallest residential structure in the country, is a testament to that luck.

The Golden Empire is one of two major vertical property projects that Moldex ventured into two years before a real-estate bubble burst in 1997.

While other realtors cite hollow buildings and vacant units after the Asian financial crisis hit the country that time, the The Golden Empire stayed commanding a P16-million per unit price tag.

And that’s the cheapest.

“Many are hardworking and they’re good at what they do as doctors, managers; but they work for stockholders who have more money than them,” Uy said.

These bits of wisdom harkening to a Confucianism philosophy has been the Moldex Group chair’s guide to arrive at what he calls his “destiny as a businessman.”

These are also what his eldest son awaits ever since his father brought him to board meetings.

“I remember the time when I was still fresh from college and I would sit in during my father’s meetings with the company executives, which I would look forward to with enthusiasm,” the son said.

He said it was like “listening to Confuscian business ethics” every time his “father’s thought processes spill over the discussions.”

“What seemed to be a very logical decision of the group, my father often came out with a better solution and better analysis of the entire situation,” he added.

The elder Uy, for example, cited one Filipino-Chinese businessman who he rightly said would lose out in a direct competition with a shopping mall magnate.

“Don’t fight a giant nor challenge it in its path because you’ll get crushed; because you’re still small and weak,” the 73-year-old businessman said. “Take another path.”

Moldex can testify to that shrewd business sense.

In the late 1960s, when manufacturers were still few, Uy said he withdrew his shares from a company making finished products from aluminum waste and went into reprocessing of plastic materials into pellets.

After getting a large pharmaceutical company as a client, Moldex ventured into making PVC film.

As more local drug makers tapped Moldex’s product, the company became the major supplier of rigid uPVC film in the pharmaceutical industry.

Zero

DURING lunch every Friday, as far as Michael Uy remembers, is how his father imparts the wisdom acquired in running Moldex for four decades.

“It’s a family affair that all we talk about is business,” the Moldex Group managing director said.

His dad admitted influencing his three children to have that business sense. He sadly he would be sadly surprised if one of his children took up say, painting, or went abroad to pursue things other than the family business.

“It’s their destiny to be in business as I believe it’s my fate,” Uy said.

His son, however, said that it was her sister Marilyn Uy Enriquez, who became involved earlier than him and brother Richard.

Nonetheless, he asserts he took up industrial management engineering because he wanted to pursue that academic degree. “My father allowed us to enjoy our college life but it was really my sister who helped in the accounting and financial management even while still pursuing a degree,” he said.

It was only after he graduated from De La Salle University that his father entrusted him with a responsibility in Moldex.

The younger Uy, who holds 11 percent or 44 million shares in Moldex, was given time to familiarize himself with the company, which now has seven subsidiaries.

“Then they were given positions of trust,” their father said.

According to SEC documents, daughter Marilyn is treasurer, while youngest Richard is assistant secretary for the board.

Michael Uy currently oversees the day-to-day operations of the Group.

For any major decisions, especially investments, he said he still and always consults his father. “It’s because he’s my father and he’s the chairman that I do so,” he explained.

But the father said he expects his children to eventually succeed him in steering Moldex. “That is being practical as well as, again, our destiny” as a family, Uy said.

Of course, he added, a family business could only survive with the help of outsiders.

“Management has to be professionalized. The board, for example, shouldn’t only have family members but also those who are good at what they do,” the father conceded.

He cited, for example, that his stake in Moldex was a sixth of the firm’s total paid up capital that time. He said he knew then he couldn’t go on such venture alone so he took his life savings and threw it into the pool that formed Moldex Products Inc.

“He has been and still is a fighter,” Michael Uy said after his dad has left the room.

He built the company from the ground up and has faced many crises such as the oil crisis in the 1970s, the Asian financial crisis, and now the inflation and oil-price crisis, he added.

“He never gave up,” beamed the son.

Integrity

THE Moldex chairman was taken aback one day when a plumber inside Moldex’s Quezon City office didn’t return his chirpy greeting. Stuttering, the plumber explained hthat is cataract has impaired his vision.

“My father without hesitation sent that plumber to his personal doctor to be treated. He wasn’t even on the company payroll,” Uy’s son recalled, adding that his father has done such acts of kindness so many times.

“Yet he never talks about them,” he said, noting he would only learn about it later and from other employees.

The father’s “soft heart for people who are striving in life” may have come from his beginnings while working in Manila for a P4-minimum daily wage. He said his family is not that rich and relied on the earnings of a retail store that his father managed in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija.

Having started from scratch as a businessman, however, Uy said he never curried favor from politicians or those in power.

“I always believed money should be earned with a conscience because that gives me peace of mind,” he said.

It also makes him sleep soundly at night, he added.

For him, a sure road to failure is for businessmen to believe they’re the sole purveyor of the company’s success.

“If you begin to think you are the sole fountain of intelligence and has the Midas touch, then I can count the days when you’ll fall,” he said. “Arrogance is a sign of a weak character.”

Indeed, despite having in his disposal a substantial wealth—Moldex Land Inc. alone for instance posted a P50-million net income in 2006—Uy doesn’t brim with self-importance.

“I began with nothing. But I see myself today having that satisfaction that I’m on track with my destiny,” he reiterated.

For his son, having Uy as a father is a fate he’s happy to have.

Jollibee to buy majority stake in Taipei resto chain (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=122259)

Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC), the country's largest fast food operator, is acquiring a majority stake in a restaurant chain in Taiwan through its wholly-owned unit Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd.

In a statement, the company said Jollibee Worldwide signed a joint venture agreement with owners of the Lao Dong restaurant business that is based in Taipei.

Under the terms, JFC will buy 70 percent of Lao Dong for P61.1 million. It will also invest P30.6 million in the joint venture while the present owners will invest another P13.1 million. The deal is expected to be completed within this year.

"The joint venture shall operate and expand the Lao Dong restaurant chains in Taiwan and in the People's Republic of China," JFC said.

"Further, the head and one of the present owners of the Lao Dong business, Mr. Liu Cheng Hsiung, shall assist the Jollibee group in developing food products and processing and preparation techniques for its business units in China, the Philipiines and other countries."

Currently, Lao Dong, which serves beef noodles as its core products, has eight stores and a commissary in Taipei. It has annual sales of NT 121.6 million.

JFC runs the largest quick food service network in the Philippines. As of April 30, 2008, it was operating a total of 1,469 stores in the Philippines and 194 stores overseas. Its popular brands include Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Delifrance and Red Ribbon

From another newspaper about Jollibee...

Business Mirror

Jollibee purchases Taiwan food chain
June 20, 2008
By Honey Madrilejos-Reyes
Reporter


THE Philippines’ biggest fast-food operator Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) is buying a controlling stake in one of Taiwan’s known restaurant chains for P61.1 million, its chief finance officer said.

The acquisition, said JFC’s Ysmael Baysa, was coursed through wholly owned unit Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. (JWPL).

Baysa said JWPL signed on June 18 a joint-venture agreement with the owners of noodle house Lao Dong.

Under the terms, JWPL will buy 70 percent of Lao Dong for P61.1 million. It will also invest P30.6 million in a newly formed joint-venture company while the present owners will invest P13.1 million. The deal is expected to be completed within this year.

“The joint venture will operate and expand the Lao Dong restaurant chains in Taiwan and in the People’s Republic of China,” said Baysa.

At present, Lao Dong has eight stores and a commissary in Taipei, with annual sales reaching NT 121.6 million (P176 million). Founded in 1950, the full-service restaurant has beef noodles as its core product.

Meanwhile, market analysts described the latest investment of JFC as a good move, especially now that local food products are feeling the pressure of high inflation.

“This [purchase] balances the act aside from the fact that Lao Dong has a lot room to grow its expansion,” said an expert from a local brokerage house.

As of April 30, 2008, JFC was operating a total of 1,469 stores in the Philippines and 194 stores overseas. Its popular brands include Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Delifrance and Red Ribbon.

The company is also pursuing plans of expanding into India through acquisition of a brand.

JFC chairman and president Tony Tan Caktiong, in a previous interview, said the company is keen on acquiring a fast-food chain that specializes either in Chinese or Indian food.

“We are always on the lookout for opportunities in India,” he said.

http://business.inquirer.net/money/features/view/20080622-144170/Lucio-Tan-in-Viviennes-eyes

Lucio Tan in Vivienne’s eyes
By Margie Quimpo-Espino
Philippine Daily Inquirer
06/22/2008

THE lives of the rich and famous always fascinate people.

Every tidbit of information is taken note of. The richest men in the country are often the most elusive. They very rarely give interviews to media and avoid the cameras as much as they can.

A glimpse of one of the Philippines richest man, Lucio Tan, can be had from the words of daughter Vivienne in a speech she delivered years ago but which still provides a rare opportunity to see the man in the eyes of his daughter:

“And so today please allow me to share with a few stories on parenting I learned by walking down memory lane.

My father, born of very humble beginnings … an immigrant from China with little knowledge of the local dialect … wasn’t able to graduate with a degree, and who faced racial discrimination—rampant at that time … he struggled his way to become one of the most successful industrialists in the Philippines. For most, he is the astute … controversial … shrewd … and reclusive Kapitan … but he is first and foremost, Dad to me and my first teacher.

Let me start with this story:

Once upon a time, our whole family went to Japan for a vacation. It was a freezing day in Tokyo. I was a skinny seven-year-old wearing my favorite pullover with an apple on it. My younger sister and I were left with my dad. As always, the older ones spent their time doing their shopping while the younger ones were stuck waiting for them to finish.

We were outdoors and my sister and I were freezing, our teeth chattering, once in a while playing smoke rings and warming our hands in our pockets. My dad slowly approached us, sat down, smiled and softly said, “Just think it is not cold.”

My younger sister and I just looked at each other with a puzzled look unable to comprehend how he could even say such a thing, when it was downright cold. I thought that maybe the cold had started to get to his brain.

Perhaps sensing our skepticism, my dad persisted and said, “Relax, close your eyes and imagine. Think of the color green, imagine grass, think of the color yellow, imagine the sun, think of sunflower … imagine the colorful butterflies … imagine hearing the birds chirping … imagine the weather … it is summer, it is hot ...”

Then, as if under a magic spell, I felt my body slowly stop shivering, my teeth stopped jittering. When I opened my eyes, I was actually still with my father, who was now smiling. Then he said: “See? It is all in the mind. Just believe.”

Up to this day, I warmly bring to mind that story, especially during difficult times and when “cold” circumstances arise in my life.

Ten years later, my first year in the US to me was a turning point.

The first few months, I saw the typical things seen on TV, US college life; parties, sex, drugs, alcohol. Peer pressure was so visible. Since I was brought up with a solid foundation and I was never a person who can easily be persuaded, I never got lured into those things … usually. I stayed on track and focused on school.

On my second term, my friends started getting to me. Like some schoolmates, I started to cut classes, go to parties, shop, hang out. I knew I was not doing the right thing but why can’t my friends and schoolmates see anything wrong? How can they use their tuition funds, given to them by their parents, to buy cars and other things? I felt so lost. I felt so confused.

One time, I came home from spring break… my dad was there. He was carrying a piece of paper. I was shocked to see that it was actually my grade report! Up to this day, I never asked how it got to him. Full of shame—I remember I didn’t want to look up.

Instead of getting scolded, he used his gentle voice and asked: “How can your grades of As and Bs deteriorate to Cs and even Ds?” I was burning with guilt. I wished he just scolded or yelled at me. But no. He didn’t. He continued by saying: “I can buy you everything you want but I cannot buy you knowledge. The best I can do is to give you everything you need to acquire that knowledge. And that, I have given you. The rest is up to you.”

“The rest is up to me” … those words hit me like a ton of bricks. I took for granted my education. Knowledge is priceless. Things became clearer and I knew what to do.

Four years later, in 1991, I was fortunate enough to graduate from the University of San Francisco with a double degree in Math & Computer Science. Being a computer science graduate from the US in the ’90s, I could have actually commanded a handsome salary. True enough I had good job offers with great salaries from the best multinational companies.

My dad who had just flown in at that time asked me which offer I had decided to take. I boastfully replied that as a computer science grad I was entitled to wait for the highest bid, which would surely come along. He paused and then wisely said, “Be humble. Don’t look at the money, but rather, look at what you really want to do and the amount of learning and growth you would get.” He further added, “In fact, you should pay tuition to the company for giving you the training you need.”

These are just a few of my memorable learning points. In the end, we are the sum total of our experiences. The lessons that I have learned from my father are some essential principles I carry with me today and that I believe will make a successful individual. Belief … passion … and knowledge—a few important values that I was to bring back to the Philippines.”

GSIS eyes manager for $400-m fund (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business3_june24_2008)


State pension fund Government Service Insurance System is investing more funds overseas amid the slump in the local equities market.

GSIS president and general manager Winston Garcia told reporters following the annual stockholders’ meeting of National Reinsurance Corp. of the Philippines that the pension fund would invest $400 million from the $1-billion fund allotted for overseas markets this year. Garcia sits as chairman of National Reinsurance.

He said GSIS would pick another fund manager to handle the $400-million fund.

Garcia said the fund could be invested in fixed income, equities and non-traditional instruments in several countries.

GSIS early this year signed an agreement with ING and Credit Agricole Asset Management to each manage an initial $300 million for investments outside the Philippines.

Garcia said its overseas investment so far had yielded positive results, earning a monthly average of 1 percent, excluding foreign exchange gains.

He said the decision to invest the pension fund’s capital overseas enabled GSIS to diversify its investments.

“In the Philippines, if the stock market is down everything is down. But if you diversify overseas, not all equities and securities are down,” said Garcia.

He said now is a good time to invest in the equities market because the potential upside, if the market began to recover, would be higher.

“If you place your investments strategically overseas, you could generate strong return on your funds,” Garcia said.

GSIS earlier reported a 20 percent growth in net operating revenues for the first nine months of the year to P35 billion from P29.2 billion year-on-year on higher revenues from local investments.

Revenues from other investments also grew by 29 percent to P15.3 billion from P11.8 billion due to earnings of P153.4 million from domestic investments managed by local fund managers.

GSIS also booked P10.4 billion in earnings from sales of stocks in the first nine months of 2007 compared with P756.3 million on year.

GSIS earlier sold its shareholdings in several blue-chip companies, including San Miguel Corp., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Ayala Corp.



* * * * *


Mas makakabuti kung magkakaroon ng sariling Sovereign Wealth Fund ang Pinas :)

By BERNIE CAHILES–MAGKILAT (http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20080625128134.html)

The Spanish Chamber of Commerce (La Camara) yesterday bared plans to go on aggressive roadshow for the rest of the year in a bid to further increase presence of Spanish products in the country and to promote business tie-ups between Filipinos and Spanish businessmen.


La Camara president Jose Luis Romero-Salas said the chamber will hold expos in Bacolod City, Baguio City, Davao City, and Metro Manila during the second half of the year.

"We are going to hold some of the biggest Spanish expos during the remainder of the year. It is our commitment to bring Spanish companies and their products into the country while at the same time have local businesses find partners for their products to penetrate the Spanish market," Romero-Salas said.

The La Camara will be making its second visit to Baguio City over the last two years as it takes 16 Spanish wine and food companies and distributors for a fresh two-day expo at the end of the month.

Already having a strong presence in Region I and II, Romero-Salas said they are looking at strengthening business relationship with the influential Baguio Chamber of Commerce whose members have business operations in key cities in northern Philippines.

"There is now a strong market demand for Spanish products in those areas. This new visit is aimed at introducing new products and Spanish companies looking for partners," Romero-Salas said.

Later in the year, the La Camara will be holding similar expos in Bacolod City and Davao City – two locations where the chamber see huge two-way trade potentials.

Romero-Salas characterized both cities as the most logical destinations of Spanish products and services in the south.

"They are highly urbanized cities that have experienced high economic growth over the last three years. We will be looking to establish partnerships there between Spanish companies and local business establishments," Romero-Salas said.

Also later in the year, the La Camara will be staging the fifth annual Spanish Products and Services Expo in Taguig City.

Romero-Salas expects the annual event to be the biggest with the participation of more Spanish companies looking to establish business operations in the country.

Over the last three years, the La Camara roadshow has also visited Boracay, Cebu City, Iloilo City, Quezon Province, Tugegarao, and Zamboanga City.

The La Camara has 105 members that have local operations in the food, healthcare, hotel, insurance, liquor, personal care, property, tobacco, and travel industries.

In 2007, Spanish exports to the Philippines reached $ 185.37 million while Philippine exports to Spain reached $ 366.17 million.

Madrid’s main exports to Manila consisted of plastic raw materials and semimanufacturers, brandy, wines, veterinary and pharmaceutical products, automobile spare parts and accessories and electric equipment.

Manila’s main exports to Madrid included cement, electronics and IT products, frozen tuna, coconut oil and garments.

In 2006, investments made by Spanish businessmen here amounted to $ 269,000 only or a measly .02 percent of the total Spanish investments overseas of $ 1.6 billion.

Thursday, June 26, 2008


RFM paves way for Philtown listing with PSE (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/june/26/yehey/business/20080626bus10.html)

By Likha Cuevas-Miel, Reporter (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/june/26/yehey/business/20080626bus10.html)

RFM Corp. will divest a substantial portion of its stake in Philippine Townships Inc. (Philtown) by declaring a property dividend to its shareholders, which would make the property unit a publicly held company, the company announced Wednesday.

During the annual meeting, RFM shareholders approved a property dividend of 143.65 million common shares of Philtown worth P501.89 million. The firm’s shareholders on record as of July 9, 2008, will receive one Philtown common share for every 22 shares of RFM, pending Securities and Exchange Commission and creditor approvals.

The divestment would reduce RFM’s 100-percent exposure in the real estate firm to 34.21 percent, while some 4,000 shareholders will now own Philtown. This will allow Philtown to qualify for listing by way of introduction in the Philippine Stock Exchange later this year, Felicisimo Nacino, RFM executive vice president and chief operating officer, told reporters.

The listing will enable Philtown to raise additional funds through a follow-on offering after a year or two since “this is not the time to raise money from the stock market,” Nacino said. RFM may further reduce its stake in its subsidiary through this follow-on offer but the parent firm and Philtown have yet to determine the amount of fresh capital to be raised, he added.

Philtown has several real estate projects under its portfolio under RFM Realty Marketing Corp.: Philtown Property Management, Inc., First Tanauan Realty Corp. and McKinley Tower Inc., First San Rafael Realty Corp., Philtown Utilities Corp., and One McKinley Place Inc. These subsidiaries are wholly owned by Philtown except for One McKinley Place Inc., which was co-owned with EIB Realty Develop-ment Inc. Philtown’s partner has divested its interests in One McKinley Place last year.

Besides the property dividend, RFM shareholders also approved the retirement of 767.31 million common treasury shares at par value P1 and a cash dividend of P50 million to shareholders as of record date July 9. Shareholders will receive P0.015 centavos per share.

For the next five years, RFM aims to double its size to P14 billion or an annualized revenue growth of 15 percent. Last year, the company’s consolidated sales for the whole RFM group, including Philtown, reached P6.99 billion, or 13.8 percent higher than the previous year.

It also plans to capture the top spot in its major product categories like ice cream, flour—specifically pasta—and beverage and meat. At present, RFM’s Selecta ice cream is the market leader while Fiesta spaghetti is next to Royal in terms of market share at 26 percent while the former has captured 33 percent of the market, Nacino said.

Within five years, the company also aims to reach a net income of P700 million from recurring sources. Its profits during the first quarter grew 7.6 percent to P67.3 million while its 2007 full year profits reached P234.4 million, or 15.7 percent more than the previous year.

Also in the pipeline is RFM’s plan to have a return on equity of at least 12 percent and achieve a share price of 14 times price to equity (P/E) ratio.

Nacino said the company will not implement any price hikes until the end of this year to keep its products still affordable to the public. He said RFM would just implement cost cutting measures through the improvement of its production lines and do the manufacturing themselves rather than use third party contract manufacturers. The company may also use raw material substitutes, which it has been doing since the beginning of this year, to keep costs down.



From The Manila Times, Business Section
RFM paves way for Philtown listing with PSE (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/june/26/yehey/business/20080626bus10.html)

This thread features people involved in real estate like Lucio Tan (Eton), Andrew Tan (MW), Jacinto Uy (Moldex), etc. There are several others and the list of the industry's Who's Who is quite long.

Atty. Andres D. Bautista

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g227/tcc_0888/pers-pic01.jpg

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/0502&032008/perspective01.html

Law and Property
By Rizal Raoul Reyes
BusinessMirror
May 2 & 3, 2008

Talk about having the right address.

That’s how Atty. Andres D. Bautista, chief executive officer of the Kuok Group in the Philippines, was initially considered to become the Hong Kong-based group’s top guy in the Philippines.

Bautista, a BS Legal Management and law graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University, did not pass through the headhunter for the job search.

Instead, his neighbor in the condominium, Tom Zita, then the head of the Kuok Group in the country, referred him to the Kuok management. An interview was scheduled with no less than Edward Kuok, who came to Manila.

Initially, Bautista said he was shocked because he did not have a background in managing a property company.

But he agreed to do the interview nonetheless.

“At the back of my mind, I said I got nothing to lose and maybe possibly add another potential client for the office,” said Bautista, who took his Masteral studies in Harvard law school.

Bautista admits he thought he was merely asked to fill up the list of interviewees. The ungodly schedule of 12:45 am for the interview reinforced his thinking.

He was prepared not to make it to the next stage of screening.

“I was very happy with my situation then managing an international office and a law school,” said Bautista, one of the topnotchers in the 1990 bar examinations.

At that time, Bautista was the partner and country head of Anglo Oriental Ltd. in Manila, representing British law firm Allen Overy LLP. He was also managing the dual program of law and masters in business administration program at the Far Eastern University and the De La Salle University. Up to now, he still handles the program.

After the interview with Kuok, Bautista was informed by Zita that he made it to the shortlist and was asked to go to Hong Kong for another round of interviews and to meet the patriarch of the group, Robert Kuok.

During the interview, the sage-like tycoon told Bautista that “we are given yokes to bear and the trick is you have to bear them with grace.” Kuok also mentioned how his family developed a strong affection for the Philippines, where the group started in the late-1980s at a time when the political situation was in an “interesting” stage highlighted by attempts to overthrow the government.

Then he was interviewed by brothers Robert and Edward Kuok and the manager of Shangri-La Hong Kong. It was Edward Kuok who told Bautista: “Andy, we’ll take our chances with you.”

Bautista, who also worked for New York-based White and Case as senior associate, admits having mixed reactions in accepting the job.

“I was open to accept the job because I wanted to do something else. But at the same time, I was hesitant to leave because it’s already something I do well and something that I am comfortable with. Then all of a sudden, you’ll try out this new field and things don’t work out. I might end up eating dust,” he said.

Bautista describes his current job as both challenging and interesting. The job also teaches him new skills, especially in the business aspects, which Bautista noted is different from law.

He said a typical lawyer has an aversion to numbers.

“You go to law when you are afraid of numbers. I can’t say that’s the reason I went to law. But I also can’t say math was not my strongest point. But now, you are compelled to get your hands dirty, so to speak, in order to learn how business is being run,” he said.

He said it was also a good timing when he joined the company in September 2006 as he was also able to experience the growth the following year—which he said was so far the best for the group in its hotel, mall, condo and office building operations.

For 2008, Bautista said the company is looking for bigger things to come. Highlighting the big push is the Saint Francis Shangri-La Place, a twin-tower structure reaching 60 floors strategically located at the heart of the bustling Ortigas district.

Saint Francis is already 72-percent sold and looking to a turnover in April.

“We’re not just selling here a condominium unit but an integrated community wherein you have a mall, residential,
spa, church, medical facilities,” said Bautista.

The Kuok group is also setting its sights on the Bonifacio Global City, where it bought a 1.5-hectare property for a future hotel-condominium project.

Of course, the Kuok group is also excited over the opening of Shangri-La Hotel in Boracay this year, destined to be a premiere hotel on the island once it operates.

For office space development, Bautista said the Kuok Group raised its stake in the ownership of the Enterprise Building in Makati by buying P1.8 billon worth of controlling stake.

For the mall rats who love the classy and elegant manner of shopping, Bautista said the management will extend the Shangri-La Plaza Mall to make it more attuned to the demands of the times.

Bautista said he enjoys managing people and finding ways to ensure that everybody contributes to the company’s growth.

“It’s so different managing a property firm with various components. It’s not just selling a condominium, a mall, office building and a hotel. It has different disciplines,” Bautista pointed out. “We’re quite fortunate that we’re able to have good and competent general managers of the various properties who operate the day-to-day activities of these properties.”

:okay:



RP is 'hottest real estate market in Southeast Asia' -- consultant

By LALA RIMANDO
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=124462)

Tourism, offshoring and onshoring are driving the property market in the Philippines to the top of real estate investors' list, an executive of a global property consulting and research firm said.

Trent Frankum, general manager of the Philippine office of CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE), a Los Angeles-headquartered real estate adviser to investors and occupiers, spoke about the topic, "The Philippines – the hottest market in Southeast Asia," during the Investment and International Property Expo in Hong Kong last June.

In the audience were property experts and investors from featured property experts and investors from global companies headquartered in
Asia, Australia, and the UK.

"Investment opportunities in tourism, infrastructure, mining, and real estate remain high in the Philippines," said Frankum.

"Foreign investors are looking at the positive effects of the stable Philippine peso, increasing tourist arrivals, the BPO boom, and the positive effect of overseas Filipino worker (OFW) dollar remittances into the country."

New hotels

In 2007, tourists arriving in the Philippines reached a little over three million, a far cry from the years when tourist arrivals hovered at two million. New markets such as those from Russia, Middle Eas, China, and Korea are expected to help in sustaining tourism growth.

Projected tourism arrivals in 2008 is at 3.4 million, which will generate revenues of about US$5.8 billion.

Property companies have taken advantage of this boom as "New hotel and resort developments are currently in strategic business locations such
as Makati City, Fort Bonifacio, and the Bay Area as well as top tourist destinations such as Cebu and Boracay, further enhancing industry prospects," Frankum said.

According to Frankum, hotel room occupancy rates rose to 73.06 percent in 2007 from 71.95 percent in 2006.

New development projects include the US$153 million Kingdom Hotel, a combined hotel and residential condominium that will rise in Makati
City.

Meanwhile, the offshoring and outsourcing boom continued to create opportunities in the residential and office markets.

Almost 800,000 sqm for BPO offices

Multinational companies that operate business process outsourcing businesses in the Philippines are pushing their expansion projects. Frankum cited Accenture, a US-based IT company, which leased additional 1.3 million square feet.

Other major offshoring and outsourcing service providers continue to develop sites in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu.

According to CBRE research, a total of 731,871 square meters of property in Metro Manila has been earmarked for new offshoring and outsourcing facilities this year, with 189,614 square meters already pre-committed before commencing construction.

"Offshoring and outsourcing will continue to drive demand for real estate, particularly in the office space market," Frankum said.

In addition, major financial companies such as HSBC, Citigroup and JPMorgan have been expanding Philippine sites of their respective customer support operations. HSBC currently has four locations, which totals to 859,200 square feet, and plans to open more sites. Citigroup and JPMorgan, on the other hand, have 214,812 and 107,400 square feet of space leased, respectively.

Complementing the office construction frenzy is the residential market.

In Makati alone, there are upcoming 18,143 residential condominium units coming in between 2008 and 2013. In nearby Fort Bonifacio, there are 33 residential condominium units being constructed between 2008 and 2012. That translates to additional 11,652 units.

High construction cost

CBRE's optimism, however, will be put to test as prices of construction materials, especially steel, have almost doubled. Financing costs of property buyers or lessors are also expected to hike as the central bank is poised to increase interest rates to ease inflation worries.

Property companies, such as Ayala Land, Megaworld and Vista Land, have already increased their prices from five to 20 percent.

Cathay Land to put up Laguna school complex


By Ayen Infante

07/09/08


Major property developer Cathay Land Inc. has tapped the expertise of another local property firm, Edification Properties Holdings Inc. (EPHI), to develop a campus town inside CLI's South Forbes Golf City development project in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

EPHI top official Eric Salido said with the tremendous growth in the Metro Sta. Rosa Tagaytay corridor being the center of light manufacturing industries and business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, the firm has chosen South Forbes for its strategic location and their common vision.

The continuous growth of these industries will rely on the location of more institutions of higher learning to provide the resources of a knowledge-based economy to these surrounding locator companies, Salido explained.

The educational facility, to be called South Forbes City Colleges Inc., will have modern facilities, equipped with fiber optic connectivity to insure that the future potential applicants and enrollees will be educated and trained on an international standard.

"South Forbes City Colleges is a welcome addition to our Education Cluster in that it will beef up synergy with our other four clusters," said Cathay Land president Jeffrey Ng. South Forbes has dedicated around 3.1 hectares for the campus which is adjacent to our Residential Cluster.

The campus community will be patterned after Ivy League campuses like Stanford University in Palo Alto, University of Texas in Austin and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston where technology-based industries and educational institutions work hand in hand.

In addition to global education, these future students will be studying and living in a classic campus-type environment conducive to learning and growing "pedestrian-oriented and surrounded by nature", Ng added.

EPHI plans on investing about P250 million over the life of the project with an initial P30 million to P50 million for the initial phase. Construction begins third quarter of 2008 and is expected to complete the first phase in 2009.

As the Asian Century begins, "Knowledge Workers must continue to have upgraded facilities and skill sets which allow a seamless transition between the academic pursuits and those needed for practical industrial requirements," Salido said.

Although still in the planning stages, South Forbes City Colleges intends to initially offer courses in Hotel and Restaurant Management, Information Technology, Business Management, Nursing and other medical-related courses, vocational courses (under Tesda) and foreign language courses.


http://www.tribuneonline.org/business/20080709bus2.html

@Igsuonnimo... this thread is for the Who's Who of the industry only. You may post those in the Philippine Real Estate Industry Thread (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=471610).

--------------------------------------------------

‘Kapitan’ steers a fortune toward education
By Jerry E. Esplanada
Philippine Daily Inquirer
07/08/2008

MANILA, Philippines—Forbes magazine estimates the wealth of Lucio C. Tan at more than $1.5 billion, or over P60 billion. This makes Tan the country’s richest man.

His riches, however, should not be valued only in dollars and pesos, judging by the way he has steered support, financial and otherwise, for Philippine education.

Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus calls Tan “an avid supporter of education” and a “remarkable man.”

In an exclusive interview, tycoon Lucio Tan, 73, says, “Sharing the fruits of one’s labor with those in need is, for me, a great measure of success.”

It is advice worth heeding from Chinese philosopher Mencius, whom Tan also quoted in the book “Lucio C. Tan” published by the Xinhua Publishing House. “A gentleman delights in three things—for one’s parents to be both alive and for one’s brothers to have no misfortune; looking up at Heaven without shame; and educating the world’s talented people.”

From his early days as a working student, Tan says, he had known that education was the only way one could escape poverty: “Dapat mag-aral na mabuti para makaalis sa hirap.”

Foundation

Mirroring this special concern is his involvement in many educational pursuits, including the Tan Yan Kee Foundation Inc. that promotes the “pay-it-forward” principle.

Established in 1986 and named in honor of Tan’s late father, the TYKF has poured hundreds of millions of pesos into projects supporting education, culture and sports, health, social welfare, scientific research and manpower development.

To date, the foundation—in cooperation with the Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce—has donated more than 110 public school buildings nationwide, mainly in impoverished communities.

The TYKF has also donated over 36,000 story books to schoolchildren under its “Sa Pagbasa May Pag-Asa” program, and English, Science and Mathematics textbooks under the DepEd’s Adopt-a-School initiative.

Tan has also put up FUSE—short for Foundation for Upgrading the Standard of Education—that focuses on improving the teaching skills of English, Science and Math teachers. To date FUSE has trained over 12,340 public school teachers nationwide. Some teachers have been also been sent on training and cultural exchange programs abroad.

Tan, however, considers his acquisition of the University of the East in 1990 as his “biggest feat” in promoting education in the country.

Between 1998 and 2003 alone, he earmarked over $2 million (P90 million) worth of scholarships for poor but deserving UE students.

“I feel that the greatest gift I could give a country that has helped me live comfortably is to give the best education to those who cannot afford the elite schools,” he says, referring to UE’s middle income and working students.

Tan says he used to tell friends about his dreams of becoming a scientist someday. “That’s all gone now,” he says citing old age. “But even if I can’t become a scientist, I believe I can help others become scientists by giving them scholarships.”

Alarming gap

In his many travels abroad, Tan says he has observed the widening gap between industrialized and developing nations, not only in material wealth but more so in education.

He recalls that in the mid-1950s the Philippines was in the same league as Japan, economically and academics-wise.

“Fifty years down the road, we’re lagging behind,” he says. “No, we’re almost dead last in Asia.”

He is alarmed that standards of Philippine education compare poorly even with those of other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) schools.

“Our leaders and educators know what went wrong,” he says. “They just don’t have the political will to correct the mistakes.”

What private individuals like him have done to help education is just a drop in the bucket, Tan says, adding that the problems are complex and enormous.

But Kapitan, as he is known among his 50,000 employees, is bullish.

“While we’re merely scratching the surface, I believe that one day we’ll make gains.”

Training more teachers and providing much-needed facilities, he adds, will turn schools into more conducive learning environments.

At his conferment of an honorary doctorate by the University of Santo Tomas (one of 11 doctorates he has received so far), Tan described himself as a perpetual learner always in search of mentors for their wisdom, one constantly searching for answers.

His story is his own Exhibit A. Born in Fujian, China, to Tan Yan Kee and Chua King Ha, he was barely four years old when the family joined the Chinese diaspora to the Philippines. Tan went through a few grade schools in Naga and Cebu “kasi palipat-lipat kami.”

He supported himself through school by working at the Bataan Cigar and Cigarette Company, a place that no doubt left a lasting impression on him.

Early struggle

“Those early years of toil and struggle had truly been a process of education. I look back on those years as the foundation for the man I have become,” he says.

Tan had put up an electronics shop making transistor radios and a corn starch factory, both of which failed. Undeterred, he next set up, with second-hand boilers and reconditioned American trucks, Himmel Industries, the chemical manufacturing and trading firm that gave him his first taste of business success.

In 1966, in a small house in Marikina, Tan founded Fortune Tobacco. From such humble beginning has emerged his ventures in (by no means a complete list): Agribusiness (Foremost Farms and Rumion Farms), airlines (Philippine Airlines, Air Philippines, Lufthansa Technik Phils., and MacroAsia), banking (Philippine National Bank, Allied Banking Corp., Allied Savings Bank, Xiamen Commercial Bank and Oceanic Bank), alcohol (Asia Brewery, Tanduay Distillers and Asian Alcohol), food (Lotte Phils., Nugget Food Corp., American Bakery, and Top Goods Corp.), bottled water (Agua Vida, Summit and Absolute), real estate (Eton and Landcom Realty), construction (Grandspan Development Corp.), investment (First Investment Finance and Kenmore Investment), soap manufacturing (Manserv), insurance (New York Life Insurance), and tourism and travel services (Century Park and Charter House hotels, Lucky Travel and Funtastic Park-Guam).

Today, Tan’s eagerness to learn remains strong as ever. “Kahit busy, I find time to read,” he says.

Wife Carmen, interviewed for the Xinhua publication, confirmed Tan’s love of reading. “At home, even if he retires past midnight, he is up by 4 a.m. And off he goes to his study room. He looks over his notes. He reads his books. He has a great love for books. At home, he is surrounded by books. In his (Makati and Manila offices) he has all kinds of books. In fact, he has many boxes of books yet to be opened.”

Dreams

Tan says he plans to donate more classrooms in typhoon-devastated and depressed areas. He also vows to set up a special fund to help talented science teachers pursue postgraduate degrees both here and abroad.

“My only condition is for them to come back to the Philippines to share their knowledge with others,” he says.

What is his ultimate dream for Philippine education? “A system that is at par with, if not better than, those of our neighbors and other progressive countries,” he says.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080713-148119/Villars-take-over-storied-Laurel-house-on-Shaw-Blvd

Villars take over storied Laurel house on Shaw Blvd
By Gerry Lirio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
07/13/2008

MANILA, Philippines—The well-kept secret of the house on Shaw Boulevard can now be told.

Senate President Manuel Villar and his wife, Cynthia, the Las Piñas representative, have taken possession of the imposing, three-story 51-year-old mansion built by Jose P. Laurel, the president of the Japanese-sponsored Second Philippine Republic, that stands on 6,000 square meters of prime land in Mandaluyong.

The heirs of the Laurel patriarch have, for "practical reasons," let go of the storied property, once the center of political power because of the people who lived there. It has remained unoccupied for the past seven years.

"No one among us could afford to live in this house anymore, it is so big for us," said former Batangas Rep. Macario Laurel, the eldest son of the late President's eldest son, former Speaker Jose B. Laurel.

Both the Laurels and the billionaire Villars have refused to talk about the amount of money that changed hands. They dismissed rumors that the negotiation for the purchase of the property for a few hundred million was conducted "without haggling." Half of the purchase price was reportedly paid during the sale last December, with the balance to be paid in 12 to 24 monthly installments.

The Senate President's wife, a property developer before she went into politics, said she was very pleased with the deal, which she found "reasonable." She said she was fully aware that they had bought a historic site that "ought to be preserved."

First offer

The Laurels first offered to sell the white-and-green mansion to the Villars sometime in 2003, some months after Villar accepted the presidency of the Nacionalista Party, long dominated by the Laurel family, from the late former Vice President Salvador "Doy" Laurel, a younger son of the late President.

According to Macario, the family rejected an offer from a group of Korean businessmen because they proposed to destroy the mansion to put up either a gasoline station or a restaurant. "We wanted to preserve the history and dignity of the house," he said.

The Villars were initially not too keen to buy the property as they did not want to leave their Las Piñas residence.

According to Cynthia, when they first looked at the property early last year, what they found was a huge "bodega" in total disarray, with dozens of huge boxes containing photos, paintings and other memorabilia of the Laurel patriarch, his children and grandchildren.

Parts of the ceiling were falling. Some of the lamps were not working. The walls and flooring, though made of durable tiles, were dirty. There was no furniture at all.

After the Villars agreed to buy the property, Macario said the clan made only one condition: That they preserve the mansion's two historical markers. The first notes the date when the Laurel patriarch built the property in 1957. The second commemorates the visit of Indonesian President Sukarno, who twice slept at the mansion.

Golf enthusiast

A native of Tanauan, Batangas, Jose P. Laurel built the house on No. 515 Shaw Blvd. several years after he stepped down as President. He loved golf and wanted to have a house near the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club, where he was wounded in an assassination attempt while playing golf in 1943. The mansion occupies 1,000 square meters of the land that was once overrun with cogon.

Called Villa Pacienca in honor of the late President's wife, Pacienca Hidalgo, the Shaw Boulevard house is the biggest of the three residences that Laurel built. He built a house in Tanauan, which the Laurels consider their ancestral home, and another in Paco, Manila, called the Villa Peñafrancia.

The construction of the Shaw Boulevard house was reportedly rushed in time for the arrival of the New Hampshire newspaper publisher, James Langley. Laurel and Langley headed a group that forged what would be known as the Laurel-Langley Agreement of 1956, which extended parity rights to Americans. When Langley came in 1957, Laurel hosted a luncheon in his honor at the mansion.

The entrance to the property was originally on Laurel Street to the left of Shaw Boulevard. An imposing 15-foot tall gate is topped by an arbor inscribed with the words "Villa Paciencia." A long driveway leads to a fountain. The mansion is surrounded on all four sides by old balete and royal palm trees. At the back is a patio where the Laurel patriarch would sometimes make important announcements.

Succession

The mansion has a large receiving room and two dining rooms, a large one for big gatherings and a smaller one for private meetings. It has seven big bedrooms, one on the third floor and five on the second floor. A bedroom on the ground floor has been collapsed by the Villars into the dining room. The Villars have also shifted the entrance to the property to Shaw Boulevard after they regained possession of a strip of the front yard that was being rented out to commercial establishments.

When the elder Laurel died in November 1959, his eldest son, the Speaker, acquired the property after buying out his siblings--Doy, former Sen. Sotero Laurel and the late car racer Arsenio "Dodjie" Laurel.

Doy would later build his own house on a 2,400-sq.m. lot beside his father's property.

When Speaker Laurel moved in, the mansion became the de facto Nacionalista Party headquarters, according to former Tanauan Mayor Paquito Lirio who is married to Emerlina Laurel, a cousin of the Speaker. The Lirios were frequent visitors to the mansion. [Not related to this writer.--Ed.]

Site of historic decisions

"Political leaders would troop to the house for meetings and caucuses. Many important decisions that affected the country were made in that house. Most political decisions affecting the province of Batangas were made there, as no decisions could be made then without consulting the Laurels," recalled Lirio.

Added Macario's wife, Letty: "Anybody who was somebody in Philippine politics had gone there. In fact, even the nobodies had also been there."

Speaker Laurel died in 1998, leaving the property to his children--Macario, Mimi, Batangas Rep. Lali Laurel-Trinidad--and the heirs of another son Banjo, who died in the 1960s.

"To us, the house was some kind of a white elephant after our Papa died. We have our own houses now," said Macario, now 76.

Not just a house for Laurels

More than just being a home for the huge Laurel clan, the mansion was an important venue for the political events that shaped the nation's history, especially when the NP was still the Grand Old Party.

According to Macario, during his 1963 state visit, Sukarno chose to stay overnight at the Laurel mansion, not in Malacañang, as the Indonesian president personally didn't like President Diosdado Macapagal, who headed the rival Liberal Party.

When he fell in love with a Filipino movie star, Amelia de la Rama, Sukarno returned for another visit several years later and again stayed at the Laurel mansion.
On both visits of Sukarno, the Laurels had to vacate the house and stay in a hotel, taking out all the crucifixes and other religious items from the rooms that the Indonesian leader occupied.

Silent witness

The mansion was also a silent witness to the rise of many politicians, including the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

It was at the mansion that Speaker Laurel, Sen. Gil Puyat and Marcos hatched the plan for Marcos' controversial transfer from the LP to the NP after Marcos realized that the LP would not draft him as the party's presidential standard bearer in 1965.

The Villars say they find the house just too big for them. They have not once slept there since they bought the property last December. They have no plans to, anyway, said Cynthia.

After the cleaning and refurbishing of the ground floor, the couple has only used the house for a series of small political and social gatherings and dinner parties.

"We would entertain friends here over dinner, then afterwards we go home to our Las Piñas home," Cynthia said.

P4M for renovation

The Villars have spent about P4 million for scrubbing, repainting and redecorating the mansion's ground floor alone. They brought in Thai silk curtains for the wall separating the dining room from the veranda, six pendant-type ceiling lights, granite lavatory and kitchen, an 18-seater dining table for the main dining room, a six-seater dining table for the dirty kitchen, an eight-seater conference table, and an Art Deco living room set in light yellow that blends well with the walls newly painted with a mural of birds and flowers, and several table lamps.

"When we moved in, the house was bare," said Cynthia who has also brought a piano and a huge flat TV from her husband's gym in Las Piñas.

The second and third floors remain locked, waiting for a makeover.

The Villars presented the refurbished mansion to the Laurel clan, NP leaders and their friends at a private party to bless the property last June 10. The Laurel family as well as the NP hierarchy was well represented.

Celia Diaz-Laurel

Celia Diaz-Laurel, Doy's widow, came with her son, Cocoy. She was in a wheel chair but was "as beautiful as ever," recalled Cynthia. She said Celia liked what she saw.

Cynthia said she is considering building four 20-story condominiums around the property, but the mansion will be kept intact.

"We are thinking of keeping the mansion as a clubhouse for the tenants and the public to see. Then we will call the place The Legacy," she said.

Displayed at the mansion's receiving room is a portrait of the Senate President done by Celia some years ago. Cynthia has also asked for the loan of some old Laurel photographs to hang on the walls.

Laurel's legacy

It is no secret that Senator Villar is eyeing the presidency in 2010. If he pushes through with his plan to run, Cynthia said they would probably use the mansion as a halfway house.

The senator has been a House Speaker like Jose B. Laurel and a senator like Doy. Whether he will become a vice president like Doy, or a President like Jose P. Laurel, only time will tell. For now, he has the Laurels' mansion, their political party and their past glory.

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/7288/alviota9.jpg
CII will now be known as ALVEO (Al-veh-yoh)
rebranding party at ascend, boni high st 3pm today.

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/1138/alveoaw6.jpg
Alveo - formerly known as cii

TC, brilliant idea. Can you make a little introduction what's this for on your first post above? Does this also include the big players (Ayala, Megaworld, et al) in the industry or just the people? ;) I guess not.

On the Uy (Moldex) article, there's a typo there. Golden Empire Tower is 57 storey high, not 37.

I edited the thread title so as not to confuse with the real estate thread. :)

TC, brilliant idea. Can you make a little introduction what's this for on your first post above? Does this also include the big players (Ayala, Megaworld, et al) in the industry or just the people? ;) I guess not.

On the Uy (Moldex) article, there's a typo there. Golden Empire Tower is 57 storey high, not 37.

I edited the thread title so as not to confuse with the real estate thread. :)

I see that you are enjoying your mod powers now and using it well. :okay: :D

Thanks for the edit @Ph_man! :)

Henry Sy, Sr.

http://cocktales.ph/?p=1175#more-1175

Tatang goes to school
http://adserver.myplanetgreen.net/www/delivery/avw.php?zoneid=2&n=adaa649d (http://adserver.myplanetgreen.net/www/delivery/ck.php?n=adaa649d)

Cocktales
July 11, 2008

IF you have been wondering why mall magnate Henry “Tatang” Sy Sr. has been seen cheering for the National University basketball team, there is a simple explanation: The taipan is now the controlling shareholder of the Sampaloc school.

According to the grapevine, a private equity fund, apparently controlled or acting in behalf of the Sys, acquired the 108-year-old institution—the country’s oldest existing, non-sectarian university—sometime in the first quarter of this year.

The National University becomes the third school, after the Asia Pacific College and Far Eastern University, that the taipan holds considerable equity.

Founded by Don Mariano Fortunato Jhocson in 1900, the capital base of the school, at P5.18 million, had remained woefully inadequate, despite its shareholding base widening and being passed on to the fourth generation of the Jhocson clan.

One branch of the family is now based in Scarborough suburb of Toronto, Canada, while another branch has migrated to the US state of Washington.

Based on the 2006 financial report, National University posted a net loss of P14.26 million that year, in addition to the P11.7 million it lost the year before.

According to Manila Standard Today sports editor Reira Mallari, the taipan since his takeover has been providing financial and scholarship lifeline not only to the school’s basketball team, the NU Bulldogs, but also to a number of poor and working class youths in the Lealtad area where the campus is based.

^^ Good thing he is trying to keep that school National University afloat. I hope it won't just be known for it's basketball team.

Paano kaya kung ako si Henry Sy IV (parang Shakespeare characters ang dating ah).

I see that you are enjoying your mod powers now and using it well. :okay: :D

Thanks for the edit @Ph_man! :)

hmp. binati pa. hehe...di ba sa corporate world, merong succession plan? ikaw naiisip ko. :D

Teka, kilala niyo ba yang mga mayayaman na mga Sy, Tan...Uy... ? J/K :D

At saka bakit meron (The Philippines 40 Richest 2007), at Bakit wala si Chavit Singson? :lol:


Why not post here our very own Ms. Cynthia Palad-Yap?

Since this is "The Who's Who of Philippine Real Estate Industry Thread"

aha, pag nanalo ako sa jackpot ng lotto dun sa states, pwede pala akong masali sa top 40?

okay Andrew Tan, i'll take your 40% luck at that...bibili ako ng Chinese Paper-Money Gods at ididikit ko sa pintuan namin :lol:

hmp. binati pa. hehe...di ba sa corporate world, merong succession plan? ikaw naiisip ko. :D

Hoy don't say bad words. :D

hehehe...
wait TC, who's the exec of Philtown? I've seen his photo taken from rooftop of One McKinley before.

IS THERE ANY ESCROW CO.IN MANILA?

Jollibee Foods borrows $100 million
to finance investments in China (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/09092008/companies01.html)

By Honey Madrilejos-Reyes
Reporter

JOLLIBEE Foods Corp. (JFC), the largest fast-food chain operator in the country, is borrowing $100 million a consortium of financial lenders to support investments in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The company, which practically has no debt and has not borrowed money in the Philippines since 2001, said the Renminbi-denominated loan (amounting CNY 700 million) will be paid in three years at a fixed interest rate for JFC and at a floating rate for the lenders at Libor plus 2.25 percent.

The lenders include Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Banco de Oro Unibank Inc., Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. The facility has been arranged by UBS AG.

In a statement, JFC chairman and chief executive Tony Tan Caktiong said the loan will allow the company to pursue profitable expansion in one of the largest and fastest-growing consumer markets in the world

“We will use the money this year and in 2009 in China, specifically for the expansion of the store network of Yonghe King and our other brands, investments in commissary and product development facilities of the group, and the acquisition of Hongzhuangyuan Restaurant chain that is based in Beijing,” he said.

JFC chief finance officer Ysmael Baysa, for his part, said the loan provides the lowest cost of financing for the group’s business expansion in China. With the loan, he said JFC will be able to use existing cash for other opportunities in the Philippines and other countries besides China.

Baysa added that since the company has a strong cash position resulting from steady financial performance, he said they can easily settle the borrowings.

As of end July this year, JFC had 1,472 stores in the Philippines and 219 stores abroad for a total of 1,691 stores worldwide. In China alone, the group operates a total of 123 stores as of end-July, of which, 121 are Chinese-style fast-food chain Yonghe King, one Jollibee store and one Chinese-style teahouse Chun Shui Tang.

On June 18, JFC signed a joint-venture deal to purchase 70 percent of Taiwanese restaurant chain Lao Dong for $1.3 million and invest $700,000 for the expansion of the brand in Taiwan and in china.

In August, JFC announced the 100-percent acquisition of the Hongzhuangyuan congee restaurant chain, which operates 37 stores in Beijing. The deal, to be completed next month, is worth $55.5 million.

does this VVV count? :)

BE Impressive Laser Art Tile
Arthur Lee
84 Elm St., Danvers, MA


This business gets personal (http://www.salemnews.com/pubiz/local_story_252204844.html?keyword=topstory)

By Ethan Forman
Staff writer

http://www.salemnews.com/pubiz/images_sizedimage_252204748/xl
Danvers resident Arthur Lee last year opened a shop, BE Impressive Laser Art Tile, at 84 Elm St. that specializes in
reproducing your favorite photo, artwork or pattern on tile.

DANVERS — Arthur Lee can reproduce a favorite photo of your kid or maybe Fenway Park on glass, wood, slate, ceramic, granite or marble tiles and spread them across your wall or walkway.

Not only can he reproduce the image on a single tile, using special software, Lee can stretch the image across many tiles to make something monumental.

Lee, 49, is a native of the Philippines, an architect by background and a father of two, Abigail, 9, and Vincent, 7, with his wife, Eiren.

In October, the 13-year Danvers resident opened BE Impressive Laser Art Tile on the first floor of a house at 84 Elm St., within sight of Town Hall.

It's a small operation, with Lee doing most of the printing on a large printer in the back of the showroom.

What does the business involve?

Basically, I have three technologies I use here. I do laser engraving, color printed tile and art mosaics.

What's the difference between you and other tile stores?

Everything I do is custom-made.

So you can use the technology to match a pattern?

You take a picture of your old textile or a fabric. ... Instead of printing it on paper, you print it on a tile.

Are you independent?

I started this from scratch. I started in late October last year (making keepsakes and trivets). This particular tile business I started in February.

What's the key to getting a good reproduction on a tile?

The key here is a high-image resolution. With that, I can do anything. ... What I tell people is the quality of the product is as good as the image you give me.

What's the cost?

The average is $125 per square foot. (He offers discounts for large projects.)

Why open up on Elm Street instead of in an office park?

I want to be part of Danvers. That's why I joined the Rotary Club and the Danvers Art Association. When you are so far away from your birth country, you want to be part of a community.

Check out the following truly inspiring story about a co-AIM alumni - Mr. Allan Capulong:

http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20080920-161905/After-lengthy-struggle-fortune-smiles-on-young-entrepreneur

After lengthy struggle, fortune smiles on young entrepreneur
By Margie Quimpo-Espino
Philippine Daily Inquirer
09/20/2008

MANILA, Philippines—Allan Capulong’s high school summer vacations were not like that of most teens.

For two weeks after classes end, while his friends were bumming around or playing basketball, Allan and his brother Lance were literally building roads in the family’s housing development project in Cavite.

The 26-year-old bachelor, who now manages the family’s construction firm, Homewell Development Corp., recalls going to work at 8 a.m. and, under the scorching sun, he would mix concrete and bring the material to the site using buckets. He would work on the structure until 5 p.m., just like the other workers.

“That’s why I can really say up to now I built those roads,” says Allan.

But the Capulong family’s initial foray into real estate was a failure.

Most people would likely give up if they experienced what the Capulong family had to go through.

Even though members of the family had worked on the Cavite project for 10 years, they eventually were forced to abandon the venture.

“We met all sorts of problems—political, internal, labor,” recalls Allan, who was still in elementary school when the development started.

When he was barely out of college, his father decided to put the project on hold.

Their financial losses had piled up to more than nine digits. The emotional and psychological losses to the family were higher.

Lifestyle changes had to be made. Allan described how the thrice a year trips abroad disappeared.

When the decision to go into real estate was made in 1991, the family’s fortunes were built around the Capulong’s garments business.

But Allan’s father, Edgardo, realized early that globalization would soon render many industries, including garments, uncompetitive in the face of China’s liberalization, which opened a huge source for cheap manufacturing.

In the early 1990s, real estate was booming. So the elder Capulong decided to expand into real estate.

Following their bad experience in Cavite, the Capulongs opted to try their luck with another property in Pampanga. That too would start out to be a disappointment.

Just like in Cavite, Homewell opted to go into low-cost housing development in Pampanga.

Allan, armed with an entrepreneurial degree from San Beda College in Alabang, was working as a trainor in an insurance company.

He says his father requires two things from his five children—two years work experience outside the family business and a master’s degree.

But while Allan was working elsewhere full time, he still managed to help out in the Pampanga project during weekends.

The misfortune that had met the family in the Cavite project had taken a toll on Allan’s father, who developed stress-related ailments.

Allan’s mother, Corazon, had to oversee the Pampanga project.

As time went by, that project began to suffer from a host of problems as well. From 2003 to 2005, the Capulongs struggled.

“We had repositioning failures one after another,” Allan said.

Both the Cavite and Pampanga projects were low-cost housing ventures with price tags of P500,000 to P1 million.

As of July 2006, when Allan enrolled in the Master in Entrepreneurship course at the Asian Institute of Management, the Pampanga project had only sold 30 units in three years at P630,000 each.

“We were burned out,” Allan recalls.

No broker wanted to carry the project. “Ugly” was the word used by marketing people to describe Homewell’s venture.

But all brokers agree on one positive point of the project—it had a good location. The project is in San Fernando, Pampanga. It is near the highway, located between high-end subdivisions.

In his AIM class, Allan was required by his guru, Danny Antonio, to sell 200 low-cost units by the end of the 18-month course.

It seemed an impossible task.

Allan was also required to undertake an external assessment of his project—to survey the political, economic, social, technological and environmental factors that affect his project.

Included in his study was a competitor analysis.

“I started visiting all my competitors, all 64 of them,” he says. “It was a record.”

It was not an easy job. It took a lot of time and effort. Most of the time, he had to be very discreet, especially when he would ask questions.

“I segmented the projects into which sold and which did not and why.”

On top of having a good location and the project being a viable one, Allan has come to identify two key factors—a good concept and good relationships between the developer and its marketing network.

“Your project should have a story,” he says.

As for the brokers, he explains that his relationship with them should go beyond the professional, “like bringing a broker’s commission even when she is in the hospital.”

Armed with this insight, Allan found Homewell’s niche in Pampanga.

In the last quarter of 2006 Homewell undertook a total makeover and shifted its positioning to the middle to above middle income market, targeting professionals in Pampanga and relatives of Filipino professionals abroad.

There was also a massive change in the housing styles.

American style homes were adopted and the project was also renamed from Villa Regina to Florida Residences.

In 11 months, from January 2007 to November, the Pampanga project experienced a dramatic turnaround led by the then 25-year-old Allan.

A total of 250 units were sold at about P2.5 million each.

He not only met the sales figure set by his guru, he exceeded it by over 50 percent.

Brokers used to avoid the project like the plague. But now, everyone who has any business selling real estate wants a piece of Florida Residences. There is now a queue to become an accredited broker of Homewell.

Sales grew some 1,800 times, rising from what once was a red bottom line.

The turnaround earned for Allan a Superior Performance award when he graduated from AIM last December.

And he has since earned a reputation of being a “turnaround prince.” Developers and landowners are now approaching him to help them with their projects.

“I got 17 inquiries from real estate firms asking us to repackage or reposition their projects,” he says.

As a result, he set up Center of Management Technology (CMT) Research and Consultancy three months ago to provide the service he is being asked to do.

The consultancy is for various sized developments or repositioning programs.

Despite the fact that his initial experience with real estate was not very inspiring, Allan says that, like his dad, real estate excites him.

“My dad and I get goose bumps when we see a property no matter how dirty it is,” he states. “We always see a vision of what it can become.”

A true-blue entrepreneur, Allan is setting up yet another business—he will soon launch his own clothing line for males and females called IconCreatives.com.

Allan, who’s still single, has also adopted his personal corporate social responsibility this early on. He allots two days a week to teach entrepreneurship at his college alma mater.

He says helping the young in their quest for a business venture is his “pay back” to society.

FRENCH RETAIL FIRM Groupe Auchan SA is looking to import garments from the Philippines to supply its shopping centers in Europe and Asia, the Bureau of Export Trade Promotion (BETP) said.

Product samples of eight Philippine garment companies have passed Auchan’s initial inspection, BETP said in a statement yesterday. Local garment companies will meet with the French firm’s principal buyer in Bangkok next month to finalize supply deals.

Mulliez family-owned Auchan operates 1,088 supermarkets and shopping centers in 11 countries in Europe, including France, Spain, and Italy, BETP said. The firm also has sites in Taiwan and mainland China.

"Garments exports from China are becoming more expensive, so Philippine goods are now competitive in terms of pricing, quality, and design," Vina Arcenal, BETP Consumer Division point person for the Auchan transaction, said in a phone interview yesterday.

http://www.bworldonline.com/BW092608/content.php?id=055

^^ Basically says, why get Chinese when you can get Philippine? :D

Jollibee completes acquisition of Beijing-based congee chain (http://www.bworldonline.com/BW100308/content.php?id=041)

HOMEGROWN FAST-FOOD giant Jollibee Foods Corp. has completed the purchase of a Beijing-based congee restaurant chain in China, in line with efforts to expand its presence in the populous nation.

In a disclosure, the company said the deal to buy Hong Zhuang Yuan was consummated upon approval by China’s Ministry of Commerce and after the congee restaurant’s owners complied with conditions for the sale.

The retail giant bought the Chinese food chain for P2.5 billion through its wholly owned subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide, Pte. Ltd.

"Of the amount, P1.62 billion was paid to the sellers as initial payment, and the [balance] will be paid within the next 12 months," Jollibee told the exchange.

The company said the payment for Hong Zhuang Yuan would be funded by a $100-million loan from several banks.

The Beijing restaurant has an estimated annual sales of P1.3 billion this year, and operates a total of 38 restaurants, 31 of which are company-owned.

The company first disclosed its plan to acquire Hong Zhuang Yuan in September last year. Jollibee President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Tan Caktiong said the congee restaurant would be a strong addition to their presence in China in terms of market segment and geographical coverage.

Jollibee operates the largest restaurant network in the country, operating a total of 1,480 stores — 636 Jollibee branches, 377 Chowking stores, 231 Greenwich outlets, 204 Red Ribbon stores, 27 Delifrance branches and five Manong Pepe outlets.

The group also operates 223 stores and has bought a number of restaurants abroad, particularly in Taiwan and China.

Aside from Hong Zhuang Yuan, Jollibee has acquired three Chinese restaurants to gain a foothold in the huge consumer market.

It bought 70% of Taipei restaurant Lao Dong in June and Chun Shui Tang tea ohuse in 2006. In 2004, Jollibee bought Chinese fast-food chain Yonghe King for $22.5 million.

In July, the company entered into a joint venture deal with US-based Chow Fun Holdings LLC, where Jollibee will have a 12% stake in the US-based Asian restaurant for $950,000.

The fast-food giant has been hit by rising commodity prices, posting an 18.7% drop in its net profit to P645 million in the second quarter.

Shares of the company yesterday lost 1% or 50 centavos to P49.50. — Kristine Jane R. Liu

ICTSI bags Brunei port concession
By Jenniffer B. Austria

Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. yesterday said the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam has agreed to award the container terminal cargo handling operations at Palau, Muara Besar, Brunei Darussalam to the company.

ICTSI, in a disclosure to the stock exchange, said it received the favorable decision of the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam through a letter sent by the Brunei Economic Development Board.

The award, ICTSI said, was subject to several requirements, including the negotiation of a formal memorandum of understanding between the parties.

ICTSI said it would provide as terminal operator, assistance in the design of the 660-meter terminal to be constructed by the Brunei economic board on Palau Muara Besar Island.

ICTSI also expects to undertake storage and handling of all container cargoes through the terminal after construction of under a concession agreement.

ICTSI has port operations in Brazil, Poland, Madagascar, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Georgia, Ecuador, Syria and Japan.

ICTSI operates the Manila International Container Terminal, and port terminals in Subic, Batangas, Davao, General Santos and mostly recently in Mindanao International located at Phividec Industrial Estate in Tagaloan, Misamis Oriental.

The port operator earlier reported a consolidated net income of P1.58 billion in the first half of the year, up 17 percent from P1.35 billion year-on-year.

Revenue from port operations grew 49 percent to P9.5 billion from P6.4 billion on year.

Consolidated net income in the second quarter stood at P784 million, up 6 percent year-on-year from P736 million while consolidated revenue reached P5.04 billion, up 53 percent from P3.29 billion.

The company achieved the favorable financial performance despite the “general unease” over the impact of the US economic slowdown on international trade and containerized cargo traffic.

The company said the earnings growth was driven mainly by strong volumes in Manila, Davao City and in Brazil, Madagascar, China, Ecuador and Georgia.
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business2_oct3_2008

PNB, Allied Bank invest in China
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has approved the 591-million yuan (P4 billion) equity investment of Allied Banking Corp. and Philippine National Bank in the Allied Bank’s China operations.

PNB said in a disclosure to the stock exchange that it would infuse 394.1 million yuan (P2.7 billion) into Allied Commercial Bank, formerly Xiamen Commercial Bank, while Allied Bank would invest 154 million yuan (P1.056 billion).

Allied Bank and PNB, both controlled by taipan Lucio Tan, are in the process of merging to create the country’s fourth-largest bank.

PNB said the balance of 42.9 million yuan would come from the conversion of Allied Bank’s share in Allied Commercial Bank’s undivided profit into equity.

The Lucio Tan banks initially planned to increase the capital of Allied Commercial Bank to P6 billion for its China expansion. Allied Bank is the only Philippine bank with a commercial banking license in China and one of only 35 given such a permit by Chinese authorities.

Allied Commercial Bank started operations in Xiamen in Fujian province in September 1993. It set up a branch in Chongqing in 2003.

Allied Commercial Bank increased its paid-up capital by $12 million in 2005, allowing it to do renminbi or local currency transactions. In 2006, Allied Bank increased its equity investments in the bank again by $11.3 million, raising its stake in the bank to 78.78 percent from 73.94 percent. Eileen A. Mencias
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business5_oct3_2008

EDC to expand in Indonesia
By Ted P. Torres
Thursday, October 9, 2008
The country’s top geothermal power firm Energy Development Corp. (EDC) will expand its operations to Indonesia, a ranking executive of the Lopez Group said.

EDC, formerly the government-controlled Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp., (PNOC-EDC), was acquired last year by the Lopez-owned First Gen Corp.

First Gen. Corp. president Federico R. Lopez said that they will first concentrate on “revving up EDC after being under government guidance for so many years.”

In a press briefing, Lopez said they unearthed so much “inefficiencies” in the organization which require a lot of fixing. Nonetheless, he cited that even then, PNOC-EDC was able to register a recurring a net income of P6.5 billion.

“When we have put everything in place, we will be looking for a partner to expand to Indonesia,” he said. Indonesia has a reported potential of 20,000 megawatts (MW) of geothermal power.

Lopez said the country’s geothermal energy sources have a huge potential domestically, and in the region. With the passage of the Renewable Energy bill, the potentials of geothermal as a domestic power source and as a potential investment area for foreign business are intensified.

“For me, Indonesia’s geothermal potential is much greater than the Philippines, and they have only tapped so little and we intend to partner up there and basically help them develop their geothermal industry,” the First Gen executive said.

EDC is seeking partners to pursue the expansion of three geothermal plants in South Sumatra, North Sulawesi and Lampung in Indonesia.

First Gen is the largest vertically-integrated power generation company in the Philippines, with an installed capacity of 2,582 MW, or 17 percent of total installed capacity in the country today.

Its assets comprise the 1,000-MW Santa Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo natural gas-fired power plants, the 225-MW Bauang medium-speed bunker-fired diesel power plant, the Pantabangan/Masiway hydroelectric complex and the 1.6-MW Agusan mini-hydropower plant.

EDC is the country’s largest producer of geothermal power and the global leader in wet streamfield technology. The Philippines, meanwhile, is the world’s second major developer and user of geothermal power after the United States.

http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=2008100811

^^:lol:

@askal that's why the chinese in the mainland are curious why other countries especially the us are saying their products are poisonous when in fact they live longer than them:lol: as usual it's business with politics that is going on.

by the way, Chowking is not ours it is taiwanese company

from wiki
Chowking is a Philippine-based Chinese cuisine fast-food restaurant chain, predominantly selling noodle soups, dimsum and rice toppings. It was founded in 1985 by Robert Kuan as a Chinese counterpart to American fast-food giant McDonald's, Chowking expanded steadily through the 1980s and 1990s, and eventually venturing into international markets, such as the United States, Middle East and newly Indonesia. The chain was bought by Jollibee Foods Corporation in 2000[1], who have since continued both local and international expansion.[

RP remittance firm to serve Chinese workers in the UK (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/126003/RP-remittance-firm-to-serve-Chinese-workers-in-the-UK#)

Article posted October 09, 2008 - 01:58 PM
MANILA, Philippines - iRemit Inc., the Philippines’ largest non-bank remittance company, entered into an agreement with the Bank of China, allowing it to serve Chinese nationals working in the United Kingdom (UK).

The partnership with the Manila branch of the Bank of China (BOCMNL) also allows iRemit “to achieve [its] goal of expanding its business in mainland China," the company said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). The statement quoted Harris Jacildo, the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer.

“This move signals a more aggressive expansion program for iRemit," Jacildo said. “Now, we are not just catering to Filipinos but to Chinese nationals around the globe. We’re expanding the scope of our capabilities to connect people and meet their remittance needs, paving the way to be a remittance provider of choice globally."

The remittance agreement “will benefit thousands of customers based in the UK who wish to send remittances to their families in China," iRemit said.

Besides offering same day processing of cash transfers, remittances “may be withdrawn from any of the Bank of China’s 12,000 domestic branches," the company said.

Although it will be initially offered to customers in the United Kingdom, the arrangement will soon expand its coverage to clients in Canada and Australia.

iRemit has remittance centers in 25 countries worldwide.

The Bank of China Ltd. is one of the big four state-owned commercial lenders which has outlets in 26 countries including the Philippines, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, among others.

Shares of iRemit fell P0.05 to P3.85 apiece during Thursday’s trading at the PSE. - GMANews.TV

TUCP satisfied with GSIS disclosure on foreign investments (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=20081010152)
By Mayen Jaymalin
Saturday, October 11, 2008

The country’s largest labor group yesterday said the foreign investments of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) were found to be generally safe.

“Based on our cursory review of the stated investments, we consider the pension fund’s overseas portfolio to be generally safe, balanced and sound. GSIS members and pensioners can now sleep better at night,” Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) secretary-general and former senator Ernesto Herrera said.

Based on the GSIS’ disclosure, none of the banks listed are particularly at risk of collapsing.

“The GSIS may have suffered temporary losses on account of the sharp decline in the prices of these bank stocks due to the worsening global financial crisis, but these losses are temporary. Once the prices of these bank stocks recover, the portfolio should also recover,” Herrera stressed.

He welcomed the decision of the GSIS to disclose details of its multi-billion investments overseas in a two-page advertisement published in The STAR last Friday.

“We are not out to make things difficult for the GSIS. We just wanted absolute transparency and full disclosure that are consistent with good governance and public accountability. And now we have it. This is good – that the GSIS has finally decided to come clean,” Herrera said in a statement.

Aside from the TUCP, members of the Senate have urged the GSIS to disclose the details of its Global Investment Program (GIP).

Herrera said TUCP would have eventually gone to court to compel the GSIS to disclose the details of its GIP had the pension agency not voluntarily published the details.

The GSIS listed the details of its GIP to include P10.456 billion of investments in “global fixed income” instruments, P4.127 billion in “global equities,” P3.08 billion in “global property securities,” and P8.875 billion in “cash, short-term notes and other investments.”

While the GSIS did not provide the exact amounts it invested in every type of instrument, Herrera said the TUCP still welcomed the listing.

BPI to expand in Europe despite slowdown
AYALA-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) will proceed with its plans of expanding its presence in Europe despite the challenging economic conditions worldwide.

Remittances from that part of the globe should remain robust, said BPI, which beat rival banks last year in terms of cornering the overseas Filipino market. "We believe in infrastructure building. We believe things will be better in the long run," Teresita B. Tan, BPI senior vice-president and head of the Overseas Banking and Channel Services Group, told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of a briefing yesterday.

BPI is currently preparing to open four new branches of its London-based subsidiary, BPI Europe Plc. The four new branches, which will be in Milan and Rome in Italy, and Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, were slated to open sometime in June or July next year, Ms. Tan said. The bank opened its European subsidiary in Threadneedle Street in London last year. It opened its first branch in Earl’s Court Garden, also in London, last month.

The countries were selected on the basis of high concentration of Filipino workers and migrants, whom BPI provides remittance-related services to, Ms. Tan said.

http://www.bworldonline.com/BW101408/content.php?id=023

Robert V. Ongpin

http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20081012-166052/Eye-for-deals-building-Ongpins-empire

SPECIAL REPORT

PART 1 of 2: Eye for deals building Ongpin’s empire

By Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10/12/2008

“BOBBY ONGPIN IS BACK.”

This is a refrain heard over and over again nowadays among businessmen when they invariably get to talk about their local landscape.

They speak the words with admiration. But this tone of admiration is often mixed with undertones of more powerful feelings, like awe, amazement and sometimes even dread.

Indeed, the most common and conventionally acceptable reply to the Ongpin-is-back comment is, “Grabe ano?” followed sometimes by a slight shaking of the head or the clucking of tongues.

The awe-inspired, head-shaking and tongue-clucking peaked when an Ongpin-led group recently gained a slim majority on the board of petroleum refiner and distributor Petron Corp., buying out the shares of longtime owner Saudi Aramco and scooping up additional stocks from the public—a takeover coup which few observers saw coming.

The group is expanding aggressively in the real estate sector, using as their flagship project the Southgate building by the Magallanes interchange in Makati City which was, until recently, a 25-year-old unfinished eyesore. Recently, it also unveiled a strategic move into Philex Mining Corp.—the country’s biggest gold and copper miner—with First Pacific Co. Ltd. led by businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan.

All of the group’s moves were made with the help of its financial backer, UK-based Ashmore Group.

At present, the combined stake of Ongpin and his partners in various business interests is already worth an estimated P60 billion. The entire value of the firms they control is already more than double this amount and could easily treble in the coming years.

But who is Roberto V. Ongpin? And more importantly, what is he up to nowadays, as far as building a business empire is concerned?

Now 71 years old, Ongpin first shot to national prominence as the trade and industry minister of the Marcos administration from 1979 all the way until the Edsa Revolution of 1986.

In this role, he was viewed by many as one of the best and most competent technocrats of a decaying regime—one who helped “hold the fort” during a time of unprecedented local and global crises.

Armed with an MBA from Harvard Business School and a business administration degree (cum laude) from the Ateneo de Manila University, this certified public accountant joined SGV & Co. in 1964 and rose to the role of chair and managing partner six years later. He headed the country’s premier accounting firm until being asked to join the Marcos administration.

During the economic boom of the 1990s, Ongpin and his business partners transformed oil exploration firm Belle Resources into Belle Corp., which quickly became one of the country’s hottest stocks.

The company’s flagship Tagaytay Highlands leisure development—back then a revolutionary concept—put the company and its principals on the map previously dominated by established players.
Fast forward to the current decade.

After a falling out with his former Belle partners, Ongpin took control of yet another listed resources firm—South Seas Oil and Mineral Exploration Co.—and transformed it from an Internet firm, just as the dotcom boom collapsed, into the country’s first pure gaming play. He also extended his liking for backdoor entries into listed firms by taking over moribund Itogon-Suyoc Mines, changing it into ISM Communications to focus on information and communications technology.

It was around this time that the roots of his budding business empire took hold.

“What RVO (Ongpin’s initials) did was to make a big bet on the Philippines,” according to a close business associate who requested anonymity. “While the country was still in crisis [at the height of the Estrada political crisis], he stuck his heels to the ground and dug in.”

http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20081014-166271/Crisis-not-slowing-Ongpins-buying

PART 2 of 2: Crisis not slowing Ongpin’s buying


By Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10/14/2008

Few people doubt the business acumen of Roberto V. Ongpin.

There are also a few who doubt that the expansion of his business empire—worth at least P60 billion in owned stock, plus control over market capitalization of a similar value—would be impossible without two elements.

The first is his alliance with UK-based emerging markets investment fund Ashmore Group. Through its arm that invests in so-called “special situations,” the firm has lent Ongpin the leveraging power of its $37.5-billion asset base. Ashmore, simply put, has been instrumental in all of the group’s deals and acquisitions.

A person familiar with the symbiotic relationship between Ongpin and Ashmore describes it this way: The former provides strategic vision, while the latter provides the cash to execute transactions.

It is here where the second critical element in Ongpin’s empire comes into play: The man responsible for merging the former Marcos trade minister’s vision with Ashmore’s financial muscle is former undersecretary of finance Eric O. Recto, Ongpin’s nephew.

Since leaving government service in 2005, Recto has overseen every single deal executed by the growing empire. While he nominally serves as vice chairman of the group, Recto functions more like a hyper-charged CEO who also oversees operations of firms where they are invested.

Under Recto, the group acquired a razor-thin majority in Petron Corp., trumping the bid of cash-rich Gokongwei group. People familiar with the deal told the Inquirer that the Ongpin-Ashmore alliance learned “very early on” and “way ahead of even the government” that Saudi Aramco was selling out of the company. This knowledge helped it prepare a superior bid and lay down a robust takeover plan that went beyond simply having the financial resources.

This nose for deals, combined with sheer bravado, also helped the group acquire what is now the Alphaland Southgate tower from the Puyat family for P1.3 billion earlier this year. Alphaland is spending an additional P1.2 billion to turn the 25-year-old structure into a business process outsourcing center and shopping mall.

The firm also bought a lot on Ayala Avenue in Makati City where it will build the “Ashmore Ayala Tower.” It entered into an agreement with the Boy Scouts of the Philippines to develop the Sime Darby property, also on Ayala, into a mixed-use development.

By next year, Alphaland will launch a 32-hectare project on the Manila Bay reclamation site (between SM Mall of Asia and Pagcor City) called the Alphaland Bay City, which will include a hotel in the middle of a marina, inspired by Dubai’s world-famous Burj Al Arab hotel.

The group has also entered the natural resource sector, with its drive to accumulate shares in Philex Mining Corp. Its accumulated 20-percent stake in the country’s largest mining firm was sold last week to Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. led by Manuel V. Pangilinan—a strategic investor which can infuse the additional capital necessary to raise Philex’s gold and copper output.

With success comes the inevitable murmuring on the group’s ties. It deals closely with Pangilinan, who also chairs Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., while speculation is also rife about its alleged ties with First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

“They’re not hypocrites,” one business partner said of the Ongpin group’s methods. “They operate under an overriding business ethic, but they know how to work the local system, too.”

More importantly, however, the Ongpin group is unfazed by the ongoing global economic crisis and is taking the opportunity to expand its empire further, especially in the property, information technology and natural resource sectors.

In fact, it is likely to emerge even bigger once the dust settles in a few months.

Here is a related article on Roberto Ongpin and Ashmore:

Ashmore packs capital clout
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10/14/2008

The aggressive moves made in recent months by the group led by Roberto V. Ongpin have left many wondering about just where it is getting the kind of financial muscle that allowed it to take over the likes of Petron Corp.—a P52-billion oil refiner and retailer once firmly under state control.

By all accounts, the money that moves the growing business empire is London-based emerging markets investment manager Ashmore Group Plc, which, according to its website, manages about $37.5 billion worth of assets, mainly in the form of pooled funds, segregated accounts and “structured products.”

The fund started as a unit of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group in 1999, but was spun off as an independent unit in 1999.

On its website, the normally media-shy Ashmore prides itself as a “leading dedicated specialist in emerging market asset management,” which is investment banking jargon for relatively high-risk investments in countries that more conservative investors normally shun.

This risk profile mandates, therefore, that it will only buy into firms that could promise above-average returns. A local businessman familiar with the group says its informal investment benchmark is an annual return on its capital of no lower than 30 percent—a staggering amount when compared to the relatively safer single-digit returns provided by government bonds.

Ashmore’s investments in the Philippines are made by its euphemistically named “Special Situations Group.”
It invests in countries like Russia, Brazil and other exotic locations where it could either make a killing or lose its capital altogether, depending on the local environment.

According to sources familiar with the alliance, Ongpin was first introduced to Ashmore in the 1990s for a deal during one of his frequent trips to Hong Kong, where he serves as vice chairman of the South China Morning Post, the territory’s largest newspaper.

From that initial meeting sprouted a whole slew of transactions in the local market that, observers say, have yet to peak.

http://bworld.com.ph/BW101708/content.php?id=003

Henry Sy and family top list of RP’s richest

BusinessWorld
October 17, 2008

MALL MOGUL Henry Sy has become the Philippines’ richest man after amassing US$1.4 billion in the past year while his peers were hit by the global financial crisis, Forbes magazine yesterday said.

The fortune that Mr. Sy made was the “biggest gain in absolute terms” of the country’s wealthiest 40 families, who saw their collective wealth plunge 18% amid the world credit turmoil.

In its annual list of the Philippines’ richest people, Forbes said the country’s stock exchange had dived 35% in the past year, making 25 out of 40 tycoons � including those in banking and real estate � poorer.

It said the Sy family was now worth US$3.1 billion, vaulting from second place to first.

The low-profile 83-year-old and his family control SM Investments, which owns stakes in a dozen companies including the nation’s second largest bank.

Mr. Sy started off selling shoes to American GIs in the Philippines in 1958. From one store known as Shoemart, he built a multi-billion dollar empire. Today he is Asia’s biggest shopping mall operator with 30 throughout the Philippines.
Jaime Zobel de Ayala and family slipped from first to third as their wealth suffered a massive drop of US$800 million to US$1.2 billion, Forbes said.

The stock of their conglomerate Ayala Corp. is down 46% since last year in part because of the economic slowdown and declining profits in banking and electronics manufacturing units, it said.

Moving up to second position was Lucio Tan and family, with a net worth of US$1.5 billion, although this was still down by US$100 million from last year.

Mr. Tan controls Philippine Airlines as well as the country’s largest cigarette firm, one of its largest brewers, mining operations, and Hong Kong property.

Also hit hard was property tycoon Andrew Gotianun of Filinvest Land, who fell 10 places to 17th after losing US$625 million to give him a net worth of US$235 million.

Senate President Manuel Villar, the largest shareholder in high-end homebuilder Vista Land, also saw his wealth tumble 55% to US$425 million to put him in 11th, down from fifth last year.

Another property kingpin, Andrew Tan, saw his net worth plunge US$400 million to US$700 million.

The 57-year old made much of his wealth as an office developer for the outsourcing industry and is now betting on gaming and tourism.

Of the 40 richest Filipinos this year, 11 tycoons eked out gains but almost all of those increases were because of reporting on new assets or shareholdings or the combination of relatives’ stakes, including Sy.

The Philippines had three billionaires this year compared with four last year as Andrew Tan lost this elite status.

Lourdes Montinola seemed to buck the trend as shares of her Far Eastern University increased US$38 million to vault her to number 31 with a net worth of US$68 million.

There was only one newcomer, Alfredo Ramos of Atlas Consolidated Mining, who debuted at number 23 with a net worth US$126 million.

A net worth of US$30 million is required to make the Philippines rich list, unchanged from last year. Fourteen tycoons had net worth of less than US$100 million dollars and four of last year’s members failed to make the cut.

THE PHILIPPINES' 40 RICHEST

Rank Name ----------------------------------------- Net Worth ($million)

1 Henry Sy & family ------------------------------------- 3,100
2 Lucio Tan & family ------------------------------------ 1,500
3 Jaime Zobel de Ayala & family -------------------------- 1,200
4 Andrew Tan -------------------------------------------- 700
5 Tony Tan Caktiong & family ----------------------------- 690
6 John Gokongwei Jr. & family ----------------------------- 680
7 Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. ---------------------------------- 610
8 Enrique Razon Jr. --------------------------------------- 525
9 George Ty & family ------------------------------------- 435
10 Inigo & Mercedes Zobel -------------------------------- 430
11 Manuel Villar ------------------------------------------- 425
12 Emilio Yap & family ------------------------------------- 420
13 Vivian Que Azcona & family ----------------------------- 360
14 Beatrice Campos & family ------------------------------- 325
15 Luis Virata --------------------------------------------- 270
16 Oscar Lopez & family ----------------------------------- 240
17 Andrew Gotianun --------------------------------------- 235
18 Alfonso Yuchengco & family ----------------------------- 200
19 Mariano Tan & family ------------------------------------ 195
20 Manuel Zamora ----------------------------------------- 130
21 Menardo Jimenez & family ------------------------------- 129
22 Gilberto Duavit & family --------------------------------- 127
23 Alfredo Ramos ------------------------------------------ 126
24 Jon Ramon Aboitiz & family ------------------------------ 125
25 Felipe Gozon & family ----------------------------------- 110
26 David Consunji & family ----------------------------------105
27 Rolando & Rosalinda Hortaleza ---------------------------- 90
28 Eugenio Lopez III & family -------------------------------- 85
29 Betty Ang ----------------------------------------------- 80
30 Tomas Alcantara & family --------------------------------- 75
31 Lourdes Montinola & family -------------------------------- 68
32 Salvador Zamora ----------------------------------------- 67
33 Philip Ang ------------------------------------------------ 63
34 Wilfred Steven Uytengsu Sr. & family ---------------------- 55
35 Enrique Aboitiz & family ----------------------------------- 50
36 Frederick Dy --------------------------------------------- 49
37 Bienvenido R. Tantoco Sr. & family ------------------------ 45
38 Jesus Tambunting ---------------------------------------- 40
39 Manuel Pangilinan ---------------------------------------- 39
40 Marixi Rufino-Prieto & family ------------------------------ 30

Felino Palafox, Jr.

http://images.inquirer.net/media/showbizandstyle/lifestyle/lifestyle/images/pic-10180126090758.jpg

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20081017-167031/Changing-urban-areas-for-the-better

Changing urban areas for the better
By Charles E. Buban
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10/17/2008

MANILA, Philippines—A 38-kilometer waterfront development in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia, the upcoming $1 billion (P48 billion) logistics and service hub project inside Clark Freeport Zone, the planned redevelopment of Pasig River waterways and riverbanks, high-rise residential developments rising along the Jumeirah Beach in Dubai, and urban landscaping of Butuan City.

These are just some of the projects that made Felino Palafox Jr. well known throughout the world and one of today’s most sought-after architect urban planner and architect.

As founder, principal architect and urban planner as well as managing partner of Palafox Associates, his projects—wherever they are located—are fast changing the urban landscape for the better.

Livable

“In the face of rapid urbanization and consequent deterioration of environment and biodiversity, better housing or building design as well as sustainable urban planning is part of the solution for making urban areas and communities more liveable,” Palafox explained.

To better serve his clients around here and around the world, he recently moved in to a new headquarters located at the 11th floor of 6782 building (Ayala Avenue corner VA Rufino Street right across Rufino Building).

“Our new office best represents our goal and mission of making urban areas and other communities more livable, walkable, safe and secure,” he said.

He added that while the building itself is no longer new, they were able to equip their office with 21st century technologies and designs that maximize every part of this 600-sq-m floor space.

“With projects in 32 countries, we need to to be in constant communication with our clients, quick to respond and be able to convey our opinion on any queries or concerns they may raise,” Palafox said.

Today, 19 years after his firm was established, Palafox and Associates is now considered the leading architectural firm in the country and among the top architectural companies in Southeast Asia.

His company is also the only Filipino and the only Southeast Asian architectural firm to first make it into the list of the world’s top 200 architectural companies compiled by the London-based World Architecture magazine.

Dubai stint

Palafox’s stint in Dubai in the ’80s where he became the youngest—and only Filipino—team leader (that helped transform this predominantly desert country into today’s bustling center of excellence, that boasts world-class business and leisure facilities) inspired him to do the same to the Philippines.

“For this country to become like other progressive cities of the world, our leaders must be reeducated about the need for a ‘well-master-planned society.’ A number of local leaders are now realizing this,” Palafox reported.

This so-called “urban renewal” concepts are presented to local government leaders through a unique approach dubbed as “Postcards from the Future.”

“Instead of a concept paper, my firm presents them with perspectives in postcard form that show what can be done to areas that need to be rehabilitated and redeveloped immediately,” he explained.

The Pasig River redevelopment plan is one of these postcards that shows a rehabilitated river that features a transportation and pedestrian system.

Reposting...



NO WORRIES

Gaming novice Andrew Tan is rolling the dice on two new casino resorts in the Philippines at a risky time.

http://images.forbes.com/media/magazines/global/2008/1027/global_1027_p046_f1.jpg

Source: Forbes Asia Magazine, October 2008 by Suzanne Nam 10.09.08, 5:00 PM

Andrew Tan is a novice at the betting tables. The first time the soft-spoken tycoon ever touched a playing card was in June, when he visited Macau to research casinos. But that hasn't stopped him from making a big bet on gambling in the Philippines, which until now has been controlled by the nation's government.

In April, Tan announced plans to partner with Star Cruises, a unit of Genting, the Malaysian gaming company founded by late billionaire Lim Goh Tong. Together they are investing $1.55 billion to build two megaresorts and casinos, one across from the new terminal at Manila City Airport and one in the city's historic Bay Area. Tan, who ranks No. 4 on FORBES ASIA's list of the Philippines' 40 Richest, is to spend $1 billion more on office buildings and condominiums surrounding the casinos. "If it was just casinos, I wouldn't be interested," he says.

The audacious goal: transform Manila into the Monte Carlo of Asia. "We can do it better than Macau and Singapore," says Tan in a rare interview from his downtown Manila office. "[Those cities] have gambling, but what else do they have? In the Philippines, we'll have world-class casinos, but we also have a beautiful natural landscape and some of the best beaches in the world."

There are significant hurdles. The Philippines, despite its thousands of islands, friendly people and fluency in English, only attracted 3 million tourists last year, compared to Macau's 9 million and Singapore's 7 million. Coups, a reputation for corruption and unreliable infrastructure, including its dreary airport in Manila, haven't helped matters.

The timing is bad. Casino resorts need lots of capital as well as gamblers big and small with money in their pockets, and all of this is in shorter supply in the economic contraction. Nearly all casino stocks have tumbled. Australian billionaire James Packer's Crown Limited decided not to pursue its investment in a proposed Philippines casino. "The recent and ongoing events in world credit markets have made it very difficult for gaming operators to develop commercially viable casino-entertainment projects where those projects require significant external debt funding," stated Crown's chief executive, Rowen Craigie, in July.

Tan's holding company, Alliance Global (AGI), which posted sales and net profits of $593 million and $71 million last year, has lost half its market value in 12 months. It is down more than 40% since the start of September. Tan's net worth has slipped in the past year from $1.1 billion to $700 million. The drop would have been more dramatic had he not sold $200 million of his personal shares as part of a secondary offering by AGI last June.

Tan, 57, isn't worried. He believes the Philippines is in a good financial position and its banks still have the capacity to lend as their loan-to-deposit ratio of 73% is considered low compared to regional neighbors. At least initially there is limited financial risk. In the deal, AGI put up land it already owned and a license it had obtained at no cost, though it had to make certain promises to government regulators. Tan doesn't expect to borrow a dime to fund the first casino resort, estimated to cost $450 million, but will need to tap the teetering credit markets to help fund the second one.

He has survived worse. The 1997 Asian financial crisis almost destroyed his reputation and real estate development firm, Megaworld. A trip to Thailand over the Easter weekend that year sparked rumors that Tan had fled the country due to his company's inability to meet debt obligations. He apparently had to hold a press conference when he returned to denounce the rumors. By January of 1998 his stock was off 95% from its previous year high. A year later the company was almost entirely debt free. Since then he has kept a tighter rein on the balance sheets of his companies and, as a result, AGI has $540 million in cash and Megaworld $211 million. Both companies have announced stock buybacks.

Tan doesn't back down or give up easily. "He is not afraid to compete," says AGI Chief Executive Officer Kingson Sian. "He is an action man. Once he is committed, he focuses on it until it is executed. Remember he came from nothing and went up against much larger companies in several industries."
The son of a Chinese factory worker, Tan moved to the Philippines and put himself through college in part by working as a salesman in a watch store. He often walked to Manila's University of the East because he couldn't afford the bus fare and ate a lot of fried bananas from street vendors. He likes to joke that while other guys were chasing girls, he was chasing the guys for a ride home.

Eager to put those penny-pinching days behind him, Tan started selling kitchen appliances such as coffeemakers and blenders. After eight years he had saved $250,000, which he invested in a distillery. First he tried making gin, then rum. In each case, he competed unsuccessfully against a liquor giant that had been in business for decades. He didn't give up and in 1990 started making a homegrown brandy that he could sell at much cheaper prices than imported brandy. He positioned it as the drink of responsible, successful people; ads mostly featured men in suits. Today Emperador has 63% of the Philippine market, and brandy, once a niche drink, accounts for 40% of all spirits sold in the country.

Using some of his liquor profits, Tan moved into glass-container manufacturing and real estate, another industry dominated by much larger players. He made an even bigger name and fortune for himself in property, by catering to middle-class home buyers and foreign companies. One of his best-known developments is Megaworld's Eastwood City, built just as the outsourcing boom hit the Philippines in the late 1990s. It is now home to 80 multinationals such as Dell, Citibank and IBM. In addition to renting office space for call centers, Megaworld sells residential condos to their employees and, like many mall owners in Asia, shares in the revenues brought in by dozens of restaurants and shops on the premises.

Last year, in an effort to streamline his various interests, which by then included a food business and a 49% stake in the Philippines McDonald's franchise, Tan reorganized them all under AGI, which was already publicly listed. In a secondary offering that temporarily led the Philippines Stock Exchange to suspend the stock's trading while it learned more details of the transaction, Tan sold his brandy business to AGI for $42 million and swapped most of his shares in Megaworld for AGI shares.

The gaming opportunity came about suddenly. Last year, before the stock market started falling, the government-run gaming regulator, Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp., known as Pagcor, decided to try to grab more of the gaming money sloshing around Asia and invited investors to apply for casino licenses. It already operates 13 casinos as well as VIP rooms and slot-machine arcades. Pagcor brought in $580 million in revenues in 2007, up 18% a year over the past five years.

Tan was intrigued, betting that outsourcing and gaming tourism weren't all that different. Both industries have a cascade effect on the economies of surrounding communities. Both rely on foreign money, adding much-needed cash to a country's economy. He and his company had already built Pagcor's Hyatt Hotel & Casino in Manila and were developing a second one on a portion of 61 acres of land he owned across from the new Terminal 3 at Manila's airport. He had bought the land in 2005 when it wasn't clear if the corruption-riddled terminal would ever open.

Tan applied for a license and eventually negotiated with Pagcor to let him run the casino he was building for it. The government agency is to get a share of the gaming and tax revenues.

In the meantime Star Cruises executives visited potential gaming sites in Manila but decided they needed a Philippine partner and approached Tan. It was a good opportunity for him, in that the company had the gaming expertise he lacked. Its cruise ships have gaming. Its parent, Genting, runs Malaysia's highly successful Genting Highlands Resort and is opening a casino on Singapore's Sentosa Island in 2010. Another reason: the potential to market to Star Cruises' 2 million passengers, the equivalent of two-thirds of current Philippine tourist traffic.

A deal was finalized in August. AGI put 19 acres of land across from the airport and the gaming license, which it had secured two months earlier, into a subsidiary and sold half of that company to Star Cruises for $335 million. Together they are developing the area, called Newport City, into a casino, three hotels, an entertainment complex and 15,000 square feet of retail space. Tan's Megaworld, which owns another 42 acres, is building 4,000 condominiums and ten office buildings around it. The $1 billion cost for Megaworld's portion is to be funded through preselling (70% of condos have been presold) and cash flow.

Construction is continuing around the clock to ensure the venture is first on the draw. The partners expect to open Resort World Casino (the same brand name as Genting is using in Singapore) in 2009. So far only one other player has thrown in its chips, despite the fact that the country has said it will not limit the number of licenses it issues. It is a stark contrast to the frenzied competition back in 2002 for Macau's licenses.

Japan's Aruze, maker of pachinko and slot machines and 22% owner of U.S. gaming giant Wynn Resorts, was awarded a license in August. It plans to invest up to $2.5 billion in a resort casino to open in 2010.
The odds against these kinds of massive projects being funded and actually paying off seem to grow longer each day as world markets swoon. Still, the 2009 opening of Resort World across from the airport is pretty close to a sure thing, already funded and well on its way. What happens next is dicier. Tan and Star have committed, as part of their agreement with Pagcor, to spend $1.1 billion, partly funded by debt, on another gaming resort in historic Manila Bay. The plans are still being drawn up, but it is to have a theme park, museums, stores and hotels in addition to casinos. In that deal, Star is to have a 70% stake, AGI 30%.

One risky aspect of this venture is the expectation that it will be a big draw for foreign tourists, particularly from mainland China. "China is limiting access to Macau for [Chinese] citizens, and Singapore is too expensive and feels too restrictive," says Aruze Executive Officer Mikio Tanji. Chinese tourists are the fastest-growing segment of Philippine visitors but only 157,600 of them visited the country last year, hardly enough to make a dent in tourism spending. The other two key markets, Korea and Japan, accounted for one-third of the Philippines' tourists.

China did recently crack down on its citizens' visits to Macau, dictating that people had to wait three months between trips. China's loss could be the Philippines gain. But Macau is practically a household name. Sentosa, Singapore's gambling center, has done a good job marketing and publicizing its 2010 opening. Most people think of Manila as a beaten-down, messed-up place with terrible food and awful traffic. There are also fears that people will cut down on travel and leisure spending as economic growth slows. Not to mention political risks: A new administration, to be elected in 2010, may not be as friendly to gaming as that of current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

So AGI and Star have a daunting sales job to do. Yet their marketing plans, which largely rely on reaching travel agents and using Star Cruises' customer base, are modest. The country's tourism authority doesn't appear to have plans to help them in the way Singapore has helped Sentosa.

Undaunted, Tan predicts AGI's profits will double by 2011, due to the gaming and tourism revenues. Adds AGI's chief, Sian: "We really had to sell the Philippines as a center for outsourcing before we could sell the Megaworld project. This is the same thing."

At Tan's first time gambling last summer, he lost all his money at the poker table. Despite the risks, he insists, for his company's bet on Philippines gaming: "The odds are better."

The Latest Filipino Richest Man from 2008 Edition. from Forbes Asia

The Philippine's 40 Richest
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The Philippines is feeling the global downturn; its stock exchange is down 35% in the past 12 months. GDP is now expected to be up just 4.4% in 2008, versus a 7.2% jump last year. Its 40 richest are worth a total of $14 billion, down from $17 billion in 2007 and $16 billion in 2006. This year 25 tycoons are poorer, including a number of them in real estate and banking. Big losers include Senate President Manuel Villar, whose net worth plunged 55% to $425 million, and Filinvest Land's Andrew Gotianun, who lost $625 million, three-fourths of his worth. Last year's richest, Jaime Zobel de Ayala, was the biggest loser, down $800 million, as the stock of his conglomerate, Ayala Corp., slipped 46%. Ayala and at least half a dozen other companies backed by the nation's richest--including Gotianun's Filinvest Land, John Gokongwei's Universal Robina and the Hortalezas' Splash--have bought back shares in recent months.

Eleven people eked out gains, but almost all of those increases were because of reporting on new assets or shareholdings or the combination of relatives' stakes. That was true for top-ranking Henry Sy. Only Lourdes Montinola seemed to buck the trend, as shares of her Far Eastern University appreciated by a third. Bienvenido R. Tantoco Sr., former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, returned to the list after a one-year absence. Two extended families, the Aboitizes and Lopezes, were split into two entries apiece. There was one newcomer, Alfredo Ramos, who heads Atlas Consolidated Mining & Development.

A net worth of $30 million is required to make the Philippines list, unchanged from last year. Fourteen tycoons had net worths of less than $100 million. Four of last year's members failed to make the cut, including three shareholders in Philippine Investment Management (Phinma), whose profits fell last year.

Public fortunes were calculated using share prices and exchange rates as of Oct. 3. For privately held assets, we estimated what they would be worth if public. Fortunes held by more than one person (typically a parent and his children or several siblings) are denoted with "& family."

They are a big Help to our Economy...from Forbes Magazine says that 1/8 of the economy of the Philippines are came from the Businesses of this Richest People.

Here are the Top 10.


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1. Henry Sy & Family
Net Worth: $3.1 billion
Age: 83
Marital Status: Married, 6 children

Mall mogul's company SM celebrated 50th anniversary by opening its 31st mall. Controls nation's second-largest bank, Banco de Oro Unibank, run by daughter Teresita Sy-Coson. With family, owns stakes in a dozen companies. Stock of most valuable investment, SM Investments, is down in past year but fortune is up, thanks to confirmation of family's holdings in China Banking Corp. and new information on family stakes.


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2. Lucio Tan & Family
Net Worth: $1.5 billion
Age: 74
Marital Status: Married, 6 children

Holdings include nation's largest cigarette maker, Fortune Tobacco; Philippine Airlines; Asia Brewery; mining operations; Hong Kong property. Being prosecuted by a government commission, which claims much of his wealth belongs to late president Ferdinand Marcos' estate. Won small victory last December, when Supreme Court dismissed sequestration of some of his assets.


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3. Jaime Zobel de Ayala & family
Net Worth: $1.2 billion
Age: 74
Marital Status: Married, 7 children

Stock of family's conglomerate Ayala Corp. is down 46% since last year, in part because of economic slowdown and declining profits in banking and electronics manufacturing units. Family's shares all in children's hands. Jaime is chairman emeritus. Eldest son, Jaime Augusto, is Ayala's chairman, chief executive.


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4. Andrew Tan
Net Worth: $700 million
Age: 57
Marital Status: Married, 4 children

Son of Chinese factory worker, Tan moved to Philippines and put himself through university in part by working as a salesman in a watch store. Often walked to classes because he couldn?t afford bus fare. Got start selling blenders, coffeemakers. Later began selling cheap, homegrown brandy; his Emperador brand is now country?s bestselling. Made bigger fortune building office, residential complexes for multinationals and their employees. Now he and his Alliance Global are betting on gaming and tourism.


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5. Tony Tan Caktiong & family
Net Worth: $690 million
Age: 58
Marital Status: Married, 3 children

Heads fast-food company Jollibee Foods, with more than 1,600 locations and 8 brands in 9 countries. While operating margins have been squeezed because of higher costs, stock is up almost 45% since its 52-week low in July. Announced in September it was borrowing $100 million for China expansion. Tan joined board of Manuel Pangilinan's (No. 39) Philippine Long Distance Telephone in July.


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6. John Gokongwei Jr. & family
Net Worth: $680 million
Age: 81
Marital Status: Married, 6 children

Profits at JG Summit, conglomerate he founded decades ago, dropped 70% in first half of 2008 because of foreign exchange losses from dollar-denominated debt and declines in share prices of subsidiaries. Fortune up thanks to better information. Chairman emeritus handed reins to brother James Go, group's chairman; son Lance, president.


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7. Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.
Net Worth: $610 million
Age: 73
Marital Status: Married, 4 children

Chief executive of Southeast Asia's largest food and beverage conglomerate, San Miguel. Best known for beer; spun off 6% of brewing arm in May. With Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok, announced $1 billion investment to develop public land for farming in effort to boost agricultural sector. Company set Guinness World Record in September for longest bar, set up in Manila.


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8. Enrique Razon Jr.
Net Worth: $525 million
Age: 48
Marital Status: Married, 2 children

Runs International Container Terminal Services, one of the world's 5 largest port operators and one of 2 Philippine companies to qualify for FORBES ASIA's 200 Best Under A Billion list. Has operations in 10 countries, including China, Ecuador. Avid golfer.


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9. George Ty & family
Net Worth: $435 million
Age: 75
Marital Status: Married, 5 children

Founded Metrobank, one of country's largest by assets. Stepped down as chairman in 2006. Son Arthur, who shares fortune, runs bank, which has lost more than half its market value since last year on worries about financial services firms.


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10. Inigo & Mercedes Zobel
Net Worth: $430 million
Age: NA
Marital Status: NA

Brother and sister inherited stakes in Ayala from late aunt Mercedes Zobel McMicking. Inigo sits on board of San Miguel and family company Mermac. Avid polo player. Mercedes helps run Enrique Zobel Foundation, named after late father, cousin of Jaime Ayala de Zobel (No. 3).

From Top 11 to 40

11 Manuel Villar $425M
12 Emilio Yap & family $420M
13 Vivian Que Azcona & family $360M
14 Beatrice Campos & family $325M
15 Luis Virata $270M
16 Oscar Lopez & family $240M
17 Andrew Gotianun $235M
18 Alfonso Yuchengco & family $200
19 Mariano Tan & family $195M
20 Manuel Zamora $130M
21 Menardo Jimenez & family 129M
22 Gilberto Duavit & family 127M
23 Alfredo Ramos $126M
24 Jon Ramon Aboitiz & family $125M
25 Felipe Gozon & family $110M
26 David Consunji & family $105M
27 Rolando & Rosalinda Hortaleza $90M
28 Eugenio Lopez III & family $85M
29 Betty Ang $80M
30 Tomas Alcantara & family $75M
31 Lourdes Montinola & family $68M
32 Salvador Zamora $67M
33 Philip Ang $63M
34 Wilfred Steven Uytengsu Sr. & family $55M
35 Enrique Aboitiz & family $50M
36 Frederick Dy $49M
37 Bienvenido R. Tantoco Sr. & family $45M
38 Jesus Tambunting $40M
39 Manuel Pangilinan $39M
40 Marixi Rufino-Prieto & family $30M

source: forbes.com

http://images.forbes.com/media/lists/86/2007/flag.jpglast 2007

1 Jaime Zobel de Ayala & family - 2,000
2 Henry Sy & family - 1,700
3 Lucio Tan & family - 1,600
4 Andrew Tan - 1,100
5 Manuel Villar - 940
6 George Ty - 870
7 Andrew Gotianun - 860
8 Enrique Razon Jr. - 820
9 Tony Tan Caktiong & family - 790
10 Oscar Lopez & family - 775
11 Vivian Que Azcona & family - 670
12 Inigo & Mercedes Zobel - 660
13 Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. - 540
14 Emilio Yap & family - 445
15 John Gokongwei Jr. & family - 430
16 Enrique Aboitiz & family - 375
17 Alfonso Yuchengco & family - 365
18 Beatrice Campos - 220
19 David Consunji & family - 210
20 Luis Virata - 200
21 Gilberto Duavit Jr. & family - 191
22 Menardo Jimenez & family - 190
23 Felipe Gozon & family - 165
24 Mariano Tan & family - 140
25 Ramon del Rosario Jr. - 137
26 Ronaldo & Rosalinda Hortaleza - 110
27 Manuel Zamora - 105
28 Betty Ang - 100
29 Tomas Alcantara & family - 90
30 Frederick Dy - 70
31 Wilfred Steven Uytengsu Sr. - 60
32 Salvador Zamora - 55
33 Oscar Hilado & family - 51
34 Philip T. Ang - 50
35 Magdaleno Albarracin Jr. - 49
36 Jesus Tambunting - 47
37 Antonio Roxas - 36
38 Manuel Pangilinan - 35
39 Marixi Rufino-Prieto & family - 33
40 Lourdes Montinola - 30

WHO'S AT THE TOP World's richest 10 individuals, as compiled by Forbes magazine, listed in billions of dollars with source of wealth and nationality. 1996 edition.
# $18, William H. Gates III, computer software, U.S.
# $15.3, Warren Edward Buffett, stock market, U.S.
# $13.1, Paul Sacher, pharmaceuticals, Switzerland
# $12.7, Lee Shau Kee, real estate, Hong Kong
# $12.2, Tsai Wan-lin, insurance, financial services, Taiwan
# $10.6, Li Ka-shing, diversified, Hong Kong
# $9.2, Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, real estate, transportation, Japan
# $7.5, Paul G. Allen, Microsoft, U.S.
# $7.4, Kenneth Thomson, media, retailing, real estate, Canada
# $7.0, Tan Yu, real estate, Philippines

Tan Yu
From Wikipedia


Tan Yu (1927-2002) was a Filipino philanthropist and real estate entrepreneur of Chinese orgin. He was once the richest in the Philippines as well as being among the 10 wealthiest in the planet where he had a networth of about $7 Billion.It was he who established the KTTI Foundation and the Asiaworld International Group.

Originally from the Fujian province of China, Tan Yu and his family moved to the Philippines at a young age. He began making a living in Camarines Norte through selling bread buns in the streets and doing some fishing. He once studied in University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City and got a degree. He even studied at the New Jersey Institute of Technology where he also graduated. When he worked as a cashier in Manila, this was where he would established a textile business. At only 18 years of age, he already made a million pesos.

During his life as an entrepreneur, he once planned to convert Fuga and Barit, two northermost islands in the Philippines which he owned, into places for tourists and businessmen. He once owned more land in the Philippines than even the local government as well as possessing some overseas, totalling $12 Billion.

He died of heart failure in Houston, Texas in 2002 at 75 years of age. Jose de Venecia, a house speaker in the Philippines, commended him as a great businessman for provided jobs to a number of Philippine people. Tan Yu was also among those awarded at the Jose P. Rizal Awards for Excellence at the posthumous awards category.

Years after he passed, Tan Yu's organization sold the island of Fuga.

diba ito si Inigo Zobel? (yung may blue towel)

http://images.inquirer.net/media/showbizandstyle/lifestyle/lifestyle/images/pic-04250722300616.jpg

anyway, daming wala sa listahan. wala ang mga Araneta, ang mga Tuason, ang mga Madrigal, at yung iba, parang medyo maliit ang assets. di pa kasama ang mga gambling lords. syempre, yung assets ng top 40, wala pa sa kalahati ng sa mga Marcoses.

Tan Yu
From Wikipedia


Tan Yu (1927-2002) was a Filipino philanthropist and real estate entrepreneur of Chinese orgin. He was once the richest in the Philippines as well as being among the 10 wealthiest in the planet where he had a networth of about $7 Billion.It was he who established the KTTI Foundation and the Asiaworld International Group.

Originally from the Fujian province of China, Tan Yu and his family moved to the Philippines at a young age. He began making a living in Camarines Norte through selling bread buns in the streets and doing some fishing. He once studied in University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City and got a degree. He even studied at the New Jersey Institute of Technology where he also graduated. When he worked as a cashier in Manila, this was where he would established a textile business. At only 18 years of age, he already made a million pesos.

During his life as an entrepreneur, he once planned to convert Fuga and Barit, two northermost islands in the Philippines which he owned, into places for tourists and businessmen. He once owned more land in the Philippines than even the local government as well as possessing some overseas, totalling $12 Billion.

He died of heart failure in Houston, Texas in 2002 at 75 years of age. Jose de Venecia, a house speaker in the Philippines, commended him as a great businessman for provided jobs to a number of Philippine people. Tan Yu was also among those awarded at the Jose P. Rizal Awards for Excellence at the posthumous awards category.

Years after he passed, Tan Yu's organization sold the island of Fuga.

oh yeah Tan Yu, you know I never knew he studied in la salle bacolod, no wonder he used to go to bacolod, so that makes him the wealthiest alumni of the university so far

waaah! theyre either chinese or spanish....

Is Pangilinan an indigenous name? That sounds like the most indigenous name there on the list.

Is Pangilinan an indigenous name? That sounds like the most indigenous name there on the list.

The Spanish gave Christian sounding surnames to Filipinos during their occupation for tax collection purposes.

Manny Villar was said to be the first Filipino ethnic dollar billionaire but he lost his wealth during the Asia financial crisis.

diba ito si Inigo Zobel? (yung may blue towel)

http://images.inquirer.net/media/showbizandstyle/lifestyle/lifestyle/images/pic-04250722300616.jpg

anyway, daming wala sa listahan. wala ang mga Araneta, ang mga Tuason, ang mga Madrigal, at yung iba, parang medyo maliit ang assets. di pa kasama ang mga gambling lords. syempre, yung assets ng top 40, wala pa sa kalahati ng sa mga Marcoses.

we don't know i got that pic somewhere on the site that talks about the Filipino Billionaires also...and most of people from the rank 15 and down....hindi masyadong known ung data's and information nila..

i have about the history of the madrigal family, Aboitiz family, Ayala Family and other prominent business people

^^ share them,...except those of the ayala's we already have a thread dedicated to that...

The Spanish gave Christian sounding surnames to Filipinos during their occupation for tax collection purposes.

Manny Villar was said to be the first Filipino ethnic dollar billionaire but he lost his wealth during the Asia financial crisis.

yeah i think the asset of Manny Villar will goes down until the end of 2008, he got a lots of problems from his business to his position in the senate....:ohno:sayang talaga malapit na sanasyang pumasok sa billionaires list and also mr. Andrew Tan...:ohno:

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Vicente María Epifanio López Madrigal

Don Vicente López Madrigal (1880-1972) was one of the titans of
the business world in early 20th century Philippines on par with other
Spanish-Filipino business leaders, such as Andrés Soriano, Sr.;
Antonio Melián; Enrique Zóbel y Ayala; the brothers Elizalde, Aboitiz,
and Pérez-Samanillo; Tirso Lizárraga, Jr.; Francisco Ortigas, Sr. and
Manuel María de Ynchausti.

He was born on April 5, 1880 in Ligao, Albay, the only
son of Catalan immigrant Don Jose Maria Madrigal, of Barcelona,
Spain, and Dona Macaria López, a Spanish mestiza.
He attended the old Colegio de San Juan de Letran in
Intramuros, Manila.

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1939 Board of the Asociacion de Ex-alumnos de San Juan de Letran.
Front: Director Quirco Abadilla and Don Eusebio Reyes.
Back: Dr. Domingo Antonio, Jr.; Fr. Francisco Munoz; Acting Rector,
Fr. Lorenzo Rodriguez; Don Vicente Madrigal; Don Enrique Monserrat;
Dr. Bonifacio Mencias; Don Marcelino Aguas, Mr. Mariano Alimurung
and Mr. Antonio M. Molina.

Don Vicente Madrigal's vast holdings included the first Philippine coal-trading
operation; Madrigal Shipping, Co., which became the largest Philippine shipping
line before the war; oil refineries in Manila and Cebu; logging concessions in Surigao;
a gold mine in Masbate; Rizal Cement, which had been owned by Ynchausti y Cia
until 1925 and had a monopoly on cement production; a cotton factory in Tondo;
and the Jai Alai Fronton on Taft Avenue, Manila.
He married Susana Paterno of the old-money Paterno clan of Manila and had 7 children.
Their children were Macaria, Pacita, Josefina, Antonio, José (the founder of Belek, Inc.),
Consuelo Alejandra "Chito," and María Luisa.
He assigned Antonio to the shipping lines, foreign and local.
To José, the real estate holdings and their development.
To Consuelo, the Rizal Cement, Co.
Following the war, Don Vicente became a senator.
Robust both figuratively and literaly, Vicente Madrigal lived into his nineties.

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Philippine Tycoon: The Life and Times of Vicente Madrigal, 1880-1972

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Antonio P. Madrigal

His son Antonio is the father of Senator María Ana "Jamby" Consuelo Abad Santos Madrigal-Valade.

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Sen. María Ana "Jamby" Consuelo Abad Santos Madrigal-Valade

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Maria Susana Madrigal-Eduque and Sen. Jamby Madrigal-Valade at the
Presidential Inaugaration of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)

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Maria Susana "Chu-Chu" Abad Santos Madrigal-Eduque at a charity event.
That's Ayala Corp. Chairman Don Jaime Augusto Zobel-de Ayala, II on the left.

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L-R: Maria Susana "Chu-Chu" Abad Santos Madrigal-Eduque,
Gizela “Ging” Madrigal Gonzalez-Montinola, and
Susana "Susie" Madrigal Bayot-Ortigas

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Manila Jai Alai Fronton

Don Vicente López Madrigal was also the proprietor of the Jai Alai Corporation of the Philippines, which owned and operated the Manila Jai Alai Fronton through the Second World War. Early board members of the Jai Alai Corporation included businessmen Juan Miguel M. Elizalde, Manuel N. Nieto, Sr. and Adrián Got (president of Tabacalera/Compania General de Tobaccos de Filipinas and close friend of President Quezon). Little-known is that it was also a front to support the anti-Japanese resistance during the war. The corporation was involved in Red Cross work to a point that the Japanese secret police (Kempeitai) became wary of their humanitarian activities. In addition, they were secretly passing on copies of shortwave broadcasts from the United States to friends in the underground. After a while, Japanese suspicions led to the arrest of several people connected with the Jai-Alai office.

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Manila Jai Alai Fronton Several Years Ago

Jai Alai (or simply "pelota," which is the Spanish word for ball), was initially the sport of Manila's elite. It had its origins in the town of Marquina, which is located in the Basque region of northeastern Spain. To find out more about the game, see this page: http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/jaialai.html. It was introduced to the Philippines by a group of Filipino-Spanish/Basque aficionados headed by the Elizalde brothers Tiburcio, Santiago, and José Joaquín (the father of the line that currently manages the family enterprises) at around 1899. They organized friendly matches with other members of the Filipino-Basque elite, such as the Navascues, Arregui, Matute, Nieto (see photos posted earlier), Soloaga, Pascual, Larrañaga (see photos posted earlier also), Ynchausti, and Garriz families, playing the version of the game called "pelota a mano" (played with bare hands!). A small fronton (a Jai Alai stadium) was built in the compound of the famous Casino Español de Manila (the Spanish Society/Club of Manila, which was constructed largely through the efforts of leading businessmen Don Antonio Melián and Don Andrés Soriano). The second wave of Spanish/Basque Filipinos to promote the sport prior to the Second World War included José Arriola; Juan Tellechea; Dionisio Leguizamon; Martín de Eiguren; Nestor Gamechogoicoechea; the brothers Sarasola, Zabaljauregui, Cincunegui, and Azparren; José Egozcua; L. Garteiz; L. Garriz; Rafael Iturralde; Pedro Uriarte; and Angel and Juan Miguel Elizalde, of course. Eventually, their efforts paid off, as the Manila Jai Alai Fronton was constructed in 1939 along Taft Ave. It was designed by renowned American architect Welton Beckett and was one of the few Art Deco structures in Asia. It drew pelotaris (Jai Alai players) from all over the Spanish-speaking world and became a huge hit among Manila's elite. It featured the exclusive Sky Room where wealthy patrons could watch the games while dining in luxury and placing bets through gophers at any of the 3 (!) full-band night clubs. It also grew into a place for receptions, ballroom dancing and other social affairs for the Spanish, Basque, and Mestizo gentry dressed in period 19th century coat-and-tie. Although it was badly damaged during the war, it was restored and operated in turn by Madrigal Properties and eventually by Imelda Marcos' Romualdez relatives. After the war, Don Manuel "Manolo" M. Elizalde, Sr., head of the Tanduay Distillery, became president of the Jai Alai organizing committee in the Philippines, and the game became immensely popular even among ordinary Filipinos (Filipino pelotaris can be found playing at frontons all over the world today). Of course, the gambling aspect was then seen as a major societal problem, and during the Aquino administration, the Manila Fronton was ordered to cease operations. Following a long moratorium, it was reopened during the Estrada administration, but rampant game-fixing and renewed pressure from anti-gambling groups forced it to close for good in 1999. Sadly, in spite of much protest from those wishing to preserve our rich architectural and historical heritage, it was ordered in 2000 to be demolished by the city government of Manila to make room for the new Manila Hall of Justice (oh, what irony), which was never constructed there! FYI, the Jai Alai fronton in Cebu was reopened last October (Iñaki Aperribai is the manager).

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adrigal Properties accumulated choice lots in and around
Metro Manila and outlying areas as far as the Bicol region.
This includes an 11,000-hectare hacienda in Canlubang
planted with coconut and sugarcane and Alabang,
the bamboo and mango orchard of Manila, which is now a
whole new city called Ayala Alabang, housing thousands of
the wealthiest families in the Philippines.
Gerardo Abad Santos Madrigal is President and brother
Vicente Abad Santos Madrigal, II, a Princeton-trained PhD
in economics, is Vice President -- together they own 98%
of the total shares in the company.

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Alabang, Muntinlupa City
The Madrigal estate is a now modern city in the Philippines!

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Alabang Town Center

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Jesús S. "Jess" G. Cabarrús, Jr. (at the top left with,
clockwise): Elma Santander, Menggay Cabarrus, close friend and
former Philippine Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs Manuel Collantes,
and Chito Madrigal Collantes at the Ayala Greenbelt 2 launch party.

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"The Consuelo 'Chito' Madrigal Foundation (CCMF) was established on July 11, 1997
by Doña Consuelo 'Chito' Madrigal, a distinguished banker and philanthropist.
With the vision of helping Filipino families out of poverty, CCMF believes in philanthropy
that creates productivity and charity that enables capability."

Sadly, Don Vicente Madrigal's daughter Doña Consuelo Alejandra "Chito,"
legendary heiress, banker, and philanthropist, passed away earlier this year:

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Chito Madrigal-Collantes: A Life Lived Well
By Jamby Madrigal

In paying loving tribute to Tita Chito (Madrigal-Collantes,) we pay tribute, too, to an entire generation — her generation.

Hers was a generation different from that of her elder brother Antonio, my father. If he was the exemplar of the old world courtesies of urbanidad, Tita Chito was modernity personified.

I ask you to reflect on what it was, that enabled Tita Chito to be both glamorous, and dismissive of glamour, who could flout tradition, yet represent, for all of us, the finest traditions of our lineage.

Hers was the swashbuckling elan of the cavalier, the derring-do of the rebel who would take risks for God and country, yet never tarnish the good name of family.

Allow me to tell you a story.

Once, there was a glittering dinner at the Tuileries, and at that dinner were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the Emperor Napoleon III and his empress, Eugenie.

And at that dinner, one diplomat said to another, “do you know how you can tell the parvenu from someone born to the purple?”

“How,” the second diplomat asked.

“Observe,” the first diplomat said, as the banquet began.

Footmen brought forward the chairs for Victoria and Eugenie, but as they sat down, Eugenie looked back to make sure her seat was there, while Victoria with Hanoverian certainty, simply sat down.

“La reine Anglaise,” the first diplomat said, “has never faced the uncertainty of wondering if someone is attending to her chair.”

Tita Chito had that Victorian certainty. It was the kind of certainty that had Tita Chito attend to a starving great, great great-grandson of Victoria, Prince Charles, when they were in Nepal and the cuisine was deplorable, as they shared boiled eggs and beer for breakfast.

It was that certainty, too, which had her slap him on the back with a breezy “Hi, Charles” which scandalized a fussy equerry.

Prince Charles brushed aside the prissy equerry’s protestations of lese majeste and proceeded to enthusiastically greet Tita Chito.

Lese-majeste was too fussy a convention to matter, to her; she was, if we can stereotype her, a brash New Yorker. Accomplished, modern, confident.

It was that certainty, that confidence, that allowed Tita Chito to challenge authority and then, to wield it.

Hers were the sinews of personal conviction, strengthened by adversity, and tempered, even relaxed, at times by self-awareness and even compassion for the plight of others, that turned her into such a source of strength for the family, and for her friends.

For the transition from rebel to matriarch enabled her to avoid turning her authority into familial tyranny.

She would have approved of what G.K. Chesterton wrote when he observed, “Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around.”

If tradition was the skeleton that held our family upright, then her strength of will and singlemindedness of family purpose, provided our family’s muscle.

But she knew, too, that tradition is something that deserves not only a nudge, but the healthy counterpoint of defiance, if it is to have meaning.

Her generation, in particular, members of her sex, were raised to believe that their role in life was to nurture, but never to lead. Women of her generation expected their husbands to be the professionals.

Yet she proved herself capable of acquiring all the accoutrements of professional life by means of her own hard work, her own intellectual ability. We forget what a rare thing it was, for her to be called to the bar, to be a lawyer: a rare thing not just for a Filipina of her generation, but a woman of her generation in the District of Columbia, too.

She once said that if she could live her life again, perhaps she would have chosen the law as her full-time occupation. Yet she lived her life as few lawyers ever have: by being fair.

We all have our stories of how strong her personality was, how her will –and willfulness, at times- could be so daunting, her remarks, so untypical of the Filipina, then or now, in their bluntness. We forget how at the core of even her most cutting remarks was the truth.

She said it, as she saw it; and what she saw was, unerringly, what was really at the heart of any matter — whether a matter of the heart or of the moment in the boardroom.

Hers was a generation that grew up in halcyon days, only to be molded, in the crucible of war, into tough individuals. Men and women who experienced, in a very real and painful way, the transitory nature of privilege and wealth.

Hers was an unabashed -and deserved- pride in family; hers was a life lived well, with no apologies to make to her peers and society as a whole.

Later on, she answered the call of duty of her country by working for the political and industrial advancement of our nation.

She never succumbed to the sort of despair that overwhelmed Roman patricians in the 4th century; instead of retreating into misty memories, she reiterated her resolve, time and again, to be more productive than ever, at a time when many of her peers might have been thinking of turning their back on society as it is at present.

There too were, the joys of childhood, of enduring friendships made, and the pain and gore of war, which claimed many friends and which resulted in a purgatory on earth for her father, who was slandered for doing his duty but who reclaimed his honor, which has been jealously guarded by his descendants ever since.

In the pages of Picture Me she chronicled the things that truly count -of love gained and lost, of families linked by ties of affection, of friendships nurtured by her joie de vivre.

There was politics: the razzle-dazzle of the campaigns of the Fifties and Sixties when our democracy was in its last stages of innocence.

There was business: for her life was never one of idle extravagance, of foolish frippery, but one devoted to making industries flourish, thereby providing genuine hope for progress in the form of jobs.

And yes, society life, of those who lived fast and well, but ahead of most, she acknowledged that times have changed and have changed their lifestyles accordingly.

Tita Chito proved that while she enjoyed life to the fullest, she was no slave to the glitter of the good life. For she realized that all lives touch each other; that the thing to do is to find your happiness without it being a cause for misery on the part of others, though your choices at the time, require self-fulfillment at the expense of your peers’ approval.

No one appreciated the finer things in life, and that includes the finesse that makes life so much smoother, in so many, often little ways, than Tita Chito.

Best of all, hers was a life devoid of false modesty: “Some people say that I have lived a charmed life but I prefer to think of it as an engaged life,” she wrote.

How true: the engaged life. The useful life; a life worth of commemoration.

* * *

Eulogy delivered by the author during neurological services for business matriarch and philanthropist Chito Madrigal-Collantes.

Source: http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Sunday%20Life&p=49&type=2&sec=47&aid=200804122.

- edit

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Family patriarch Atty. Don Rafael "Rafa" O. Ortigas, Jr. is President of Ortigas & Co.
Don Rafael Ortigas was a football star while at De La Salle University.

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Seated (L-R): Don Alberto "Albert" M. Montilla; Doña Maria Rosario "Chari" Ortigas de Montilla,
wife of Don Alberto; Doña Begoña B. de Ortigas, wife of Don Rafael;
standing (L-R): Don Ignacio Rafael "Nachi" O. Ortigas; and Doña Margarita "Marga" M. de Ortigas,
wife of Don Ignacio.
Don Ignacio R. Ortigas is General Partner of Ortigas & Co., Chairman of CAC, President of
Sagitro, Inc., and VP & Director of ISM Communications.
Don Alberto M. Montilla is the former President and Chairman of Itogon-Suyoc Mines, Inc.,
Director of CAC, VP Coporate Secretary of Sagitro, Inc., and Director of ISM Communications.

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Don Francisco "Paqui" M. Ortigas, III is General Partner of Ortigas & Co. and
President of CAC.

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Don Fernando "Nando" M. Ortigas is General Partner of Ortigas & Co.

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Jaime "Jimmy" M. Ortigas is a Director of CAC.
He is also a past President of the Rotary Club of San Juan.

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CAC President Don Francisco "Paqui" M. Ortigas, III (far left) and CAC Director
Don Jaime "Jimmy" M. Ortigas (far right)

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Don Rafael Andoni "Lon" B. Ortigas, III is former President of CAC,
Chairman and CEO of Itogon-Suyoc Mines, Inc., EVP of Sagitro, Inc.,
VP & Director of Philweb Corp., and VP & Director of ISM Communications.

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The next generation of Ortigas leaders!

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Miguel "Mickey" M. Ortigas, Jr.

Don Miguel "Mickey" M. Ortigas, Jr. is the son of the prominent, late
industrialist Don Miguel Y. Ortigas, Sr. and Doña Isabel Miranda-Ortigas.
He is President of Philippine Realty and Holdings Corporation (PRHC)
Property Managers, Inc., Director at Meridian Assurance Corporation,
and a Rotary Club District Governor.
In his youth, Mickey Ortigas was a much sought-after commercial model,
star collegiate football player, deep sea fishing enthusiast, and promising golfer.
He married Doña Marina Lourdes "Marinette" Garrido y Pimentel
of the prominent mestizo Pimentel and Garrido clans.
They are the parents of Pinoy rock legend Miguel G. Ortigas!

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Mickey M. Ortigas, Jr. and his wife Marinette Garrido-Ortigas

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Miguel G. Ortigas (center) with his Razorback bandmates and best friends (L-R):
Manuel Nieto Legarda and Tirso de Ubago Ripoll at his wedding reception

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Dn. Jose Ignacio Ortigas (at the far right) at Pope Benedict XVI's
mass at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral earlier this year.

Heard through the Grapevine

The Caucasian-looking sacristan who was photographed and shown on worldwide TV holding water when Pope Benedict XVI celebrated mass at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral is actually a Spanish-Filipino mestizo, Ignacio Ortigas, a high school graduate of La Salle Greenhills.

A son of Rotarian Mickey Ortigas, the religious Ortigas is now a deacon at the Diocese of Connecticut.

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Doña Begoña B. Ortigas at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Tiendesitas
shopping complex, which was launched in 2005 to rival the highly-successful
and world-renowned Chatuchak Market of Bangkok, Thailand.

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The Tiendesitas at Frontera Verde features a variety of shops that sell
native handicrafts, foods, antiques, clothing, plants, and pets.
Go here to check out all of the amazing shops!:

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Doña Margarita and Don Ignacio Ortigas at last year's Minotti event in Global City
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Don Francisco M. Ortigas III (far right), is also Honorary Consul of El Salvador.
To his right is Don Fausto de la Riva Preysler, Jr., Honorary Consul General of Costa Rica.
2nd from the left is Don Antonio M. Ortigas Olbes, Honorary Consul General of Nicaragua.
3rd from the left is Don Lee del Pan, Honorary Consul of Belize.
Don Lee del Pan is the head of R.J. del Pan & Co. Inc. in the Philippines.
He is a descendant of Don Rafael del Pan!

hayyy...ang haba Mamaya nlang ung iba..next will be about Enrique "Ricky" K. Razón, III and Aboitiz Family and Soriano Family...

The Spanish gave Christian sounding surnames to Filipinos during their occupation for tax collection purposes.

Manny Villar was said to be the first Filipino ethnic dollar billionaire but he lost his wealth during the Asia financial crisis.

yeah i think the asset of Manny Villar will goes down until the end of 2008, he got a lots of problems from his business to his position in the senate....:ohno:sayang talaga malapit na sanasyang pumasok sa billionaires list and also mr. Andrew Tan...:ohno:

^^ Enjoy naman ako basahin. Thanks @ZukiChirO. :)

^^ Enjoy naman ako basahin. Thanks @ZukiChirO. :)

HehHEeh nakakapagod nga ilagay di2 lahat..jejeje..maybe 2 prominent business people that i may post here per day...most of them are filipino-spanish and Chinese-filipino

^^ na wili din akong magbasa...salamat sa eports...

Luís Rocha
Ignacio Rocha
Pedro Pérez de Tagle
Luís Pérez de Tagle
José de Azcárraga
María Palmero de Azcárraga
Manuel de Azcárraga y Palmero
Fr. Vicente Infante
Andrés Nieto
Ángel and Andrés Garchitorena
José Cañas
Gregorio Yrastorza
Ana Torres de Yrastorza
Capt. Andrés Novales
Capts. José, Manuel, and Joaquín Bayot
Martín de Ursúa y Arizmendi, el conde de Lizárraga
Vicente and Miguel Palmero
Pedro de Govantes y de Azcárraga, el conde de Albay
Matías Sáenz de Vizmanos
Iñigo Gonzáles Azaola
Eugenio de Otadui
José Dámaso Gorricho
Francisco Rodríguez
José Ortega
José María Jugo
Regino Mijares
Luís Rodríguez Varela, el conde de Filipinas
Ignacio Cagigas Varela
Joaquín and Cristobal Arlegui
Ana María Zangróniz y Arrieta
José Zabarte
Pedro Zabarte
Ceferino Llorente
Julio Llorente
Evaristo Aguirre
Francisco Esquivel
Juan Atayde
Carlos “Caloy” Atayde
Pedro Grüet y Atayde
Blás Echegoyen
Rafael Zaragoza y Escalante
Severo and Gonzálo Tuason y Patiño
Gonzálo, Jr., José María, and Dr. Manuel Nemesio Tuason y Gil de Sola, Sr.
Manuel Tuason y Bastida, Jr.
José María Pérez-Rubio
Leoncio González Liquete
José Zaragoza y Aranquizna
Tomás Argüelles
Dr. Manuel Xerez y Burgos, Sr.
Federico Calero y Ortíz, Jr.
Elías Menchatorre
José Joaquín de Ynchausti y Gurruchategui
Joaquín José and Rafael C. de Ynchausti y González
Juan Yrisarry y Bautista
Joaquín Marcelino Elizalde e Yrisarry
Joaquín José, Tiburcio, and Santiago Elizalde y Aiciñena
Jaime Venutia e Yrisarry
Valentín Teus e Yrisarry, Sr.
Valentín Teus, Jr.
José de Azparren
Carmen “Carmenchu” Díaz-Moreu Elizalde de Jiménez
José María Pueo
Emilio Marcó
Elías Marcó y Ramírez
José Luís Marcó y García
Francisco Gonzáles
Marcelino de Santos
Plácido Escudero y de León, Sr.
Felino Gil
Roberto Toledo, Sr.
Benigno Toda y Toledo, Sr.
Francisco Puig
Lino Cárdenas y Reyes
Alfonso de Castellví
Dr. Ignacio Ortigas y Barcinas, Jr.
Maria de la Consolación “Consuelo” de Ynchausti y Rico de Ortigas
Joaquín Ramírez, Sr.
Joaquín Ramírez y Basañez, Jr.
Salvador Chofré y Olea
Rafael Pérez y Samanillo
Vicente, José F. “Pepe,” and Ramón Fernández y Castro
Carlos P. Fernández
Antonio Correa y Pomar
Adrián Got
Patricio Llano
Felipe Ysmael, Sr.
Juan “Johnny” C. Ysmael
Carlos Pérez-Rubio, Sr.
Adolfo García
Antonio de la Riva
Alfredo Chicote, Sr.
Enrique Vázquez-Prada, Sr.
Jesús Cacho
Juan and Joaquín Riu
Santiago, Alfredo and Joaquín Carrión
Francisco Prats
Virgilio Lobregat, Sr.
Jaime “Jimmy,” Pedro, Santiago, and José Picornell y Martí
Pingoy de Oglou
Alfonso R. Dampierre
Antonio Roxas y Gargollo, Jr.
Leopoldo Melián y Zóbel
Manuel Hidalgo Nieto, Jr.
José María de Montemar Soriano
Enrique “Pocholo” Muñoz Razón, Jr.
Federico “Pipo” Calero y de Mendicuti, III
Santiago Freixas
Juan “Johnny” de Ibazeta
Alfredo Villa-Abrille
Francisco Eizmendi, Sr.
Ramón Manzano
Pilar Tuason-Manzano
Benito “Bibelo” Prieto
Antonio C. Delgado
Francisco “Paco” C. Delgado
Jesús S. Cabarrús, Sr.
Lorenzo Pérez Tüells
Miguel and Rafael S. Ripoll
José María Castañer
María Teresa Abad Taberne
José María “Mari” Mendieta
Sen. Juan B. Alegre
Fermín Barrenechea
Pedro “Pedring” Alegría
José María de Carlès
Emilio de Carlès
Joaquín Ortíz
Juan and Ramón Mascuñana
José Coscolluela y Casanova
Severiano and Mónico Lizárraga e Inza
José Camino y Nessi
Sen. José María Arroyo y Pidal
Gov. Mariano Arroyo y Pidal
Julio Ledesma, Sr.
Dr. Ramón Campos, Sr.
Agustín Montilla, Sr.
José Álvarez y Sotomayor
Diego de la Viña y de la Rosa
Eusebio Uriarte
Higinio Uriarte
Ricardo Echarri
José Arnáiz
Ricardo Claparols
Antonio Balcells
Juan S. Bonnín
Aquiles Ruíz de Luzuriaga
Claudio Ruíz de Luzuriaga
Andoni Achával Aguirre
Ángel Moraza
José Muertegui
Secundino Mendezona y Mendezona
Juan Ormaechea
Florencio Garriz
Estanislao Garavilla
Justo Ortíz, Sr.
Manuel “Manolo” Fortich

^^ The descendants and these people are rich families in the country. You can't really find most of their names because they prefer to have a low profile.

In Manila and Luzon: Gisbert, Sabater, Montserrat, Pons, Battle, Argüelles, Oriol, Chofré, Amador, Lalana, Anguita, Riusech, Esteban, Lobregat, Ros, Ayllón, d’Ayot, Ferriols, d’Urgell, Marcó, Barri, Camps, Blardony, Llano, Pueo, Porta, Riu, Prats, Picornell, Martí, Puig, de Castellví, Morató, Pou, Sansó, Ortoll, Celdrán, Berenguer, Escat, Esteva, Belaguer, Freixas, Tüells, Ripoll, Roig, Taberné, Rius, Peypoch, Aute, Boquer, Claravall, Madrigal, Roco, Fàbregas, Moll, Torall, Jordana, Font, Centenera, Llora, and Lluch

In the Visayas and Mindanao: de Carlès, Aldeguer, Alcántara, Riestra, Rosselló, Claparols, Balcells, Bonnín, Canet, Fortich, Diago, Teves, Palou, Carratala, Lasala, Llorente, Ràfols, Royo, and Sala.

---

Gen. Marcelo and Manuel de Azcárraga y Palmero; cartoonist/illustrator Luís Lasa; poet Manuel B. Verdugo; writer Manuel Lorenzo D’Ayot; businessman Joaquín Santa Marina; merchant Miguel Alonso y Gutiérrez; banker Eugenio del Saz-Orozco; marble industry figure Ramón Oriol; philanthropist Buenaventura de Erquiaga; architect Ramón de Irureta-Goyena; hispanicist Tirso de Irureta-Goyena; poet José de Vergara; scientist Cristóbal Regidor; novelist José Camino y Nessi; Iloilo real estate magnates Félix and Antonio Rubin de Celis, Manila real estate magnates Rafael and Luís Pérez y Samanillo; poet Lorenzo Pérez Tüells; stage actresses Emilia Rius and Praxedes Fernández; pre-war violin prodigy Ernesto Vallejo; piano virtuoso Julio Esteban y Anguita; coloratura soprano and “First Diva of the Philippines” Consuelo Salazar; journalist Hugo Salazar; newspaper magnates Joaquín de Loyzaga and Francisco Díaz Puertas; El Comercio editor José de Loyzaga y Ageo; Baguio’s Hotel Vallejo founder Salvador Vallejo; pioneering optician Dr. Manuel Sabater; bishop Monseñor Juan P. Bautista Gorordo y Garces of Cebu; bishop Monseñor Miguel Lino de Espeleta of Cebu; hispanicist José María Castañer; college football stars Joaquín “Chacho” López y Ramírez de Arellano, Ildefonso “Ponching” Tronqued, Sr., and Marcelino Gálatas y Rentería; historian Alfonso Lizárraga Félix, Jr.; author Antonio Pérez y de Olaguer-Feliú; sharpshooting champion Felipe R. Caballero; artist Félix Pardo de Tavera y Gorricho, Jr.; pioneering aviators Antonio S. Arnáiz and Juan L. Calvo, Jr.; Fr. Pedro Pablo Sebastián Peláez; etc.

---

Don Martín de Ursúa y Arizmendi, el conde de Lizárraga (descendants are still living in the Bicol Region and Manila, I believe)

Don Pedro de Govantes y de Azcárraga, el conde de Albay (the famous advocate for economic reform in the Philippines)

Don José Vicente de Avilés y de la Dehesa, el conde de Avilés (a major landowner, originally of Binondo, Manila)

Don Antonio Melián y Pavía, el conde de Peracamps (the title passed to Don Enrique Melián y Ugarte, uncle of M**** Melián-O******, if I’m not mistaken)

Doña Inés Cabarrús, la condesa de Cabarrús

Of course, there are a few additional families of noble lineage that came to the Philippines: Pardo de Tavera, Rocha, de Ayala, de Sequera, de Castellví, etc. In fact, the family of Don Carlos Fernández-Maquieira y Oyanguren and Doña María de Borbón y de Castellví, daughter of Enrique María Fernando de Borbón, duque de Sevilla, lived in Manila had several children there in the late 19th century. Of course, one shouldn’t leave out the Tuason family in this sort of discussion.

---

Pasted here some old Spanish nobility titles in P.I.

Count of Jolo: Created by Don Alfonso XII in 1877 to Don Jose Malcampo y Monge, Marques de San Rafael.

Marques de Camarines: Created in May, 1872 to Don Manuel Alvarez de Estrada y Campos, alcalde mayor of Camarines,

Marques de la Solana: Created in March 4, 1872, to Lieutenant General Don Antonio de Urbistondo y Eguia, Knight Order of Isabel of the Catholic

Count of Batanes: Created by Don Carlos IV in July 15, 1789 to Don Jose Vasco, Governor of the Philippine islands and conqueror of Batanes.

Count of Aviles: Created by Don Carlos III in April 2, 1761 to Don Jose Fructouso de Aviles y Maon, Knight Order of Santiago.

Conde de Filipino: Created by Don Carlos IV in February 10, 1795 to Don Luis Rodriguez Varela, Knight Order of Carlos III, Regidor Perpetua, City of Manila.

Count of Manila: Created by Queen Isabel II in 1848 to Don Narciso de Claveria y Zaldua, Governor and Captain General of the Philippine Islands, Senator for life, Knight Grand Cross Order of Isabel of the Catholic, San Fernando & San Hemergildo; Married to Dona Ana de Berreoeta y de Villar, Dame Order of Maria Luisa.

---

You guys can check this blog (http://remembranceofthingsawry.wordpress.com/2008/02/22/the-elegance-of-spanish-manila/): Its a favorite gathering for the descendants of the Old Rich families of the Philippines.

Very interesting thread. :yes:


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Julia Vargas y Camus de Ortigas

Don Francisco married Doña Julia Vargas y Camus of the mestizo Vargas and Camus clans,
who would become a famous philanthropist in the Philippines after the war.
Did you know that Doña Julia Vargas-Ortigas Avenue in Ortigas Center is named after her?
Don Francisco B. Ortigas, Sr. was a member of the prestigious Casino Español de Manila and
Club Filipino, as well as the famous Sociedad de Tiro al Blanco in Manila.
An expert in real-estate law and corporate orgnization and management,
Don Francisco B. Ortigas joined Don Rafael del Pan's Manila law firm.



^I have always wondered who Julia Vargas (as in Julia Vargas Ave.) is. Now I know. thanks. lols

Sen. José María Arroyo y Pidal
^^ The descendants and these people are rich families in the country. You can't really find most of their names because they prefer to have a low profile.

This name sounds familiar.

Umm....so, where's the list of the Top Poorer Than Dirt Filipinos? :lol:

^^ we don't have enough space for that

^^ :lol: You have a point there, Kyle.

Well, we can narrow it down to the Top 10 Poorest of the Poorer Than Dirt Filipinos. ;)

interesting thread....

This name sounds familiar.

The Jose Pidal scandal involving Erap? Yeah......

Umm....so, where's the list of the Top Poorer Than Dirt Filipinos? :lol:

hehehe...kiretoce try to make that kind of thread para maiba naman..jejeje:lol:

The Jose Pidal scandal involving Erap? Yeah......

Jose Pidal ~ is for the FG Mike Arroyo's alleged scandal.
Jose Velarde ~ is Erap's pen name... :lol:

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Andres L. Soriano, III and Eduardo Jose L. Soriano

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Andres, III is Chairman and CEO of A. Soriano Corp. (ANSCOR).

Director of the Company since May 19, 1982;
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company (1983 to present);
Chairman and President of Anscor Consolidated Corporation
(1987 to present), Anscor Land, Inc. (1998 to present),
Phelps Dodge Philippines (1983 to present),
Phelps Dodge Philippine Energy Products Corp. (1997 to present),
Seven Seas Resorts and Leisure, Inc. (1998 to present);
Director of ICTSI, Ltd. (2002 to present),
International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) (1988 to present),
Anscor-Casto Travel Corporation (1983 to present),
Anscor Property Holdings, Inc. (1998 to present),
ICTHI (1999 to present), The Peninsula Manila (1986 to present),
A. Soriano Air Corporation (2003 to present);
Member, Board of Advisors of ATR Holdings, Inc.;
Member of the American, Europe and Spanish Chambers of
Commerce and the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP),
in which he once held the Chairmanship of the Board of Trustees;
Mr. Soriano used to be Chairman and CEO of San Miguel Corporation,
Chairman of Coca Cola (Philippines) and Nestle’ (Philippines) and
was a Director of AB Capital and Investment Corporation.

Eduardo is Vice Chairman and Treasurer of A. Soriano Corp. (ANSCOR).
Director of the Company since May 21, 1980;
Vice Chairman-Treasurer of the Company (1990 to present);
Chairman of International Quality Manpower Services, Inc. (2004 to present),
A. Soriano Air Corp. (2003 to present), Anscor Insurance Brokers, Inc.
(1997 to present), Anscor Property Holdings, Inc. (1985 to present);
Director of Phelps Dodge Philippines Energy Products Corp. (1997 to present);
Chairman & President of NewCo Inc. (1997 to present);
Vice Chairman of Anscor Land, Inc. (1997 to present);
President of Seven Seas Resorts and Leisure, Inc. (1998 to 2008).

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Don Andres Soriano, III (the Wharton School) and his brother
Don Eduardo J. Soriano are University of Pennsylvania graduates!

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A. Soriano Corporation (ANSCOR)

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Amanpulo was originally an island exploited as a struggling
family-owned plantation. It was then purchased by
Andres Soriano Jr., a successful businessman.
His children then decided to build a resort on the island and
leased the management responsibility to establish an exclusive resort.
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The island is private property and belongs in totality to 7 Seas Resorts,
a joint venture ANSCOR, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, and Amanresorts.
It is part of the luxury resort group, Amanresorts, under the name Amanpulo.

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Andrés de Montemar Soriano, Jr.

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Andres, III's brother Carlos T. Soriano founded the El Nido Foundation
and serves as the Chair Emeritus of this conservation group.
It was founded when A. Soriano Corp. was investing in the
Ten Knots Development Corporation, the developer of El Nido Resorts

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Luis Miguel "Mike" C. Vaca, current President of el Nido Resorts

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A. Soriano Corp. established the Andres Soriano Foundation,
a philanthropic organization in the Philippines that focuses on
a wide variety of social, health, and environmental concerns

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Mercedes "Dedes" Urquijo Zobel is a cousin of Don Andres, III

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Son Andrés Soriano, IV is also a racing champion
(he spends much of the time in NY these days).
He is in the back row of the group, at the left end
(wearing the dark jacket -- looks like his dad, doesn't he?).
The newest Soriano generation is absolutely gorgeous.
I hope that they continue to uphold their fine name in the Philippines!

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Don Andres Soriano, III got a brand-new yacht!
I have video footage of his debut regatta! He won!
He competes regularly with racing legends and fellow
tycoons such as Oracle Corp.'s Larry Ellison.

Soriano’s Yacht Rules Britannia

SPANKING new yacht of former San Miguel Corp. chairman Andres Soriano III has been awarded the Britannia Cup in the just-concluded Cowes Week sailing regatta.

“Soriano’s Mills 68 Alegre was designed for light airs, so [when the wind died] it was no surprise that it crossed the finish line half an hour ahead of the next boat, Stuart Robinson’s TP52 Stay Calm, a margin large enough for a win on corrected time,” the Telegraph reported over the weekend.
The Britannia Cup is the first trophy for Soriano’s new boat, built earlier this year in Newport, Rhode Island. An American citizen, the former San Miguel chairman calls New York City his home now after he was arm-twisted during the Estrada years out of the Philippines largest food, beverage and packaging conglomerate.

Held Aug. 2 to 9, Skandia Cowes Week is the world’s premier sailing regatta, with almost 1,000 yachts and 8,000 competitors taking part in some top-class sailing, attracting a wide range of competitors from amateurs to Olympic and world champions.
Soriano’s Mills 68 Alegre was the biggest boat racing in Skandia Cowes Week and not surprisingly, it also proved the fastest in Class Zero IRC.

The stunning lines and technical systems of the Mills 68, Alegre, can only be described as one of the most hi-tech examples of racing yacht in the world today, according to the builder’s specifications. While her deck layout and rig is as advanced as America’s Cup boats, the gleaming grey hull houses bunks for 12, a full galley and shower and heads combination.
One very unusual feature is a lifting propeller, designed to increase performance but also allowing for a significant cruising speed under engine.

From its builder’s yard in Newport, the Alegre was taken to sea in June to participate in the Round Ireland race. After Cowes Week, the Alegre crew will enter a few more races in Europe before heading to the Mediterranean.

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In his youth, Don Andres Soriano, III was quite the international playboy
Following the break-up of his marriage several years ago, he was rumoured
to be pursuing a new girlfriend in Spain.

Don Eduardo Jose Soriano is married to the iconic '70s model
from the Philippines Doña Carmen "Menchu" Menchaca-Soriano.
Don Eduardo and Doña Carmen spend much of their time in the
Philippines, where they are fixtures at high society events.
They also owns a dairy farm, Hacienda Macalauan, in Calauan, Laguna.
Menchu belongs to the Basque mestizo Menchaca clan.

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Eduardo Soriano y Sanz

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Col. Andrés Soriano y Roxas, Sr.

History and Background

Anscor was established by the late Colonel Andres Soriano in 1930 as a holding company for diversified investments in the Philippines. The Sorianos are one of the old established families in the Philippines with a long history in business. Initially, the Company concentrated on natural resources and basic industries investing in Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation, Phelps Dodge Phils. and Atlas Fertilizer Corporation. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Company entered into its second phase of development, investing in the financial service sector through Provident Insurance Corporation, AB Capital and Investment Corporation, and AsianBank. Subsequently, as Philippine trade increased with growth in the level of exports and imports, Anscor diversified into container ports services (ICTSI) and tourism (Amanpulo Resort) in the early 1990s.

Anscor divested its investments in the mining, fertilizer manufacturing and financial services sectors as management anticipated unfavorable results in continuing with these businesses.

In the late 1990s, investment focus was on the export of services through SPI Technologies, Inc., E-Telecare International, Inc., and International Quality Manpower Services, Inc. Together with other partners, Anscor ventured into information technology through Multi-media Telephony, Inc.(Broadband Phils).

Currently, Anscor apportioned part of its assets to a liquid portfolio of marketable securities that offer acceptable risk return profiles. Similarly, its portfolio includes investments in offshore and local corporate and sovereign bonds denominated in US dollars and Euros.

In May 2006, The Group's holdings in ICTSI shares were sold to Razon Group. Also, in July 2006, Anscor's subsidiary sold all its shareholdings in SPI Technologies, Inc.

Source: http://www.anscor.com.ph/aboutus/aboutus.html.

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Don Andres Soriano, Sr. seeing off Philippine Airlines' first flight!

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Philippine Airlines was founded on Feb. 26, 1941 -- Asia's oldest carrier still in operation!
The airline was started by a group of businessmen led by Andres Soriano,
hailed as one of the Philippines' leading industrialists at the time,
who served as its General Manager, and former Senator Ramon Fernandez,
who served as its Chairman and President.

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King of the Islands
Time Magazine
Monday, Aug. 27, 1951

In Manila's block-long Soriano Building, the employees have a saying: "Pick up any piece of paper with writing on it from any drawer or table, and you'll find Soriano's initials on it." Don Andres Soriano not only leaves his mark on a mountain of paper work, but keeps a thumb on just about everything that moves in the Philippines. He is the islands' best-known businessman, biggest philanthropist, runs an industrial empire which provides the livelihood for 80,000 Filipino families. His enterprises' taxes (close to $30 million a year) make up 10% of the government's total tax revenue. His fortune is estimated as high as $30 million.

This week Don Andres Soriano, 53, had some good news about one of his biggest enterprises: Philippine Air Lines, which he runs as junior partner (28% owner) with the government (52%). Deep in the red two years ago, P.A.L. broke into the black last year with a $350,000 profit, this year chalked up a first-half net of $636,000, 33 times as much as in the same 1950 period. Next to giant Pan Am, it is now the most profitable international airline in the world. It has 43 planes, routes from Manila over two-thirds of the globe to the Far East, Spain, England and the West Coast of the U.S. Soriano is its unquestioned boss. When the government began meddling last April, he quit; more than 1,500 employees staged mass demonstrations, and the government, to coax him back, had to give him a free hand.

Bubbling Suds. Soriano, a U.S. citizen since 1945, began his empire-building as a 21-year-old accountant in Manila's San Miguel Brewery. Within six years he rose to general manager. He plowed most of his salary and all the money he could borrow into expanding the business. Today the brewery grosses more than $30 million a year, netted $3,500,000 in 1951's first half.

With his brewery profits, Soriano has bought mines, dairies, factories, forests, a radio station, owns the third largest Coca-Cola bottling franchise in the world, acts as Philippine agent for five insurance firms, distributor for Philip Morris cigarettes and Lord Calvert whiskey. Nor are his interests purely local. He controls Kansas City's George Muehlebach Brewing Co., bosses gold mines in British East Africa, a development company in Spain. His holdings stretch so far & wide that one top executive, who has been with him 15 years, says: "I still haven't been able to memorize even the names of all the companies yet."

Glittering Chest. When Japan invaded the Philippines, Soriano organized a guerrilla army, was one of General MacArthur's right-hand men (as a full colonel) in recapturing the islands. As a result, he can wear a cluster of decorations (including the Silver Star) on his Reserve officer's uniform. He sends a daily ration of free beer to the Filipino troops fighting in Korea.

He is equally openhanded with his employees, pays them the highest factory wages in the Far East, knows as many as 2,000 by name. They get a free 100-lb. monthly ration of rice, free medical care, lifelong pensions, and have a commissary with the cheapest prices in Manila. When a toy shortage developed just before Christmas, Soriano dispatched a special P.A.L. plane to Hong Kong to pick up a load of toys for his employees' children.

Soriano travels about 100,000 miles a year, has big, comfortable homes in Manila, Madrid, Southern France and Manhattan. In his world-girdling trips, he keeps a sharp eye open for new businesses. Says Soriano: "I'm neither an introvert, a handshaker nor a patter on the back. If there's anything I enjoy doing, it's planning big industries. I get a kick out of it."

Source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,815286,00.html.

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Andrés Soriano y Roxas, Sr. (2nd from right) and Enrique Zóbel y de Ayala (at far right) at a Falange rally pledging support for fascist dictator Generalísimo Francisco Franco.

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Col. Andrés Roxas Soriano with his wife Carmen de Montemar y Martínez de Soriano and friend María Victoria "Vicky" de Potestad Lizárraga

Don Andres Soriano
December 30, 1990

Twenty six years ago, on December 30th 1964, Don Andres Soriano died. He was an American citizen whose widow wanted him to be buried in Spain -- yet in a real sense, he was neither American nor Spanish, but a Filipino, for it was here he sowed his seeds and Filipinos harvested the fruits of his labor. He is the Father of the modern San Miguel Corporation, an enduring Filipino institution and one of the great pillars of our economy, and what is known as the Soriano Group of companies.

A tree is best measured when it is down. And if a man is measured by what he leaves behind, then Don Andres is a giant among men. At the time he came home from studies in Europe, the Philippine economy was fully dependent on export-oriented agriculture sensitive to the vagaries of the world market, and undergoing periods of scarcity and prosperity. His vision and entrepreneurship gave us a stable industrial base and an economy growing in pace with population growth.

He joined San Miguel Brewery (which was then substantially controlled by the religious orders) as an accountant (he applied because he was not invited) at the age of 22 in 1920. In six months he became acting manager; by 1924, he was General Manager, and in 1931, at the age of 33 he was elected President of San Miguel Brewery. During his incumbency, the company started to bottle Royal Tru-Orange and Coca Cola, manufacture Magnolia ice-cream and dairy products, carbonic acid, dry ice and Fleischmann's Yeast.

His management company, A. Soriano y Cia, went into insurance; gold-mining (Antamok Mining which together with those of John Hausserman and Jan Hendrik Marsman made the Philippines second only to California as the top gold producer of the world); oil exploration (PODCO); airline (PAL); copper-mining (Atlas Consolidated which grew to be the largest in the Far East and one of the ten largest copper mines in the world); copper wire manufacture (Phelps Dodge of the Philippines); fertilizer from pyrite (Atlas Fertilizer); logging and lumber (Bislig Bay Lumber); paper manufacture (PICOP); flourescent lamps and incandescent bulbs (PEMCO); jute bags (ITEMCOP); steel drums (Rheem of the Philippines); mass communications (Herald Publishing and Channel 13). At the time he died, his firms were moving into ramie, glass manufacturing, cattle ranching.

Don Andres Soriano descended from the Roxas-Ayala clan and is closely related to the Zobels of Ayala. Their common ancestor is Dońa Margarita Roxas (source of the Ayala's landed wealth) who married Antonio Ayala, and had two daughters Carmen and Trinidad.

Carmen married her cousin Pedro Roxas and begat Margarita Roxas who married civil engineer Eduardo Soriano, and had one son Don Andres Soriano.

Trinidad married Jacobo Zobel, and begat Enrique Zobel who married Carmen's daughter Consuelo Roxas. Enrique and Carmen Zobel are the grandparents of Enriquito and Jaime Zobel.

Jaime then is the grandnephew of Don Andres Soriano, and cousin of Andres Soriano III. It is also interesting to note that the first president of the Third Republic, Manuel Roxas, descended from Dońa Margarita's uncle Antonio Roxas who migrated to Capiz to set up a plant making alcohol out of palm, and therefore Congressman Dinggoy and his father Senator Gerry Roxas are close relatives of the Roxas-Ayala-Zobel-Soriano clan.

Sometime in 1986, I received a phone call from Amparo Martinez about an article I wrote, “Entren los Conquistadores,” a funny piece on the insulares and peninsulares in the government. She introduced herself as the ex private secretary of Don Andres Soriano, now in charge of the library of Soriano y Cia.

“Don Andres had a lot of respect for you, Larry. We had a complete file on your speeches. Remember how often he asked to you to visit him, and how welcome you were to drop in and see him anytime?” Amparing said.

I remember.

In the 1950s, I was a brash young factotum of the Philippine Chamber of Industries, an organization my industrialist father founded, and of which I was Vice-President for 10 long years because I was too young to be president. As such I was constantly appearing in Congressional hearings lobbying for laws that encourage Industry. In this capacity, I became intimate with such captains of industry as Don Gonzalo Puyat, Don Toribio Teodoro, Don Manolo Elizalde, Don Salvador Araneta, and Don Andres Soriano, who consulted me about legislation.

Of all, Don Andres was the most generous. Whenever the Chamber had a trade fair or some important activity, while others gave no more than P2,000, Don Andres would give P50,000. My God, P50,000 then is worth P500,000 today!

Don Andres ran San Miguel like his own kingdom, and when he came to town, the Soriano executives lined up and waited for hours in his anteroom, until they were called in. But Amparing, his secretary, will testify that I could come anytime without an appointment and get into his office unannounced. I remember with pleasure how some Soriano executives, Don Fernando Sison among them, would stop me outside and ask me to whisper something to Don Andres.

I was really malakas with the old man.

I wrote Parker Pen Co. asking for the manufacturing rights to Quink Ink, and was informed later that San Miguel asked for the same rights and was granted them.

I went to Don Andres, and told him I was just a young man starting out, and hoped he would concede the Quink Ink contract to me.

Don Andres right away called for Alfredo Villa-Abrille, one of the vice-presidents, and told him to arrange for the Quink contract to be transferred to me. Villa-Abrille, twenty minutes later, produced a letter telling Parker Pen that San Miguel was not interested and that H.G. Henares & Sons should have the manufacturing rights.

I will never forget that. For in time I was making Binney & Smith Crayola, Old Town carbon paper, Eberhard Faber Mongol pencils, as well as Parker Quink ink, blackboards, erasers, chalks... in addition to paints and basic chemicals. In school supplies I had 90 percent of the market.

One day Don Andres introduced me to his son Andy Junior, and said, “Andy, I want you to help Larry Henares here in all his endeavors. He is courageous and nationalistic, and will someday be a credit to the nation. Someday when even our friends turn against us, Larry will stand against all odds to defend us because we are a Filipino corporation.”

...

As quoted and paraphrased from the words of Claro M. Recto:

“Nuestras vidas son los rios/ que van a dar en la mar,/ que es el morir;/ alli van los sonorios/ derechos a se acabar/ y consumir...”

Pero el rio de aquella vida plenamente lograda no fue a dar en el oceano de la muerte, para confundir sus aguas caudales con las de otros rios, vulgares y anonimos, en el deposito comun del olvido y de la nada.

No. Mas alla de la muerte, mas alla del termino de ese viaje de donde no se vuelve, la vida reinvindica sus fueros, pactando alianza con la inmortalidad, cuando ha sido vivida a plenitud para el logro de los fines de una elevada vocacion.

Y fue asi la Fama rindio parias a Don Andres Soriano labrandole un nicho en la panteon de los eligidos, para guia, inspiracion y ejemplo de la futuras generaciones de Filipinos.
:nuts:

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Alfredo "Alfred" A. Xerez-Burgos, Jr.
He's the President and CEO of Landco Pacific in the Philippines.
He belongs the the prominent mestizo Burgos clan.
He is the son of Col. Alfredo Xerez-Burgos, Sr., former De La Salle Alumni Assoc. President

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Landco Pacific executives Maria Cristina M. Zuluaga and Alfred Xerez-Burgos, Jr.

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Ft. Bonifacio Global City
Landco was responsible for the development of the winning bid for
this brand-new metropolis and future financial center!
Today, Ayala Corp. has assumed much of the new development

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A Tycoon’s Recipe for Happiness

It takes a bit of prodding to get Alfred Xerez-Burgos Jr., president and CEO of Landco Pacific Corp., to talk about something very close to his heart.

Xerez-Burgos is big on “values.” He thinks they’re as important to doing good business, perhaps even more so, than all the lessons and insights an MBA degree can give.

Still, he doesn’t want to give the impression, he says, that he’s spouting “values” only to make himself look better than the rest.

“Values are very important to me. But you have to practice them, not just talk about them. That’s just what I do.”

A hard-nosed businessman who built his real-estate company from scratch over 18 years ago with only half a million pesos in capital (today, Landco’s book value stands at P1.3 billion), Xerez-Burgos is also that rare tycoon who invokes God overtly in his discussions and frames his business vision as a way of “following God’s will.”

“I offer each project we do as something that will serve the Lord and others,” he says.
“Work is good if you offer it to God. For me, there should be a balance between profit and values. Whenever I do a project, I ask myself first: Is it according to God’s will?”

There was a time, he says, when his career as a high-flying executive with one of the country’s biggest conglomerates took priority over his family and relationships. He was successful, respected and well-rewarded at a relatively young age.
“But in the end, it was empty,” says Xerez-Burgos.

“I used to play golf a lot as part of my work, and also to relax,” he recalls.
“Usually six hours every weekend. It was nice, it was enjoyable, but eventually I realized that it deprived me of time away from my family.

“What did it really do for me? Now, unless I become Tiger Woods, it’s really not that valuable to me.”

Realization

Xerez-Burgos points to no particular event in his life that triggered the epiphany, except a growing realization that his life lacked a “higher meaning.”

Ten years ago, he began joining spiritual enrichment
activities—Life in the Spirit seminars, Family Encounters, a marriage enrichment course.

He began going to morning Mass daily, a devotion he’s kept up to now. (Although he didn’t talk about it, we learned that as lay minister, he visits, in the morning, the sick in their homes or in the hospital to give them Communion.)

He became the head of the lay ministers’ group in his parish, joined the Red Cross (now he’s chair of the Rizal chapter covering Makati, Pasig, Mandaluyong—“an area of about 15 million people,” he says) and set about redefining Landco as a business with a strong sense of corporate social responsibility.

“The most important part for me was to live an exemplary life, a life of prayer and commitment to my values. I need it, especially in this business,” he says.

Landco’s business—creating upscale communities marked by leisure living and amenities—required Xerez-Burgos to deal, first of all, with local government officials whose imprimatur was needed for his projects.

“When you deal with LGUs, there’s so much corruption,” he says. “I had long discussions with my priest-friends about it. It’s really unjust vexation. How do I deal with corruption?”

He learned, he says, to try to negotiate first “so that I didn’t have to do it. But if I had to do it, I decided it would be for the community rather than for one government official. I’d tell them, instead of giving you something, maybe you can let us build a barangay center or donate a municipal vehicle, which is really more for the people.”

“In San Fernando, Pampanga, I had a very good experience with the mayor,” he says. “He told me explicitly to come to him if anybody in his staff tried to ask us for anything. I appreciated the gesture so much that we donated a P3-million coaster to the local government as our way of thanking the people and leaders there.”

No compromise

“How do you expand the company without compromising your values?,” he asks rhetorically.

“In this business, we need a lot of money every time. Developing properties is costly. But I always ask myself, is it all about money? The company is not going to die over one or two situations where homeowners, for example, are unable to pay due to an unexpected misfortune in the family, like cancer or death. I am open to being flexible on those things. I look at situations on a case-to-case basis.”

And while Landco developments are almost always geared toward the upper classes, Xerez-Burgos refuses to compromise on some things he feels strongly about.

“Even if I develop real estate, I don’t like casinos in my properties,” he says. “I wish neither to be an owner nor an operator. I think gambling is evil, there is no positive value it can give to anyone.”

In his field, he says, as in life, “If you want to be here for the long haul, whatever you do in each project must contribute to the overall value of what you stand for.”

“I have this philosophy that we are not going to cater to the rich unless we can help the poor,” he adds. Landco is an active supporter of Gawad Kalinga, and its CEO wants the company to remembered as “a company with a conscience.”

“With low-end communities around our projects, we make sure we’re involved. In Calatagan, Batangas, for example, we put up a housing project for poor settlers in that area, and we help them set up a foundation to do community planning.”

Hard work

Landco’s premium properties—among them Punta Fuego and Playa Calatagan in Batangas, Waterwood Park in Bulacan, Montelago in Laguna and Monterrazas in Cebu—offer weekend homes and countryside retreats with pioneering leisure and resort amenities.

It was the first to introduce hobby farming (at Ponderosa Leisure Farms in Silang, Cavite), and is lending the same edge to its urban developments.

“Putting in that leisure experience is hard work for us, actually,” says Xerez-Burgos. “It’s about creating well-planned, well-managed communities that people can be proud of because of the care that we put into it. It doesn’t matter if one only has a 200-sq-m property —if it’s with us, that leisure feeling must be there.”

That care extends to the environment, because “babalikan ka rin naman” if you despoil it, says Xerez-Burgos. “We’re like artists, really. Just like a painter, we maximize the God-given resources in a place, instead of creating something artificial.”

The bottom line in doing business, he says, is keeping customers, rich or poor, happy. “In other words, don’t pull their leg.”

These days, despite a hectic schedule that sees him zipping around the country to inaugurate or check on simultaneous projects (“that’s my leisure time,” he chuckles), Xerez-Burgos, 61, is the picture of a contented, happy man. He dresses casually, exercises regularly, avoids meat and pork.

In fact, he only eats twice a day.

“You need only two meals a day,” he explains. “That, plus a little exercise, lots of prayer, and being nice to friends, family, neighbors and customers, and you’ll be happy.”

Source: http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/life....e-for-happiness.

Landco Pacific Corporation Video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRFayyOcVR4

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Enrique P. Esteban, Director of Landco Pacific

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Alfredo Xerez-Burgos, Sr. with former Pres. Jimmy Carter and First Lady Carter

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Alfredo Xerez-Burgos, Sr. with Pres. Bill Clinton and Pres. Fidel Ramos

Col. Alfredo Xerez-Burgos, Sr. was largely responsible for the development
of Corregidor Island as an historical site and tourist destination.
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Legendary Corregidor tour guide Pablo "Pablito" Martinez!

This is a sad fact... The largest corporations and companies in the Philippines are owned mostly by Chinese-Filipinos and also some Spanish-Filipinos. The top 10 Filipino billionaires are dominated by these people, no pure Filipinos on the list..

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Aboitiz and Company (ACO) President and CEO Jon Ramon Aboitiz
presents a toast to 85 years of Aboitiz and Company!

ACO’s ‘Oscar Awards Night’

The double celebration of Aboitiz and Company’s (ACO) 2005 Employee Recognition Night and 85th anniversary called for nothing less than the transformation of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino’s Arctic Hall into a glamorous Oscar Awards Night setting last Sept. 16.

ACO Cebu and Makati employees (who flew to Cebu just for the special event) came dressed in their finest gowns and suits and experienced a walk down the red carpet, complete with paparazzi and “ambush” interviews.

President and CEO Jon Ramon Aboitiz, in his speech, thanked the “countless men and women who have been part and are part of our company today. To all of you, we say thank you. Because of all of you, Aboitiz is what it is today.”

He reminded everyone that the new Aboitiz brand essence Passion for Better Ways "will be our revitalized outlook to guide us through our future. It will constantly remind and inspire us to continue upholding all that is good about Aboitiz and what we represent. Passion for better ways will be our way of life. We will be driven to lead, to excel and to serve all our stakeholders.Together, this commitment will propel us towards our celebrating our 100 years as a corporation 15 years from today."

Aboitiz honored this year’s service awardees, whose loyalty anddedication to the company have successfully stood the test of time.

The awardees are: 10 years of service – Esmeralda Dano, Theresa Sederiosa, Sonia Imperial, Edgar Mahinay, Alberto Villaveto and Myrna Tantug; 15 years – Salome Juntilla, Albert Capistrano, Julie Ann Diongzon; 25 years – Melinda Bathan, Sally Misterio, Alvin Arco; and 30 years – Jovy Batiquin, Reynaldo Pancho, Endika Aboitiz Jr. and Stephen Paradies.

Txabi Aboitiz, ACO vice president for Human Resources and Quality, announced this year’s recipient of the Don Ramon Aboitiz Award of Excellence, Alvin Arco, the Power Group’s vice president for finance.

The Don Ramon award is the highest and most prestigious recognition given to deserving team members across the Aboitiz Group. It is named after the company’s patriarch whose legacy ofhard work, integrity and social responsibility has inspired a newgeneration of achievers.

The ACO Recognition Night is an annual tradition that began in 1997. This year’s special double celebration was fun,"fabulous and fashionable" and truly a night to be remembered!

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/e-magazine/events/awards.html.

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Aboitiz executives give special recognition to Stephen Aboitiz Paradies (5th from right).
L-R: Antonio Aboitiz, Jon Ramon Aboitiz, Antonio Moraza, Roberto Aboitiz, Al Aboitiz,
Txabi Aboitiz, Mikel Aboitiz, Montxu Aboitiz, Miguel Aboitiz, Andoni Aboitiz and Iker Aboitiz.

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The Philippine megaconglomerate is now in the hands of the 4th generation of Aboitizes

Empire Built to Last

THE Aboitiz Group traces its beginnings to a fateful journey made over 100 years ago by a son of humble shepherds.

That journey took Paulino Aboitiz from Vizcaya in the Basque region of northern Spain to Leyte in Eastern Visayas, where he planted the seeds of what would become one of the country’s biggest conglomerates with interests in power, banking, shipping, food, construction and real estate.

The reins of the group that Aboitiz founded are now in the hands of the fourth generation and they, like their fathers before them, never forgot the family’s humble beginnings, and this has allowed them to fix their gaze firmly on a brighter future for the group.

Aboitiz group CEO Jon Ramon Aboitiz tells the Inquirer in an interview at the company’s Makati headquarters that unlike other family-run corporations, the Aboitiz group is not in the hands of siblings, but cousins.

This may pose a bigger challenge for other families to keep the family business intact, but not so for the Aboitizes who constantly work on keeping the family and the various businesses together.

“The closeness has always been emphasized by different generations and the values have filtered down,” Aboitiz says.

“There is a high level of trust and fairness in everything that we have ever done.”

Challenges

That trust kept the family together when they met their first challenge right after World War I when the group almost went bankrupt because it took a big position in hemp.

When that did not pan out, the group was saddled with a huge debt and inventory of expensive hemp.

Through restructuring and the grim determination to rise, the Aboitizes survived the test that brought other firms to their knees and eventually to just a footnote in Philippine economic history.

Aboitiz says the group also survived because it was quick to take advantage of opportunities in the horizon, which is a trait of any successful entrepreneur.

“We patterned ourselves after Chinese entrepreneurs and grew from there,” Aboitiz says. “We have always been entrepreneurs to a large extent and went in and out of so many businesses.”

“Our measure of success is to have made more right calls than wrong ones, and over 100 years, we have certainly had our share of failures,” he says.

The group had more hits than misses, such that it grew in stature, reach and influence, not only in its bailiwick in the Visayas and Mindanao, but in Luzon as well.

But Aboitiz’s father, Eduardo, the second president of Aboitiz and Co., knew that the group would not be able to move further ahead on its own power alone.

Professional Managers

Eduardo, thus, brought in professional managers into the group as early as the 1960s.

He was of the belief that the right person for the job may not always come from within the family.

That period saw Aboitiz and Co. evolve from a purely family-run firm into a corporation with a corporate staff and a group of professional managers with presence in vital industries.

That high level of professionalism within the group has been fostered through the next generations such that of the some 20,000 employees under the wings of the group, only 15 are members of the family.

The latest addition is Tristan Aboitiz, who will be the first from the family’s 5th generation to join the company.

They did not get the job because they had the right last name, rather they had the right qualifications and they go through the tests just like any other employee.

“No company of our size can survive without professionals,” Aboitiz stresses.

To attract the best of them, the family must be professional, too.

“We have rules in the family. And one is that the family members know that they have no right to a job. There are no heirs apparent here,” Aboitiz says.

For those who do want to work in the group, Aboitiz says most usually work outside the company for about two years to prove themselves in their fields and to get a feel of the workplace before joining the company.

Diversification

That experience has gone a long way in keeping the group brimming with new ideas and enthusiasm to take that next major step.

The 1990s saw the group become a major power in the business sector, but the group now in the hands of the present generation saw that the group’s future lay not in having fingers in many pies, but in concentrating resources and expertise in businesses where it has a comparative advantage.

Thus, the Aboitiz group bowed out of cement, aquaculture and sugar because it could not compete in these industries.

What was left was a considerable business in transportation (Superferry), power distribution (Davao Light and Power Co., Cotabato Light and Power Co., Visayas Electric Co.), power generation (Luzon Hydro, Hedcor), shipbuilding (FBMA and Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Inc.), food (Pilmico Foods), real estate (Aboitiz Land Co.), banking (Union Bank of the Philippines and City Savings Bank), delivery and supply chain management (2GO).

“We had to choose, and we chose those businesses where we can stay focused and remain competitive,” Aboitiz says.

The era of the big, widely diversified conglomerates has ended, and given way to conglomerates with a narrower, but sharper, focus.

Aboitiz says that through the years, the spirit of entrepreneurship, of taking calculated risks, has never left the company.

But this has been tempered by taking a conservative, prudent approach to doing business.

This helped cushion the group from the worst of the effects of the debilitating Asian currency crisis that hit the country and the business sector in 1998.

The peso fell in value against the US dollar and interest rates went up.

This posed a double whammy on companies with a huge debt exposure, especially those with debts denominated in foreign currencies.

“We were lucky because we have always been conservative,” Aboitiz says.

Aboitiz says it was also fortunate that the group’s operations are concentrated in the Visayas and Mindanao, thus, out of the radar screens of most intrigues.

“From my perspective, living outside Metro Manila kept us closer together,” he says. “We have a stronger bond and have a more simple life.”

This has also kept the group closer to the communities that they serve, not only with superior products and services but also with projects designed to improve their lives.

Philanthropy

It was Aboitiz’s grandfather, Ramon, who started the group’s philanthropic journey.

His son, Eduardo, took the philanthropic efforts to the next level by putting up the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.

RAFI today has a full-time staff that draws up long-term social development projects to help the communities in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Eduardo was also one of the top businessmen that founded the Philippine Business for Social Progress in 1970, because he shared in the belief that there should be an organized way of doing social projects, since the individual companies lacked the expertise to do it on their own at that time.

RAFI and the corporate arm, Aboitiz Group Foundation Inc., have several ongoing projects in education, health, culture and enterprise development that are going a long way in rescuing many from the grip of poverty.

The Aboitiz group, for instance, is involved in addressing water sustainability in Metro Cebu and environmental protection through Ecosystem Project Cebu, an integrated community-based program focused on environmental conservation.

The Aboitiz group also remains a partner of PBSP and is represented on the PBSP board of trustees and in the Visayas operations of the biggest corporate-led nongovernment organization in the country.

It is projects and partnerships like these that make going into business more worthwhile for the Aboitiz group.

“We have always believed that making money is important, but that profits should be shared with the community,” he says.

Aboitiz is confident that with these examples, the fifth generation of Aboitizes would continue to live up to the values and beliefs handed down from the time of the founder, Paulino, and they will continue to love each other and their country and take pride in what the group has accomplished.

“Like every other generation, we are building blocks. We try to add value and make the company better than before,” he says. “Hopefully, the next generation will improve on what we have done.”

Source: http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=44664.

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Jon Ramon M. Aboitiz

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Roberto E. "Bobby" Aboitiz

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Enrique "Endika" M. Aboitiz, Jr.

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Erramon "Montxu" I. Aboitiz

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Sabin Aboitiz

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Xavier J. "Txabi" Aboitiz

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Jose Antonio Miguel Y. Aboitiz

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Stephen Aboitiz Paradies

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Justo Aboitiz Ortiz, Jr.

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Antonio Moraza

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Andoni F. Aboitiz, President and COO of AboitizLand

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Luis Miguel O. Aboitiz

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Miguel Angel "Mike" Camahort Aboitiz (right) SVP and COO of Aboitiz 2GO

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Michelle Aboitiz (2nd from the left), VP of Aboitiz 2GO

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Miguel Romero-Salas

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Jose Mari Moraza

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Roman S. Ronquillo

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Don Alfonso "Al" Y. Aboitiz, late President of Davao Light & Power Co.,
who passed away earlier this year

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Jon Ramon Aboitiz

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Roberto "Bobby" Aboitiz at an auto show in the Philippines

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Endika Aboitiz with Gina Lopez

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Jose Antonio Aboitiz

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Erramon Aboitiz

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Pablo Lorenzo, Hedcor Chairman & CEO Erramon Aboitiz, Davao del Norte Vice Gov. Anthony
del Rosario, Hedcor Founding President Ernesto Aboitiz, Deputy Mayor Myrna Dalodo, and Hedcor President & COO Rene Ronquillo celebrate the inauguration of the Talomo Plants with cocktails

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Danel C. Aboitiz

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Amanda and Iker Aboitiz' wedding in Cebu

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Iker's parents, Hank Aboitiz and Lulu Mendieta Aboitiz

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Bobby and Marian Aboitiz

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Sabin Aboitiz

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Bettina Araneta-Aboitiz.
She is married to Sabin Aboitiz.
She was educated at the Assumption Convent in Manila.
She works as the Malacañang Palace' Social Secretary.

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Luis Miguel O. Aboitiz is Vice President of the Manila Polo Club

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Sabin Aboitiz with Jaime Agusto Zobel-de Ayala, II

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Family of Paulino Aboitiz and Emilia Yrastorza

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Son Ramón Aboitiz, who studied in England, founded the family firm Aboitiz y Compañía on January 31, 1920. Today, it is one of the Philippines' great megaconglomerate corporations.

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A number of prominent businessmen are counted among the ranks of of the Aboitiz, Moraza, and Yrastorza families.

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Casino Español de Cebú Gathering

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Casino Español de Cebú's leadership committee with spouses (L-R): Sr. and Sra. Antonio Adad, Pepita and Jesús Moraza, Magda and Luís Romero-Salas, Luisa and Maximiliano Pando, Amparo "Amparin" and Manuel "Manolo" Palacio, Delfi and Juan Achával, Ana and Vidal Aboitiz, Sofia and Álvaro Pastor, Elena and Fernando Moraza

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Don Ramon Y. Aboitiz and his wife at an orphanage in the Philippines
Don Ramon was considered one of the greatest philanthropists in Cebu's history

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Miguel Romero-Salas, VP of Hedcor was invited to speak
at a Corporate Social Responsibility forum in the Philippines.
The Aboitiz group of companies are strong supporters of
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives in the Philippines!

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Maria Lourdes M. Aboitiz Receives 2004 Pax Award at the St. Scolastica Graduation ceremony

^^ Wala bang mga FIlipino-Chinese like Henry Sy and Lucio Tan, Gokongwei, etc.??

^^ Wala bang mga FIlipino-Chinese like Henry Sy and Lucio Tan, Gokongwei, etc.??

meron pero hindi lahat...about Henry sy, Lucio Tan diba meron na cla sa Wiki...so i think i don't know to put their history here masyado na clang kilala..jejeje Mr. John Gokongwei? hhmmm i will put here tomorrow...masyadong mahahaba kc pinapaiksi kolang tulad nyang iba...:wallbash:

This is a sad fact... The largest corporations and companies in the Philippines are owned mostly by Chinese-Filipinos and also some Spanish-Filipinos. The top 10 Filipino billionaires are dominated by these people, no pure Filipinos on the list..

Yet, no filipinos picked up and followed that paths of these people. I don't know why it is rare for a filipino to have this enteprneuralship skills and talents. The model is there under our noses yet we are contented on being employed only, be able to buy a nice car, houses and good clothings. It seems all are just for material aspects that are not long lasting and beneficial for our future.

Yet, no filipinos picked up and followed that paths of these people. I don't know why it is rare for a filipino to have this enteprneuralship skills and talents. The model is there under our noses yet we are contented on being employed only, be able to buy a nice car, houses and good clothings. It seems all are just for material aspects that are not long lasting and beneficial for our future.

wahh..kc marami sa atin ang naniniwala sa salitang OK Nah!!!...ang kapag umaangat ung mga pinoy- syaring pinoy ang humihila pababa dahil ayaw nila or natin ng kaangat...:lol:

very informative thread. :) keep on posting. :)

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Family patriarch Atty. Don Rafael "Rafa" O. Ortigas, Jr. is President of Ortigas & Co.
Don Rafael Ortigas was a football star while at De La Salle University.

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Seated (L-R): Don Alberto "Albert" M. Montilla; Doña Maria Rosario "Chari" Ortigas de Montilla,
wife of Don Alberto; Doña Begoña B. de Ortigas, wife of Don Rafael;
standing (L-R): Don Ignacio Rafael "Nachi" O. Ortigas; and Doña Margarita "Marga" M. de Ortigas,
wife of Don Ignacio.
Don Ignacio R. Ortigas is General Partner of Ortigas & Co., Chairman of CAC, President of
Sagitro, Inc., and VP & Director of ISM Communications.
Don Alberto M. Montilla is the former President and Chairman of Itogon-Suyoc Mines, Inc.,
Director of CAC, VP Coporate Secretary of Sagitro, Inc., and Director of ISM Communications.

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Don Francisco "Paqui" M. Ortigas, III is General Partner of Ortigas & Co. and
President of CAC.

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Don Fernando "Nando" M. Ortigas is General Partner of Ortigas & Co.

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Jaime "Jimmy" M. Ortigas is a Director of CAC.
He is also a past President of the Rotary Club of San Juan.

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CAC President Don Francisco "Paqui" M. Ortigas, III (far left) and CAC Director
Don Jaime "Jimmy" M. Ortigas (far right)

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Don Rafael Andoni "Lon" B. Ortigas, III is former President of CAC,
Chairman and CEO of Itogon-Suyoc Mines, Inc., EVP of Sagitro, Inc.,
VP & Director of Philweb Corp., and VP & Director of ISM Communications.

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The next generation of Ortigas leaders!

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Miguel "Mickey" M. Ortigas, Jr.

Don Miguel "Mickey" M. Ortigas, Jr. is the son of the prominent, late
industrialist Don Miguel Y. Ortigas, Sr. and Doña Isabel Miranda-Ortigas.
He is President of Philippine Realty and Holdings Corporation (PRHC)
Property Managers, Inc., Director at Meridian Assurance Corporation,
and a Rotary Club District Governor.
In his youth, Mickey Ortigas was a much sought-after commercial model,
star collegiate football player, deep sea fishing enthusiast, and promising golfer.
He married Doña Marina Lourdes "Marinette" Garrido y Pimentel
of the prominent mestizo Pimentel and Garrido clans.
They are the parents of Pinoy rock legend Miguel G. Ortigas!

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Mickey M. Ortigas, Jr. and his wife Marinette Garrido-Ortigas

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Miguel G. Ortigas (center) with his Razorback bandmates and best friends (L-R):
Manuel Nieto Legarda and Tirso de Ubago Ripoll at his wedding reception

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Dn. Jose Ignacio Ortigas (at the far right) at Pope Benedict XVI's
mass at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral earlier this year.

Heard through the Grapevine

The Caucasian-looking sacristan who was photographed and shown on worldwide TV holding water when Pope Benedict XVI celebrated mass at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral is actually a Spanish-Filipino mestizo, Ignacio Ortigas, a high school graduate of La Salle Greenhills.

A son of Rotarian Mickey Ortigas, the religious Ortigas is now a deacon at the Diocese of Connecticut.

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Doña Begoña B. Ortigas at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Tiendesitas
shopping complex, which was launched in 2005 to rival the highly-successful
and world-renowned Chatuchak Market of Bangkok, Thailand.

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The Tiendesitas at Frontera Verde features a variety of shops that sell
native handicrafts, foods, antiques, clothing, plants, and pets.
Go here to check out all of the amazing shops!:

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Doña Margarita and Don Ignacio Ortigas at last year's Minotti event in Global City
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Don Francisco M. Ortigas III (far right), is also Honorary Consul of El Salvador.
To his right is Don Fausto de la Riva Preysler, Jr., Honorary Consul General of Costa Rica.
2nd from the left is Don Antonio M. Ortigas Olbes, Honorary Consul General of Nicaragua.
3rd from the left is Don Lee del Pan, Honorary Consul of Belize.
Don Lee del Pan is the head of R.J. del Pan & Co. Inc. in the Philippines.
He is a descendant of Don Rafael del Pan!

this is the first time I saw the Ortigas family in pictures.. thanks for posting, very informative.

This is a sad fact... The largest corporations and companies in the Philippines are owned mostly by Chinese-Filipinos and also some Spanish-Filipinos. The top 10 Filipino billionaires are dominated by these people, no pure Filipinos on the list..

at the end of the day, they're still filipinos, they carry filipino passports, with that much money they could choose to be a citizen of any nation, besides we may not be as diverse as other nations, but this people are as much a part of Philippine history and culture as any full malayan-blood filipino

Yet, no filipinos picked up and followed that paths of these people. I don't know why it is rare for a filipino to have this enteprneuralship skills and talents. The model is there under our noses yet we are contented on being employed only, be able to buy a nice car, houses and good clothings. It seems all are just for material aspects that are not long lasting and beneficial for our future.

very true, it's not a sin to be ambitious sometimes. Most Filipinos don't dream high; they're just contented with their present status, with what they have, they don't want to go beyond that. That's an attitudes I think, we, Filipinos, should change.

Malayan Bonifacio and his cohorts of mostly Malays instigated the revolution. Once the Spanish government was toppled, and officials are to be installed, these people don't have anywhere to turn to but the educated illustrados, mostly Filipinos of Spanish blood. The mestizos had a big headstart, naturally most of them will end up at the top of the economic strata.

Malayan Bonifacio and his cohorts of mostly Malays instigated the revolution. Once the Spanish government was toppled, and officials are to be installed, these people don't have anywhere to turn to but the educated illustrados, mostly Filipinos of Spanish blood. The mestizos had a big headstart, naturally most of them will end up at the top of the economic strata.

Check your facts: Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro is a product of mestizo families. In his blood runs an Iberian ancestry and also Chinese ancestry. The revolution against colonial Spain where instigated by the criollos or mestizo stocks (European or Asian). This is the same in all ex-colonial countries. Question to ponder? Where did the general population/revolucionarios learned about the French revolution ideas? That is because the Philippine revolution was sponsored by the mestizo and native societies.

very informative thread. :) keep on posting. :)

Hey Richard! Where you interviewed by ABS-CBN before? I think I saw you on The Correspondents about the LRT poems segment. :)

at the end of the day, they're still filipinos, they carry filipino passports, with that much money they could choose to be a citizen of any nation, besides we may not be as diverse as other nations, but this people are as much a part of Philippine history and culture as any full malayan-blood filipino

Definitely. :yes: These people are/were the influential characters/families that shaped the country many centuries ago, even today and into the future.

Hey Richard! Where you interviewed by ABS-CBN before? I think I saw you on The Correspondents about the LRT poems segment. :)



Definitely. :yes: These people are/were the influential characters/families that shaped the country many centuries ago, even today and into the future.

ot: yeah., that was on Probe. :)

Slighty off-topic, but since the Madrigals were mentioned, there was a story a few months back from Jamby's side regarding her aunt's (the late Chito Madrigal Collantes) fortune. In the interview the senator mentions a figure somewhere between $400 million and $800 million. Assuming but not (yet?) conceding that this were true, then the Forbes list would seem to paint an inaccurate picture of the wealthy here in the Philippines.

^^ It is rumoured in some blog by a Filipino mestizo that their are Spanish-Filipino families who are richer than the Zóbel de Ayalas. Basically this (Forbes magazine list) were only done on Filipino bussiness owners/companies, but other Philippine families can also have fortunes coming from overseas bussinesses and investments which makes more money in comparison to their Philippine counterparts who gains their fortunes with the Philippine peso.

ot: yeah., that was on Probe. :)

Yes, sorry it was the Probe. :D

very true, it's not a sin to be ambitious sometimes. Most Filipinos don't dream high; they're just contented with their present status, with what they have, they don't want to go beyond that. That's an attitudes I think, we, Filipinos, should change.

The reason why? because Filipino parent's teach there children to be professionals not businessmen. I have talked to a lot of young Filipino kids, what do you want to be when you grow up? I always get the generic answers, doctor,astronaut,lawyer etc. that's why

ung Dad koba ang tinutukoy ninyo?:lol::lol::lol:

The GO Dinasty in the Philippines

What do the GO (owners of the University of Cebu and Elizabeth Mall), the SY-GAISANO (owners of the veritable Gaisano group of companies), the GOKONGWEI (owners of Robinson’s Mall, JG Summit, Cebu Pacific, and Sun Cellular), the GOTIANUN (owners of FILINVEST Group and East-West Bank), and if rumors are true, the OSMEÑA families have in common, other than being five of the richest and most influential families of Cebu City? They also happen to be descendants of the GO family of Kei-tang, Fukien, China, who came to the city of Cebu in the late nineteenth century and established a wealth that continues to this very day.

From a humble origin in the Fukien province of China, the enterprising young man Go Bon Tiao, known more commonly today as Don Pedro Singson Gotiaoco, went on to become known as one of the 19th-century Cebu wealthiest taipans. His story is not unlike those of many prominent Filipino-Chinese businessmen with their quite literally rags to riches story. But what sets Pedro Gotiaoco apart from the rest of his Chinese brethren is not only the continuation of the family wealth to the present generation, but also the diversification of the business enterprises in not one, two, or even just three families but in 5 financially entrenched families in the country today with their influence stretching in all corners of society. Truly, the rise to wealth of the Go family and their contribution to the economy of the Philippines is indeed a story worth telling.

Humble Origins

In an interview with Atty. Augusto Go, the President of the University of Cebu and the Honorary Consul of South Korea to Cebu, he depicts his grandfather Don Pedro Gotiaoco as a pioneering man who left his feudal homeland to search for the proverbial greener pastures here in Cebu City. Late nineteenth century China was still pretty much feudal, with the lords living prosperously while the peasants barely able to make ends meet. The Go family was one of those who had to toil the land for survival, and, added to this dismal poverty, Pedro Gotiaoco’s life was further burdened by his step-mother, who always managed to find fault in the young Chinese man. Thus, with all these happening, the young Gotiaoco decided to leave China and seek his fortune elsewhere.

But there was also a more pressing reason why he had to flee his hometown, and it was this reason, above all, that precipitated the young Gotiaoco’s escape from China. According to Atty. Go, who is the considered the best authority regarding the history of the family, Pedro Gotiaoco had accidentally shot a cousin and wanted to escape prosecution by running away. Indeed, if Pedro Gotiaoco had been arrested in Kei-tang, he would most probably have languished in jail and the Go dynasty of Cebu would never have been created. Thus, with barely anything to his name, Gotiaoco ventured the unknown and arrived in Cebu City during the late nineteenth century.

Start in Cebu

Like most of the Chinese population in the country, Pedro Gotiaoco started in the lowest wrung of the social ladder. The Chinese were already considered second-class citizens in late Spanish-colonial Philippines, and it must have indeed been difficult for a newcomer such as Gotiaoco to establish himself in the already crowded market of Cebu City. Displaying ingenuity and patience, Gotiaoco started from peddling oil and upgraded to selling rice which was consigned to him by a Vietnamese merchant. Upon the return of the Vietnamese, Gotiaoco informed the merchant that he was unable to sell all sacks of rice but, instead of getting mad, the Vietnamese instead gave the remaining sacks of rice to Gotiaoco as commission and even further consigned to him more sacks to be sold. This arrangement suited Gotiaoco, and, pretty soon, he was a trusted vendor for the Vietnamese merchant. At one point, Gotiaoco casually asked the merchant what made him trust Gotiaoco with his goods. The Vietnamese said that one night, as Gotiaoco was sleeping, he noticed that he had his hand on his heart, and, to the Vietnamese people, those who sleep with their hand upon their chest is an indication of honesty. Indeed, Pedro Gotiaoco remained an honest businessman, and pretty soon, with enough capital, he began to sell his own rice and, even when the selling of opium was legalized, he refused to sell it because of its addictive and negative effects. Thus was his business started in Cebu. He later called his products “JO”, in allusion to the hook-and-ring which he used to carry his sacks of rice when he still peddled.

Rags to Riches

Pretty soon, Pedro Gotiaoco decided to assimilate with mainstream Chinese-Filipino communities by being baptized in the Christian faith. According to American culture historian on the Philippines, Michael Cullinane, Don Pedro Gotiaoco was baptized with Don Mariano Singson, from the prominent Chinese mestizo family of the Parian, as a sponsor. Thus Don Pedro was also known as Don Pedro Singson Go Tiaoco, with his influential baptismal sponsor's name incorporated with his own, after the fashion of the times. A "padrino" was deemed a necessary protector for an immigrant like Don Pedro. The sponsor’s son, Don Segundo Singson, was later on the brother-in-law of the late Philippine president, Don Sergio Osmeña. Singson's second wife Eleuteria Chiong-Veloso was the sister of Osmeña's first, Estefania. A Singson lady also became a mistress of Pedro Gotiaoco and conceived his only daughter, Modesta.

Similarly, the ennobling title of “Don” soon became attached to Gotiaco’s name. Don Pedro Go Tiaoco, according Southwall magazine's Arts and Culture Editor Gavin Sanson Bagares, was a "Chino Cristiano" or Christianized Chinese who got his honorific title of "don" from some form of service to the Spanish Crown, most probably as a"teniente" or an adjutant of the Chinese "gremio" or tax ward. In the available list, he does not appear to have been a "capitan" or "gobernadorcillo" (a position equivalent to that of mayor today) of the said ward. The “co” on his adopted Hispanized surname also appears to indicate some form of influence; although the word "CO" is also a Chinese last surname, when it appears as part of a three-syllable Chinese-Filipino surname it then corresponds to a title or distinction given to affluent citizens, similar to the "DON/DONA" titles used by Spanish aristocratic mestizos. Says Hector Santos, an expert on indigenous Filipino/Chinese-Filipino names, “co was a title of respect given to someone like an elder, or an older brother. However, Co was also a valid name so that it would be hard to say whether the "Co" in the name was part of the original Chinese name or was an honorific. Generally speaking, if it is at the end it would have been an honorific.”

Progeny and Prodigy

It would seem that after becoming prosperous in the Philippines, Don Pedro Gotiaoco repeatedly returned to China and there married a woman whose name we know only today as “Disy”. Go Disy was the mother of four children, three boys and a girl. The girl, however, died young. The three sons were Go Chong Tut, Go Tian Uy, and Go Chong An. It would also seem that Don Pedro also had other children outside marriage. The first and verifiable child was Doña Modesta Singson, whose mother was believed to have been a Chinese-Italiana mestiza who bore Don Pedro a daughter. When she was 13 years of age, Doña Modesta was taken by Don Pedro to China to be adopted by Disy, who was grief-stricken over the death of her daughter and who was lonely as all three of her sons decided to seek their own fortune in the Philippines. The other alleged child of Don Pedro was Don Sergio Osmeña. Although Atty. Augusto Go categorically denies having proof that former President Osmeña is another Don Pedro son, it cannot be denied that Atty. Go’s father, Don Manuel Gotianuy, was very close to Don Sergio and they treated each other like brothers. Up to today, the parentage of Don Sergio Osmeña remains a controversy, with some historian claiming that he was a son of Don Pedro Gotiaoco, while others claiming that his father was another prominent Chino-Christiano.

Whatever the truth about Don Sergio, Don Pedro Gotiaoco and his brother Go Kiam Co (who later followed his brother to Cebu City) have left many descendants who are well-known in Philippine society. Prominent among these are Atty. Augusto Go, grandson of Don Pedro Gotiaoco and the President of the University of Cebu; John Gokongwei, Jr., a great-grandson of Don Pedro Gotiaoco and the owner of Cebu Pacific, Robinson’s Mall, JG Summit, and many more; and the Sy-Gaisano family, who operate chains of shopping malls all over Visayas and Mindanao. A grandson of the brother of Don Pedro is Andrew Gotianun, who owns FILINVEST Group and East West Bank.

Indeed, the family of Don Pedro Gotiaoco has gone a long way. From humble origins the enterprising and honest Don Pedro Gotiaoco ventured the unknown to become one of the pillars of the Chinese community in Cebu and has left men and women who are similarly respected in their own fields.

very informative thread. :) keep on posting. :)

Nuong 90's ang nababasa ko sa mga magazines, kasama na dito ang Free Press, ang mga kilalang Filipino-Chinese businessmen:

Lucio Tan --Asia Brewery, PAL, Century Hotel, Fortune Tobacco, Allied Bank, PNB, Foremost Farm
Henry Sy --SM Group, FEBTC, Chinabank, BDO
John Gokongwei Jr. --PCI Bank(at that time), URC, Digitel, J.G.Summit group nag-bid sa Fort Bonifacio
George S.K. Ty --Metrobank group
Andrew Gotianum --Filinvest tumalo sa Ayala sa Alabang real estate bidding
Alfonso Yuchengco --RCBC and other diversified holdings
William Gatchalian --Plastic King
Kingpaoguat Typoco Tanyu group --Asiaworld (kasama ba ang Taiwan and overseas holdings?)

Kung isasama ang Metro Pacific Group(First Pacific) pasok ang Salim headed by Soedono Salim (aka Liem Sioe Liong).
At isama pa ang mga highly diversified group of holdings.

The reason why? because Filipino parent's teach there children to be professionals not businessmen. I have talked to a lot of young Filipino kids, what do you want to be when you grow up? I always get the generic answers, doctor,astronaut,lawyer etc. that's why

And there's nothing wrong with wanting to be a future doctor or lawyer as opposed to being a bussiness mogul. What's important is to be gainfully employed and be self-sufficient.

at the end of the day, they're still filipinos, they carry filipino passports, with that much money they could choose to be a citizen of any nation, besides we may not be as diverse as other nations, but this people are as much a part of Philippine history and culture as any full malayan-blood filipino

:yes: Good point. They may not look like your typical Pinoy but they are Filipinos by right. Their ancestors made their mark in the history of the country that shaped it to what it's current state now.

Very interesting thread indeed. Very informative.

at the end of the day, they're still filipinos, they carry filipino passports, with that much money they could choose to be a citizen of any nation, besides we may not be as diverse as other nations, but this people are as much a part of Philippine history and culture as any full malayan-blood filipino

of course! they must not lose their filipino citizenship. they are landed families and without filipino citizenship, they will have no ownership of philippine estates. it's that simple.

those spanish mestizos have the better advantage because many acquired land by being a privilege class while the chinese filipinos acquired their estate through entrepreneurship since all of them came to the philippines as a nobody and were penniless.

^ what about lagay? :nocrook:

^^ It is rumoured in some blog by a Filipino mestizo that their are Spanish-Filipino families who are richer than the Zóbel de Ayalas. Basically this (Forbes magazine list) were only done on Filipino bussiness owners/companies, but other Philippine families can also have fortunes coming from overseas bussinesses and investments which makes more money in comparison to their Philippine counterparts who gains their fortunes with the Philippine peso.

Animo, is the blog in question Toto Gonzalez's 'Remembrance of Things Awry'? I love it, he always has the most interesting stories to tell, and tell them he does, with wit and style aplenty.

And yes, there are definitely a lot of very rich Filipinos out there. Does the name Dado Banatao ring a bell? He's only one of the most successful people in Silicon Valley; I read somewhere that his personal fortune might reach somewhere in the billion-dollar range. Then there's the 'Maysayad' who thinks he's a messiah, the Crespo fellow, who, it's said, could have amassed a billion dollar fortune by monopolizing certain markets in Latin America. Juicy stuff!

very true, it's not a sin to be ambitious sometimes. Most Filipinos don't dream high; they're just contented with their present status, with what they have, they don't want to go beyond that. That's an attitudes I think, we, Filipinos, should change.
usually they will call you ambisiosa or social clilmber.
our culture also teaches us to be content as long as you have three meals a day. and being an island country with natural resouces abound, is not conducive to being industrious.

the rich in Philippines hide and invest their wealth in other countries ,unlike the rich in other SE asian countries they invest in their own country.

No wonder you've been commuting back and forth in the US, you're one of them are ya crappy??LOL

the rich in Philippines hide and invest their wealth in other countries ,unlike the rich in other SE asian countries they invest in their own country.

No wonder you've been commuting back and forth in the US, you're one of them are ya crappy??LOL

ay talaga, ate marites libreee!!

^^ :lol: Shh....she doesn't want that known to everyone. ;)

Couldn't be that crappy is actually that "little aimee" of the marcoses??? LMAOOOO

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Antonio Jose "Anton" Mendezona Roxas, III

Don Antonio J. Roxas is a famous businessman in the Philippines.
He is the current patriarch of the old, prominent Spanish mestizo
Roxas clan and one of the 50 richest people in the Philippines!
He is the son of Don Antonio Roxas y Gargollo, Jr. and
Doña Maria Mendezona de Roxas.

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He is the Chairman of the family firm Roxas and Company, Inc.

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Antonio Roxas is also Chairman Emeritus of Roxas Holdings, Inc.
and a Director of the Central Azucarera Don Pedro, Inc. (CADP),
the family's old sugar central (milling) company.
The modern Roxas sugar central was incorporated in October, 1930 by
relatives Carmen Gargollo vda. de Roxas, Margarita vda. de Soriano,
Ramona Roxas de Fernandez, Antonio Roxas y Gargollo, Jr.,
Andres Soriano y Roxas, Alfonso Zobel y Roxas and Jose C. Zabarte.

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He also serves as Chairman of Roxaco Land Corporation,
the property development subsidiary of Roxas & Co.

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Don Antonio Roxas (far left) at an alta sociedad gathering
in Makati last year. Also present were (L-R):
friend Doña María Mercedes "Mercy" Arrastia-Tuason,
[], Don Fausto de la Riva Preysler, and cousin
Don Jaime Zobel-de Ayala!

Don Antonio Roxas is also a well-known philanthropist.
He is a Director and former President of the
Antonio and Eduardo Roxas Gargollo Foundation, Inc.

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Pedro Emilio Olgado Roxas

The Roxas family from Batangas has been living in the
Philippines since 1695. A very old Spanish family indeed!
Pedro E. Roxas is the Director and President
of the family corporation Roxas & Company Inc.
and the Chairman and CEO of Roxas Holdings, Inc.
He is President of the Spanish-Filipino Business Association;

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a Director of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT);

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a Director of Banco de Oro (BDO) Private Bank,
formerly Banco Santander Philippines, Inc. (BSPI);

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and Chairman of the Philippine Sugar Millers Association (PSMA).

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He is also the CEO of the Central Azucarera Don Pedro (CADP),
one of the largest sugar centrals (mills) in the Philippines.
The Roxas family's ancestral haciendas are in Nasugbu, Batangas.

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Roxas Holdings now owns the Central Azucarera de la Carlota, Inc. (CACI)
in Negros, which it took over from the Elizalde family.
Did you know that the largest sugar plantation in the world
is found in the Philippines? In Negros! Wow!

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Pedro Roxas (3rd from the left) is Chairman of CACI while
Ramon A. Picornell, Jr. (2nd from the right) is President.

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Roxaco Land Corp., headed by Pedro Roxas (far left), together with
Landco Pacific Corp., headed by Alfredo Xerez-Burgos, Jr. (4th from the left),
developed the Peninsula de Punta Fuego in Nasugbu, Batangas,
which is now the hottest destination for the rich and famous in the Philippines!

Pedro E. Roxas is the son of Don Eduardo Roxas y Gargollo, Sr. and
Doña Pilar "Pili" Olgado de Roxas, of the Spanish Olgado clan.
Don Enrique Zobel's mother was also a member of the Olgado clan.

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Roxas-Zobel family gathering at the Premio Zobel awards ceremony
(Front row, L-R): Doña Mercedes "Dedes" Urquijo Zobel,
Doña Georgina Padilla y Zobel-de Ayala de Mac-Crohon,
Doña Pilar "Pili" Olgado de Roxas, Doña Chona Recto,
Don Eduardo Roxas, Sr., and Don Jaime Zobel-de Ayala, Sr.

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Pedro Roxas continues his family tradition of philanthropy in
the Philippines, where he is currently President of the
Antonio and Eduardo Roxas Gargollo Foundation, Inc.,
and a Trustee of the Enrique Zobel Foundation, Inc.
He is also Director of Philippine Business for the Environment,
and Director of Philippine Business for Social Progress.

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Proud to Be Filipino

At a time when most businessmen hang on to their foreign citizenship as they would a lifevest when a 747 hits heavy turbulence, Pedro Roxas sought–and gained –Filipino citizenship.

A scion of one of the most landed families in the Philippines, Roxas was born with the citizenship of his Spanish forbears. Now the chairman and CEO of the Central Azucarera Don Pedro, and a member of the board of about a dozen more firms, Roxas left the Ateneo de Manila in his youth to study high school in Madrid. To complete his Ivy League background, he went on to the Portsmouth Abbey School in Rhode Island and the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, where he obtained a degree in Business Administration.

Still single at the time, Roxas could have been forgiven for staying on in the US or Spain, but he returned to the Philippines in the early ’80s–just when a chosen few were thanking their lucky stars for having green cards.

Why did you come back, I asked Roxas, the son of the late Eduardo Roxas and his wife Pilar, now living in Spain. We are at his office in Makati, a stately executive suite softened by several pictures of his family. He wasn’t an only son, and he hadn’t yet met Gina (Tambunting), who would later become his wife.

"I had to make a living!" he smiles, looking very much like a younger George W. Bush. "But in the beginning, I wasn’t really too excited about coming back. After a while, I decided to go back to the US to get my masters. But then, I did not last long. I sort of had second thoughts. I decided to come back and sort of try to find my bearings."

He found his bearings in the land of his birth.

"After realizing that there was much that could be done here, much that could be done with our company, I realized there were a lot of opportunities to move forward," Roxas recalls. It was around this time that he applied for Filipino citizenship.

"I was born here. I like it here. I knew I could do something positive here," he points out.

* * *

Pedro Roxas, now a father of three, is also the president of Roxaco Land Corp., which along with Landco Pacific Corp., was behind the successful development of the Peninsula de Punta Fuego in Nasugbu, Batangas, the very exclusive seaside enclave of the rich and famous. It’s a status destination that doesn’t require a passport for jetsetters.

Following the success of Peninsula de Punta Fuego, Roxas and his partners are going full steam ahead for another seafront project, Terrazas de Punta Fuego.

Roxas and his brother Eduardo would often summer in Nasugbu when they were boys, roughing it up in a nipa hut by the beach. Punta Fuego is thus a coastline that Pedro knows like the back of his hand and has at times had to resist the temptation of being sentimental about the beach of his boyhood.

"But you gotta move on in life," he smiles again. Though the family fortune is basically sweetened by sugar (oh yes, literally), Roxas decided to venture into real estate when he realized profits from sugar could just as easily melt.

"The sugar business was very difficult during the Marcos years. And then even after the Marcos years. We had to look for another area, another leg to stand on. So we felt that since we had a substantial inventory of real estate which had potential for development, we decided to develop some of these properties," he recalls.

And thus was born one of the most successful real estate ventures in recent history, coming at a time when steel skeletons of other firms’ ventures gone awry were there to remind them of the huge risk they were taking.

"But I think we were very lucky at the time. Our timing was very good. We started the Punta Fuego project before 1997–the year of the Asian currency crisis. There was then a pent-up demand for a type of product like this, which is sort of a weekend type, high-end, close enough to Manila. There wasn’t anything quite like it then. Had we waited six or eight months, we probably would not have pushed through with it because that’s when the Asian flu hit. By the time the impact of the crisis was felt here, we were already about 50 percent sold. There was the momentum already, we just had to give it a big push. And the buyers saw that we were not holding back on the development. Despite the crisis, we were moving forward," Roxas says.

Roxas let his sentimental ties to the property work to his benefit rather than stymie the venture.

"You know, because the property has been with the family for over a century, because it brings back memories, you try to do a better job at moving it forward and developing it in a way that will not really change its character," he stresses.

And now, he and his partners’ successes are as visual as the seashells on the Punta Fuego shore. Roxas says he believes his family’s successes are to be shared by the people of Nasugbu.

"Our sugar mills employ about 850 people from Nasugbu. Indirectly, many more. Because we serve the needs of the farmers in terms of servicing their milling requirements, we do have a tremendous impact on what’s going on in the community. We’re very conscious of that. Punta Fuego employs over a hundred more. And then as the community is building up its population, the residents build houses, they obviously hire local help, a bantay here, a gardener there."

I ask him if the specter of terrorism–in view of what have taken place in other high-end resorts–haunts him.

Pedro Roxas isn’t spooked by that specter.

"I think the best deterrent to any security threat is really creating job opportunities. And as more and more of the local community realizes that their progress is linked with the progress of this development or future developments, they will be the first ones to protect and make sure that hey, why are we going to sacrifice this?"

And if the threat is not from the community?

"Well, that’s always the dilemma, and hopefully, it will be the local community itself that will be sort of be the frontline, that line of defense to security threats. For them, it’s ‘Things are moving forward here’!"

* * *

It’s been almost 20 years since Pedro Roxas returned to Manila and five presidents and three EDSA mass actions later, he is glad he put his money where his heart is.

"I’m just an ordinary businessman trying to survive in a very uncertain environment, but I guess we all have to do our share, to try and make things a little better. And undoubtedly if the country can move forward at a faster pace, those of us that are in a line of business will be able to work in an easier environment," says Roxas, who is also an active member of the Philippine Business for Social Progress, Children’s Hour, Habitat for Humanity, and the Galing Pilipino Movement, among others.

When he walks down the shore at Peninsula de Funta Fuego, and looks down the horizon from Terrazas, he takes a deep breath and sighs, "This is home."

And somehow, he knows why everything else has fallen into place.

Source: http://www.newsflash.org/2003/01/si/si001389.htm.

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Beatriz Olgado Roxas

Pedro's sister Beatriz Roxas is also a Director of
the family firm Roxas and Company, Inc.
She is owner of the upscale Kawayan-Budji furniture
and home furnishings boutique in Spain.

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The Kawayan-Budji collection features designer furniture,
furnishings, and fashion from the Philippines!

Ambientes asiáticos

Hace poco más de tres años que Beatriz Roxas decidió abrir 'Kawayan' con el fin de acercar la decoración asiática y las creaciones del diseñador filipino Antonio Budji al público español.

Ahora, este amplio local de dos plantas, de 200 metros cuadrados cada una, es el distribuidor para toda Europa de The Budji Collections, una colección compuesta por muebles, telas y accesorios para la casa.

El mobiliario diseñado por Antonio Budji Layung destaca por su elaboración artesanal con materiales autóctonos de Filipinas, como bambú, madera, cuero, ábaca (fibra del banano) o ratán. Asimimo, las telas son tejidas a mano con hilos naturales propios de este país y decoradas con incrustaciones de hojas, raíces, semillas o ramas.

Además, la propietaria, nacida en Manila, se marcó como segundo objetivo promover el arte. De este modo, organiza exposiciones temporales y cuenta con pinturas y esculturas de artistas contemporáneos españoles, así como con fotos de Sofia Wittert van Hoogland y de María Antonia Peña.

Su oferta se complementa con alfombras de ábaca de la firma Soumak, telas de Silk, muebles de Cebu y cuadros de Tess Passola, entre otros artículos, que se entremezclan por toda la tienda formando distintos ambientes.

Source: http://www.elmundo.es/metropoli/2005/05/06/compras/1115330452.html.

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Jose "Joey" L. Cuisia, Jr.

Jose Cuisia is the former Governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines
and head of the Social Security System (SSS) under Pres. Corazon Aquino.
He was also a prominent anti-Marcos figure in the 1980s.

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He graduated from De La Salle University in Manila and received the
2006 Distinguished Lasallian Award from the De La Salle Alumni Association!
He also holds an MBA from the Wharton School is a member of the
Wharton-Penn Club of the Philippines! Andres Soriano, III is also a member!

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Today, he is the President and CEO of Philam Life, the largest life insurance
company in the Philippines.

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He is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Asian Institute of Management!

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Lecturing the next generation of business leaders in the Philippines.

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A strong believer in Corporate Social Responsibility, he is on the
Board of Directors of the Philippine Cancer Society.
Fellow Pres. Aquino cabinet member and Opus Dei supporter
the late Dr. Mita Pardo de Tavera was Chair of the Council of Advisors.

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Earlier this year, he won the prestigious the Management Association of
the Philippines' (MAP) 2007 Management Man of the Year Award!
Don Jaime Augusto Zobel-de Ayala, II won last year's award.
What great role-models for the next generation of Filipino leaders!

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A Leader Among Leaders
Jose L. Cuisia, Jr.: Management Man of the Year

And the award this year goes to the man who boasts having six women in his life, a pal to many who call him Joey.

“I was pleasantly surprised I was selected,” Jose L. Cuisia Jr. says, seemingly amused but obviously disarmed that his colleagues in the business are giving him a hearty pat in the back.

Cuisia, president and chief executive officer of the country’s largest and most diversified life insurance firm, the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company, will receive the Man of the Year award from the Management Association of the Philippines on Tuesday, February 12, at the Hotel Intercontinental in the presence of his wife Vicky and his daughters Nana, Justine, Ina, Jaymi and Jessica.

“I don’t know how they do it,” Cuisia admits, referring to the association’s selection process. “They said they investigated me for months.” One criterion for the selection reads: Any man or woman who has distinguished himself or herself in the practice of management over a significant period of time.

It does not seem much of a tough call. “There are always a lot of very qualified candidates,” Cuisia himself acknowledges, gallantly implying that his curriculum vitae may be impressive but no more than the resumés of the assocaition’s 860 other members, all of whom are “top management practitioners from the largest local and multinational companies operating in the Philippines.”

Indeed, like many solitary figures in executive suites, Cuisia had first-rate education. In his case, it was De La Salle from the very first day he went to school up to the time he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce. He collected medals all throughout high school and the lower years, and left the university with magna cum laude honors.

He entered The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, as a scholar wherefrom he earned his master’s degree in business administration in 1970.

But all things considered, the qualities that make one stand out in the company of peers cannot be read from a piece of paper. They can only be gleaned. Foresight, for instance, the long view of events as they unfold that enables one to plan ahead. The tenacity to focus on the homerun, eyes peeled on the ball, undistracted by thoughts of making the catch; a flexibility that comes with an open mind, changing direction and turning a corner as everything is affected by a turn.

And Joey Cuisia did make quite a turn as head of the Social Security System (SSS) and later as governor of the quondam Central Bank of the Philippines. The country had the world’s attention when he was given the run of the SSS. Corazon Aquino was president, and that alone brought in the foreign money that would help restore an economy ruined by martial law.

Meanwhile, the fund, although supposedly left untouched by the Marcos regime, was getting very little returns from its investment in government securities. Cuisia, ceasing the euphoria of the moment, knew the solution was in quicker investments and only the President can make it happen.

“We finally convinced Cory to use her legislative powers, which she rarely used, to amend the SSS charter and allow it to make investments in prime stocks for quicker returns,” he says, recalling that SSS bought into PLDT when it was selling at P36 and San Miguel, which was P11 per share at the time. “We got them cheaply and the value of the shares had gone up so much since I left SSS.”

But as he proposed, there was a caveat though to the amendment during the time of Cuisia, that only 10 percent of SSS investible funds would be used for stock market placements. With freer hands, Cuisia also launched a program allowing members to borrow money from SSS to buy prime stocks, which, in a way, contributed to the growth of the local bourse.

It worried him that the 10-percent cap was increased to 30 percent by the next administrator, but by then he was caught up by the enormous task facing him as the new governor of the central bank he could hardly think much, let alone do anything, about it.

A parenthetical note: Before SSS, and after Wharton, Joey Cuisia was with Ayala Investments and Development Corporation, a nine-year stint spent in full throttle as an investment banker advising clients to try something new such as an initial public offering. Benguet Corporation and US Industries bought the idea, and were the first to start the IPO ball rolling. “We did very, very small offering, something like P15 million for US Industries. But that was the start of IPOs in the country,” he recalls.

At the Central Bank, what he started in 1991 was the liberalization of the peso exchange rate to the dollar that is continuing until today. “Remember, there were a lot of controls. It was a landmark decision because we see the benefits of that in terms of the foreign investments coming in,” Cuisia says.

The next move he made galvanized the banking industry. He opened the local banking system to foreign bank branches, and the results were immediate. Ten top banks from Japan, Thailand, Europe, Australia and New Zealand entered the country.

And the third, for which he locked horns with Congress, was the package of the bill that created the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Cuisia was not merely asking for a name change, he wanted a clean slate. “The old central bank was saddled with a lot of debts because of those things that happened during the time of Marcos so it could not really perform as a monetary authority. We had to convince Congress because those debts were eventually assumed by the national government,” he says, no longer wincing at the memory of the most aggravating episode in his life.

“I was not responsible for those debts, but I was lambasted, and constantly battered by Congress,” he relates. Thankfully, he was not alone. “I always give credit to President Fidel Ramos for persuading Congress to give it a go,” he says. He also mentions Fe Barin, then secretary to the Monetary Board, and his deputy Reggie Regalado, who did all the paperwork and talking to people about the implication of the proposal while he battled it in Congress. The bill was finally passed in 1993.

When asked if he ever experienced failure, Cuisia appears to think hard and long. After Central Bank, Cuisia’s move to Philamlife may appear to be a walk in the park, such as it was. But no. He believes leadership has a big influence on employees, and showing up to give all efforts to one’s job is the most basic in Cuisia’s book. “Our corporate values are very similar to the values instilled in by my parents and La Salle. Integrity is one of them. Excellence. Teamwork. Professional competence. Concern for people. This has been our guiding philosophy at Philamlife.”

The man is at his office by 8 in the morning, sometimes even earlier, an example that he expects everyone, from his executives to the rank and file, to emulate. But most important to him is integrity. “I cannot tolerate mischievous actions from our agents. I will not tolerate any. We must always practice fair play, to be equitable to all parties involved just as we show our concern to our employees,” Cuisia says emphatically.

Concurrently chairman of Philam’s affiliate companies, Joey Cuisia sits as vice chairman of the board of SM Prime Holdings on the personal invitation of Henry Sy. “I’m quite active in the SM Prime board because I’m the only independent director, the rest are family members,” he relates, continuing to say that his relationship with the Sys began in 1972 when he arranged the loan for SM Shoemart and later for the financing of the department store, building their trust along the way that continues until today.

And how does this graying baby boomer find the time to boogie with his wife? “I find the time for everything, for my family, my spiritual life. I go to the gym for my physical fitness. I go to concerts with my wife…the Cascades, the Lettermen. I like soothing jazz music. I enjoy those. I boogie, I cha-cha, I swing… always with my wife.”

He likes cars, but does not drive. “My wife won’t let me because she knows my mind is somewhere else.”

Source: http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/feb/10/yehey/weekend/20080210week1.html.

And there's nothing wrong with wanting to be a future doctor or lawyer as opposed to being a bussiness mogul. What's important is to be gainfully employed and be self-sufficient.

Your absolutely right, I am just answering the question thrown, why there is not enough full blooded Filipino's in the list of the richest in the Philippines? When I was in grade school my teacher asked me, what I want to be when I grow up? I told her I want to be a tycoon, she almost fell out of her seat, saying out of all her students I was the only one that said such a thing.

^^ It is rumoured in some blog by a Filipino mestizo that their are Spanish-Filipino families who are richer than the Zóbel de Ayalas. Basically this (Forbes magazine list) were only done on Filipino bussiness owners/companies, but other Philippine families can also have fortunes coming from overseas bussinesses and investments which makes more money in comparison to their Philippine counterparts who gains their fortunes with the Philippine peso.



Yes, sorry it was the Probe. :D

Can you give an example, I only know of 2 Filipino's Dado Banatao which has a claim to fame in IT, in Silicon Valley, which has probably a net worth of 300 million dollars and Loida Lewis-Smith which owns BTC food Corp. but I think she already sold it.

:yes: Good point. They may not look like your typical Pinoy but they are Filipinos by right. Their ancestors made their mark in the history of the country that shaped it to what it's current state now.

Very interesting thread indeed. Very informative.

Sure about that because I know Lucio Tan does'nt even speak Tagalog, We need homegrown real Filipino that we can really be proud of. Some Chinese business people out there think very little of Filipino's imagine being discriminated in our own country. If they consider themselves Filipino's how come they don't want marriages between a Chinese to a non-chinese?:ohno:

Can you give an example, I only know of 2 Filipino's Dado Banatao which has a claim to fame in IT, in Silicon Valley, which has probably a net worth of 300 million dollars and Loida Lewis-Smith which owns BTC food Corp. but I think she already sold it.

the asset of Loida Lewis-Smith from the 80's to 90's were growth into more than 1billion USD...as far as what i know:)

Your absolutely right, I am just answering the question thrown, why there is not enough full blooded Filipino's in the list of the richest in the Philippines? When I was in grade school my teacher asked me, what I want to be when I grow up? I told her I want to be a tycoon, she almost fell out of her seat, saying out of all her students I was the only one that said such a thing.
all over SE Asia the CHinese dominate in the economic field. Being migrants and experiencing the hardship and lack of opportunity back in China probably is a factor in their industriousness. Ever heard of the saying eat your food there are billions of Chinese kids starving in China. Immigrants seem to thrive over the local population wherever they are, case and point pinoys in the US.

ano ba ang meron sa mga Chinoy at bakit nangunguna sila pagdating sa pagnenegosyo?

sabi nila, kaya daw yumayaman ang mga Chinoy kase may perception sila na kailanga maging mahusay ka sa pagnenegosyo para tumaas ang tingin ng tao sayo.

karamihan sa kanila ay nangunguna pagdating sa mga bagay na madaling ibenta like apparel, hardware, autoshop, food, etc.

ang iba, kahit hindi mabawi ang tubo(porsyiento)a, basta may benta lang, ibibigay nila sayo ang gusto mo - ganyan sila kadeterminado sa larangan ng negosyo.

ang pinoy, kahit hindi makabenta, basta madoble o matriple lang ang tubo, magtitiis na mabulok ang itinitinda.

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Loida Nicolas Lewis (born 1942) is a Filipino-born, New York-based industrialist, philanthropist, sociocivic leader, motivational speaker, author, and lawyer.

Born and raised in the Philippines, Lewis comes from a family of entrepreneurs. Her father started one of the country’s largest furniture manufacturing firms, Nicfur.

Lewis graduated cum laude from St. Theresa’s College, a private, Roman Catholic women's college in Manilla, Philippines (that location has since closed). Later, she earned a law degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law and was admitted to the Philippine Bar.

Lewis was the first Asian American to pass the American Bar without having been educated in the United States. She is eligible to practice law in the Philippines and New York.

A wide and frequent traveller, Lewis learned to speak English, French, Spanish, and Tagalog. She currently resides in New York City with her two daughters.

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David Kim of Baja Fresh urges caution when considering doing business in foreign countries because of different laws and regulations. Listening is Loida Lewis of TLC Beatrice LLC.

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Loida Nicolas-Lewis is the first Filipino and the first woman to be inducted into the Asian Hall of Fame this year. She is the CEO and chair of TLC Beatrice LLC and TLC Beatrice China and Philippines, a successful multinational corporation of food companies based in many countries.

Lewis assumed the leadership in 1994 when her African American billionaire husband, Reginald Lewis passed away. She turned the company around to cut costs and sell non-performing assets and in 1996 the TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc. passed the $2 billion sales mark. Working Woman magazine has hailed her as one of the top businesswomen in the country.

TLC Beatrice manufactures and markets food products all around the world. In 1998, it was ranked the 68th largest privately owned company in the United States.

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Loida Nicolas Lewis, Butch Meily and the co- business partner

TLC Beatrice is a prime distributor of beverages in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Thailand, the leading manufacturer of potato chips in Ireland and of ice cream in Spain and the Canary Islands.

Loida became the head of TLC in 1994, a year after her husband Reginald F. Lewis, TLC’s first CEO and chairman, died of brain cancer. He was one of the U.S.’s top black entrepreneurs and acquired Beatrice International in 1987.

She is also chairman of the Lewis Family investment firm, and also is chairman and CEO of TLC Beatrice in China, Limited, a Cayman company, which operates retail convenience stores in five major cities in China, and TLC Beatrice Foods located in the Philippines.

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She was ranked No. 1 among the “Top 50 Women Business Owners in America” by Working Woman magazine in 1994.

Loida is a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Law and a cum laude graduate of St. Theresa’s College. She was the first Asian American to pass the American Bar in 1974.

She has written books on U.S. immigration law, including How to Get a Green Card.

Born in the Philippines, she comes from a family of entrepreneurs. Her father started Nicfur, one of the largest furniture companies in the Philippines.

She is currently the national chair of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations.

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Caterina Fake is an American businesswoman and entrepreneur.
Fake is a Half Filipino, half WASP, and she was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, attended Choate Rosemary Hall, Smith College, and graduated from Vassar College in 1991. After working variously at an investment bank, as a painter's assistant, on a crew shooting interstitials for Seinfeld and in a dive shop in Arkansas, she moved to San Francisco in 1994, where she started working in the nascent Web industry. In 2001 she moved to Vancouver, BC.

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Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield, founders of Flickr


Fake is best known as the co-founder, with her husband Stewart Butterfield, of Flickr, a photo-sharing service developed by Ludicorp in Vancouver and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. Flickr ushered in the so-called Web 2.0 integrating features such as social networking, community open APIs, tagging, and algorithms that surfaced the best, or more interesting content. Prior to founding Ludicorp she was Art Director at Salon.com and heavily involved in the development of online community, social software and personal publishing. She joined the board of directors of Creative Commons in August of 2008.

Fake has won many awards, including BusinessWeek's Best Leaders of 2005, Forbes 2005 eGang, Fast Company's Fast 50, and Red Herring's 20 Entrepreneurs under 35. In 2006, she was named to the Time 100, Time Magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people. She sits on the board of Etsy, and advises many startups and new businesses. At Yahoo! she ran the Technology Development group, known for its Hack Yahoo! program, a stimulus to innovation and creativity, and Brickhouse, a rapid development environment for new products. Fake resigned from Yahoo on 2008-06-13.

ano ba ang meron sa mga Chinoy at bakit nangunguna sila pagdating sa pagnenegosyo?

sabi nila, kaya daw yumayaman ang mga Chinoy kase may perception sila na kailanga maging mahusay ka sa pagnenegosyo para tumaas ang tingin ng tao sayo.

karamihan sa kanila ay nangunguna pagdating sa mga bagay na madaling ibenta like apparel, hardware, autoshop, food, etc.

ang iba, kahit hindi mabawi ang tubo(porsyiento)a, basta may benta lang, ibibigay nila sayo ang gusto mo - ganyan sila kadeterminado sa larangan ng negosyo.

ang pinoy, kahit hindi makabenta, basta madoble o matriple lang ang tubo, magtitiis na mabulok ang itinitinda.

10000000000000 % agree.

Filipinos they love dreaming. Kung baga mga plastic.

In the words of the late George Carlin: The thing about dreaming is that you have to be asleep to believe it.

oh yeah Tan Yu, you know I never knew he studied in la salle bacolod, no wonder he used to go to bacolod, so that makes him the wealthiest alumni of the university so far

migs, oscar hilado who's #33 last year (dunno how he fares this year) is also an alumnus of usls bacolod.

http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/private/person.asp?

^ what about lagay? :nocrook:

:D yes, they do lagay to help them survive. it's a fact of life but they only do so when it is necessary. alam mo naman barat ang mga chinese. kung puede lang di maglagay, di sila maglalagay. minsan napipilitan nalang kasi may nanghihingi na dapat bigyan dahil baka maantala ang mga papeles na kailangan. :D

Sure about that because I know Lucio Tan does'nt even speak Tagalog, We need homegrown real Filipino that we can really be proud of. Some Chinese business people out there think very little of Filipino's imagine being discriminated in our own country. If they consider themselves Filipino's how come they don't want marriages between a Chinese to a non-chinese?:ohno:

confucianism is also considered a religion. chinese traditions and customs are basically confucian. you are allowed to marry non-chinese but non-chinese who are knowledgeable and who adheres to confucian practices which would include basic chinese customs like avoiding color white or black in festive occassions. although at present most families have already assimilated and are less strict when it comes to the choice of their future spouses. but one thing is still considered very important. and that is financial stability and/or a good academic background and most of all, family medical history (e.g. mental illness or any inheritable medical conditions like psoriasis).

have you heard of chinese who don't want marriages with another chinese because the chinese family had history of genetic abnormalities?

a fine young filipino man can marry a chinese, usually if he can prove himself worthy of being accepted into their family, in other words, most often the filipino would have to be wealthier and more famous than the chinese.

migs, oscar hilado who's #33 last year (dunno how he fares this year) is also an alumnus of usls bacolod.

http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/private/person.asp?

I know, he's actually the chairman of the board of trustees for la salle bacolod, but then I compare mo naman Hilado's highest asset was around 80 million dollars, compare it kay Tan Yu na 7 billion dollars, I wonder if la salle conferred an award o maski doctorate lang kay tan yu?

^^haha. that makes him the richest fil-chinese..not even one comes close.

Your absolutely right, I am just answering the question thrown, why there is not enough full blooded Filipino's in the list of the richest in the Philippines? When I was in grade school my teacher asked me, what I want to be when I grow up? I told her I want to be a tycoon, she almost fell out of her seat, saying out of all her students I was the only one that said such a thing.

Your teacher is very narrow minded. I hope you go back to her and tell her "How do you like me now, bitch!" :lol:

all over SE Asia the CHinese dominate in the economic field. Being migrants and experiencing the hardship and lack of opportunity back in China probably is a factor in their industriousness. Ever heard of the saying eat your food there are billions of Chinese kids starving in China. Immigrants seem to thrive over the local population wherever they are, case and point pinoys in the US.

The same can be said of the Jews. They also have exceptionally good business sense. Which leads me to this question; how much of your/our genetic/ethnic make-up gives you/us the right aptitude to succeed in business?

And on a much lighter note, how much is Pacquiao's net worth? Maybe he can be the first native Filipino to have the distictioin of joining the Billionaires/Millionaires Club. :lol:

they don't even look Filipino...

just proves that we are still, to this day, a European colony :ohno:

I wonder what happened to Tan yu's riches, Has it been passed on to his children? companies?

they don't even look Filipino...

just proves that we are still, to this day, a European colony :ohno:

Just be thankful that they're the pillars of our nation's economy, their companies provides much needed jobs to ordinary Filipinos. If they weren't, where would we be now? Besides, they are Filipinos, no matter how "foreign-looking" they may be.

^^yeah you've got a good point there...

but the situation also makes it appear that the class-struggle may not be just another communist fairytale at all...

or maybe the more 'native-looking' filipinos aren't that industrious (or well connected perhaps?) to come up with huge companies of their own...

hehehe...i don't know where i'm getting...might even border on racism...hehehe...don't mind me...just thinking out loud here...:lol:

^^ That's okay, thinking out loud is good. :okay:

Delfin Lee

old article...

http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=70516

From sweeping floors to building towers
Smell opportunity to make money
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Inquirer
06/10/2007

MANILA, Philippines—Real estate developer Delfin Lee says one thing he learned from sweeping floors and carrying goods at the family lumberyard as a child was to smell an opportunity to make money.

Lee tells SundayBiz in an interview that because he was always at the shop floor—during weekends and school breaks—he would end up discussing business ideas with the other workers and owners of neighboring shops on España in Manila.

He developed his business sense as he grew older, and soon, he was deep into a trading business that covered all sorts of products, such as steel and, of course, lumber.

“I would import everything that was in demand,” Lee says. “Whenever anybody needed something, I would look for the supply.”

He expanded later to manufacturing, producing fabricated steel and it was from his people at the trading and manufacturing businesses that he got the idea in 1992 to go into real estate.

“At the start, I just wanted to build nice homes for the employees. Everything grew from there,” the 51-year-old Lee says.

The Santa Barbara Villas I project in San Mateo, Rizal was set up in 1994 and the buyers then were able to get a two-room unit for just P150,000, partly through a loan from Pag-Ibig.

The first 300 units were bought by employees and some friends, but the project later expanded to cover 2,500 duplex, single-detached and row-house units.

He initially thought that going into socialized housing through his new firm Globe Asiatique Realty Holding Corp. would be as easy as setting up a trading and manufacturing business. He could not be more wrong.

The financial, marketing and operational problems sometimes became too much that there were times when Lee just wanted to wash his hands off the project and give up.

Lee says that deciding to stick it out in the real estate industry despite the problems was one of the hardest decisions that he had to make.

“It was such a losing proposition because I was hit by the Asian crisis and it took me over three years to get paid for the homes by Pag-Ibig. In the meantime I was losing money. If it were not for my people, I would not have stuck to it,” Lee says.

It was fortunate that he did because the market turned and it became easier to get payments from government housing agencies.

Lee was thus encouraged to give housing another try in 2000 and the result was the Santa Barbara Villas II primarily marketed to the police force, soldiers and teachers.

Globe Asiatique’s big break, however, came in 2003 when he came up with the idea of putting up a condominium project right in Metro Manila that will be covered by the maximum P2-million loan allowed by the Pag-Ibig Fund.

The result was the GA Tower on Edsa right beside the Boni Avenue. MRT station, the first to be developed jointly by the private sector and Pag-Ibig.

“People thought I was crazy for going into it. But I told them, maybe I see a market you don’t,” Lee says.

He did, indeed, because all 648 units of the first tower were sold out in just three months. The clamor for more units led to the GA Tower II, and the units were immediately sold out too.

Homeowners have moved into the first tower in 2005 and the next tower will be ready by June next year.

Lee attributes the fast take-up to the investments of overseas Filipino workers—who account for about half of its sales—and more importantly, to the demand by the working class looking for affordable housing near the places where they work.

He says that being the first company to cater to the housing needs of this market has positioned Globe Asiatique well to take advantage of the undeniable rebound in the real estate market.

Globe Asiatique is now knee deep in many other projects, with more coming up, that Lee says he has permanently left his trading and manufacturing days behind.

These include The Enclave at Angeles City, Pampanga and the higher end GA Sky Suites at the corner of Quezon Boulevard and Edsa, near the Quezon Boulevard MRT station.

“I am now full time into real estate development because I also thought that this is the kind of business I can leave to my children, unlike trading which calls for personal relationships,” he says.

And what he wants his children to know is that it pays to keep their ear to the ground and to listen to what the market wants from their housing projects.

“I did not have any single study made on my projects before we put them up. I relied more on gut feel and always listening to the customer. It is not about what I want, but what they want,” he says.

It was from talking to potential customers, for instance, that he got the idea of putting up an affordable condominium.

It was also the customers who told him to go for a two-story unit because they want to rent out the other two bedrooms to save on the amortization cost.

“I believe that Filipinos do have money. If they see product, they will go for it and there will always be a demand for housing,” he says.

Globe Asiatique will continue to look for opportunities in the condominium market for the middle-income market but he says he still sees great potential for growth in the socialized or affordable housing market, the ones that cost about P750,000.

It is also in this arena where he believes he will derive the greatest fulfillment.

As his experience with the Santa Barbara showed him, a house is not just a house to the masses. Because they have their own home, and a greater sense of security, they feel better about themselves and their community.

“This is also the whole idea why I went into this business. I wanted to help elevate their lifestyle,” he says, “I want to see ordinary Filipinos live with their families in a nice house they can call their own.”

I wonder what happened to Tan yu's riches, Has it been passed on to his children? companies?


I asked my father abut this and this is what he told me: Tan Yu's fortune was based purely on speculation. Forbes was said to have overvalued his assets. He was into real estates and his businesses are present in many parts of Asia. However, his company was marketing driven. They made public announcements of developments that have not yet been developed and sold them even when they're still in the drawing phase. He bought an island in the north and announced it to the media that the island will become the next Las Vegas. Of course, that did not happen obviously. Many of his company's project buildings in Ortigas Centre have not been completed.

^^ actually it was the 1997 asian economic crisis that hit him hard, as you said his investments were mostly in asia (especially taiwan),he remained very rich still a billionaire but never reached the same high of 7 until he died and he's wealths been distributed among his numerous relatives

Yet, no filipinos picked up and followed that paths of these people. I don't know why it is rare for a filipino to have this enteprneuralship skills and talents. The model is there under our noses yet we are contented on being employed only, be able to buy a nice car, houses and good clothings. It seems all are just for material aspects that are not long lasting and beneficial for our future.

Right on! :okay:

It's the mindset that's being taught in school and by the previous generations...from grade one until we finish school we are reared to become model employees. We were taught that in order to be successful we should have a good paying job in a good company but not so much on how make one.

We should all learn from Andrew Tan and the other Chinese-Filipinos life stories. From someone who didnt have enough money for a jeepney fare to becoming a billionaire in less than 30 years...What is it about the way they think that make them sooo rich? As a budding businessman, I'm willing to pay to find out. There should be a "Millionaires course" or something in our schools...:lol:

^^ not true. we have a higher number of entreprenuers compared to, say the americans.

Bawat kanto sa atin may sari-sari store, talyer, internet shop, bola-bola stand. every pinoy OFW dreams of going home and starting some sort of business in their neighborhood.

punta ka sa states ang hirap makakita ng 711 or convenience store walking distance from your house.

It is not the pinoy mindset that is the problem.

ethnic chinese do better in business basically because they trust their own - they extend bigger credit lines and discounts, longer terms to chinese customers than to their filipino clients.

Business is about money. the better access you have to it, the faster your company will grow.

@ HIGEN >>That would be a good idea. Somehow, i guess at first, I was made to think to look down on people who is overly ambitious, those people who won't settle to be "just and employee" or an average employee that earns big bucks. Now, my opinion has changed as I have realized that people like these are "over achievers" which is somehow good if we coupled it with initiatives and skills.

I have encountered many friends, mostly american friends who always aim high whether it maybe a higher position or economic status . I've realized that those who really aimed high ended up being the main boss, they really excell and in many instances, I've seen them started their own businesses.


I think this is what and where fililipinos has been missing out. While we aim for higher eduation and high paying jobs, our ambitions stops there, we get contented if we can afford all the material aspects with no real long term values such as cars, designer clothes, electronics and such. In other words, we are easily contented that we see the surmounting amount of tangible material we amassed and we fail to see a much broader spectrum in which we can make use and hoan our talents.

I think this is why very few of us filipinos are really not into business because we want a quick result of our hardships. We lack patience, perservearance and determination to do better in life and maybe we care less of others somehow because what is important to us is what we can achive, something we can have for "a show" and our ego is boosted enough just because of those because it is something that is seen immediately , unlike businesses, you would really go through hardship. Perhaps we are also afraid of failure, which means, we lack enough self confidence so we comfine only from the areas we think we can do and perhaps excel just because we are trained for it. We lack the sense of adventureness in an enterprenural world or arena.

We mostly see filipinos burning their eyebrows in schools, which is really good, but normally we go with the flow, we see other filipinos leaving the country due to lack of decent jobs in the Philippines, but somehow, many of these filipinos just make money and usually does not save their earning because they burn their earning into something "materialistic", the sad part is that those who were left behind is just contented in receiving remittances from ther OFW dads, moms, brothers or sisters. They never invest some of the remittances they receive into something that would keep the cash flowing, and that is to start a business so that once something happened, they will not be left empty handed or broke after their love one's short stints abroad.

^^ not true. we have a higher number of entreprenuers compared to, say the americans.

Bawat kanto sa atin may sari-sari store, talyer, internet shop, bola-bola stand. every pinoy OFW dreams of going home and starting some sort of business in their neighborhood.

punta ka sa states ang hirap makakita ng 711 or convenience store walking distance from your house.

It is not the pinoy mindset that is the problem.

ethnic chinese do better in business basically because they trust their own - they extend bigger credit lines and discounts, longer terms to chinese customers than to their filipino clients.

Business is about money. the better access you have to it, the faster your company will grow.

I think what you see is more of survival issue amongs filipinos, that is not really enterprenuralship. They sell in the streets to survive. What they sell, the blow it on something else, alot of times material aspects.

Had we have the idials of the Gokongwei's and such, those who started from selling small items and made it big into a multibillion corporation, we would have long surpassed the economy of the asian's dragons, not to mention, the US if we have more enterpreneurs in the Philippines. It's what helped Korea resurrect from the hardship of war. Now, even the vietnamese, they are so enterprising that they are even surpassing the Philippines economically inspite of some corruptions in that country as well.

Ang sabihin nyo – the Philippine government is has no genuine support for its people who’d like to go into entrepreneurship. There’s no clear government guidelines and support system to business minded people. There’s nowhere to go to when they’ll need capital or additional capital. And, of course, the lack of infrastructure in the country adds to the cynicism of the people to go into business. It’s easy to curve the culture when the government would really want to. But our government itself has the culture of neglect and corruption. They set as bad examples to the citizens who are aspiring to improve economically through indulgence in businesses.

^^ not true. we have a higher number of entreprenuers compared to, say the americans.

Bawat kanto sa atin may sari-sari store, talyer, internet shop, bola-bola stand. every pinoy OFW dreams of going home and starting some sort of business in their neighborhood.

punta ka sa states ang hirap makakita ng 711 or convenience store walking distance from your house.


Good point...However when they (Americans, Chinese or others) do go into business they dont stop where we stop...I guess the issue is, when we do go into business we dont think big enough. I know several SME owners myself who do not have plans other than maintaining the business they already have. They're content that their business is doing well...Their not too keen in taking too much risks. "Sigurista" I think is the term. Too afraid to take the road less travelled. It's the mindset, IMHO, that keeps them from moving forward. Let me site one of the examples mentioned, franchising. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for franchising if you dont want that much big of a risk in setting up your business, it depends on your business preferences. Especially a 7/11 franchise, if you have the right location you'll be a winner. You can even use the money you earn form it in other businesses if you so wish. However franchising keeps you under an umbrella, IMHO. There is money in it but I felt that there's no where to go, unless you apply for another franchise or start another business that you can truely call your own. Your bound by the rules of the parent company. I studied franchising and it was tempting but decided it's not for me.

My example, Andrew Tan took on giants in the industry with his Emperador brandy and he was successful. Would we be willing to risk as much as he did? Most would not, even me sometimes. I think that's the kind of entrpreneurs we have very few of.

@ HIGEN >>

I have encountered many friends, mostly american friends who always aim high whether it maybe a higher position or economic status . I've realized that those who really aimed high ended up being the main boss, they really excell and in many instances, I've seen them started their own businesses.


I think this is what and where fililipinos has been missing out. While we aim for higher eduation and high paying jobs, our ambitions stops there, we get contented if we can afford all the material aspects with no real long term values such as cars, designer clothes, electronics and such. In other words, we are easily contented that we see the surmounting amount of tangible material we amassed and we fail to see a much broader spectrum in which we can make use and hoan our talents.

I think this is why very few of us filipinos are really not into business because we want a quick result of our hardships. We lack patience, perservearance and determination to do better in life and maybe we care less of others somehow because what is important to us is what we can achive, something we can have for "a show" and our ego is boosted enough just because of those because it is something that is seen immediately , unlike businesses, you would really go through hardship. Perhaps we are also afraid of failure, which means, we lack enough self confidence so we comfine only from the areas we think we can do and perhaps excel just because we are trained for it. We lack the sense of adventureness in an enterprenural world or arena.

We mostly see filipinos burning their eyebrows in schools, which is really good, but normally we go with the flow, we see other filipinos leaving the country due to lack of decent jobs in the Philippines, but somehow, many of these filipinos just make money and usually does not save their earning because they burn their earning into something "materialistic", the sad part is that those who were left behind is just contented in receiving remittances from ther OFW dads, moms, brothers or sisters. They never invest some of the remittances they receive into something that would keep the cash flowing, and that is to start a business so that once something happened, they will not be left empty handed or broke after their love one's short stints abroad.


Exactamundo! :okay:

Ang sabihin nyo – the Philippine government is has no genuine support for its people who’d like to go into entrepreneurship. There’s no clear government guidelines and support system to business minded people. There’s nowhere to go to when they’ll need capital or additional capital. And, of course, the lack of infrastructure in the country adds to the cynicism of the people to go into business. It’s easy to curve the culture when the government would really want to. But our government itself has the culture of neglect and corruption. They set as bad examples to the citizens who are aspiring to improve economically through indulgence in businesses.

Government is indeed part of the problem so you're right there also. But truely it is also due the comon mindset of most filipinos. Can't you see the trend since the Marcos regime? Everybody wants to be a nurse a therapists and such, because the mentality is that they will see the US, make some money in US dollars , to see disneyland, feel how it is like in the US and be able to afford and drive a nice new car.

Have you realized that, let's not just go anywhere.. In the US and Canada. Compare the filipinos amongst other asian and indian countries. The filipinos are usually working as a nurse, ITs, therapists and now doctors. All of which are mostly employed in the hospitals... they are definitely making alot of money and leads a fruitful life and descent living. But how many of them ventured into businesses ? Very few. The ones we claim as filipino successful business people are usually just part filipinos, those who were not really born and raised in the Philippines. But look at the other asian countries. They own restaurants left and right, they employ people. Indians are mostly motel owners, they provide jobs as well.. Even alot of Indian from India are doctors as well...

We can't really rely on government's support for those who wanted to start businesses that would create jobs for our people. The initiatives comes from us the filipino people. There are some filipinos who started from the scratch but it seems like most of the successful stories comes from the Filipino-Chinese whom also started from the scratch in the Philipines. What support were you refering to? The government would hand out cash for the people or what? Didn't you notice that the Koreans are starting to flood around the Philippines and they would exercise their skills in starting even small businesses in the Philippines while most filipinos leave the country to work overseas? Again, had there are a number of OFW families gambled in starting a business while the OFW family member is out of the country. They could of created businesses and job for the people that their love ones doesn't have to leave again to work overseas.

Government is indeed part of the problem so you're right there also. But truely it is also due the comon mindset of most filipinos. Can't you see the trend since the Marcos regime? Everybody wants to be a nurse a therapists and such, because the mentality is that they will see the US, make some money in US dollars , to see disneyland, feel how it is like in the US and be able to afford and drive a nice new car.

Have you realized that, let's not just go anywhere.. In the US and Canada. Compare the filipinos amongst other asian and indian countries. The filipinos are usually working as a nurse, ITs, therapists and now doctors. All of which are mostly employed in the hospitals... they are definitely making alot of money and leads a fruitful life and descent living. But how many of them ventured into businesses ? Very few. The ones we claim as filipino successful business people are usually just part filipinos, those who were not really born and raised in the Philippines. But look at the other asian countries. They own restaurants left and right, they employ people. Indians are mostly motel owners, they provide jobs as well.. Even alot of Indian from India are doctors as well...

We can't really rely on government's support for those who wanted to start businesses that would create jobs for our people. The initiatives comes from us the filipino people. There are some filipinos who started from the scratch but it seems like most of the successful stories comes from the Filipino-Chinese whom also started from the scratch in the Philipines. What support were you refering to? The government would hand out cash for the people or what? Didn't you notice that the Koreans are starting to flood around the Philippines and they would exercise their skills in starting even small businesses in the Philippines while most filipinos leave the country to work overseas? Again, had there are a number of OFW families gambled in starting a business while the OFW family member is out of the country. They could of created businesses and job for the people that their love ones doesn't have to leave again to work overseas.


Sorry, I'm actually too young to have observed the eras you've mentioned; I'm only 15 years old. However, I have an opinion about this, albeit my personal. Let's me tell you how I view this. :)

My point about this is simple: the government can curve and/or create tradition or system. How?

When the government has the will and true determination to implement something, ordinance or laws, for example, it can make a tremendous amount of results. Everyone would feel obliged to follow the system, especially when the system at place brings benefits to the people or to their own self and their family/ies.

For example, our country has one of the highest growth rates in the world. If you simply assess this dilemma that we're in (I call it dilemma as I believe our overpopulation problem has brought us further down economically), you would blame the people instantly. But have you thought what will happen once the family planning program takes place? I think there would be changes as to the birth rate issues are concern.

Therefore, my personal assessment on this is that, the government plays a huge and very important role in creating a culture of entrepreneurship to our people. They say entrepreneurship is not created, but intrinsic...however, the culture you follow may improve one's perception and mindset. When you grow up in such environment, like growing up in a Chinese family, for example, you will learn to be entrepreneurial, profit oriented and productive. Well, maybe not entirely, but your exposure to such environment would certainly give you many ideas about getting into business.

To really solve this, we should ask our government to have a system that supports entrepreneurship in a concrete, solid and well-defined, easy-to-follow system. Without it, we cannot easily create a culture of entrepreneurship as our resources are scanty.

Do we have pictures and articles of the Consunji family ($210) of DMCI?

I think that $210 is uberly undervalued.

where is the marcos family? they have billions $$$$$$$$$$$, dont they? :D

^^ what the chinese have is a sense of self sacrifice. imagine going to school on foot or not being able to get a 1peso ice candy once a week because your parents said they need to save it for your future? or being denied a new pair of sapatos because your school shoes is still okay. and you can only have a cheap plastic toy gun because it's a little expensive to have those that look almost real. that's exactly the reason why in spite of the small beginnings, gokongwei, lucio tan and the rest were able to succeed in building BIG business empires. it's because they believe in being makunat so they can ensure a better future, if not for themselves at least for their children.

and they are not bothered by their looks, they don't care if they look like jologs for wearing chinelas or plain t-shirts.

and when they apply for jobs, they dont ask for the amount of salary they'll get instead they are there for the experience, the on the job training so that one day they too can have the same business or maybe even something better. they don't care if you fire them, they'll just go to other companies who see potential in them and when they are already armed with enough experience they would not hesitate to build their own business empire.

and IMHO, that is what sets them apart from the rest of the filipinos.

Ang sabihin nyo – the Philippine government is has no genuine support for its people who’d like to go into entrepreneurship. There’s no clear government guidelines and support system to business minded people. There’s nowhere to go to when they’ll need capital or additional capital. And, of course, the lack of infrastructure in the country adds to the cynicism of the people to go into business. It’s easy to curve the culture when the government would really want to. But our government itself has the culture of neglect and corruption. They set as bad examples to the citizens who are aspiring to improve economically through indulgence in businesses.

bukid, there are Filipinos who are as practical as those most practical Chinese. And there are Chinese who are as extravagant as the most extravagant Filipinos. So, it goes both ways, nowadays.

The Filipino people, in general, got to have a driving force to break away from their old habbits. And that driving force does not come from within (not instinctual), as they don't have the inherent culture of a businessman. That's why I'm passing this responsibility more on to the government to play the role as a guide and support system. Without this support system, the Filipinos, in general, couldn't accomplish their goal as much as they would like to.

I've studied the Korean businesses and businessmen and I found out that their government pushed their people to become entrepreneurial. But by having done so, their government has also helped those businesses that have high potential for growth. The success of Samsung, Hyundai, Kia, LG, to name a few, are products of a strong government support. The Philippine government should have done/or should do the same to its people.

where is the marcos family? they have billions $$$$$$$$$$$, dont they? :D

You missed the biggest billionaire/s in the Philippines -- Macapagal-Arroyo family/ies :lol:

^^ that would require a very strong hand, and filipinos due to the experience during the marcos years would react negatively, changing cultural norms and society by a government would take no less than an authoritarian regime

^^ that would require a very strong hand,
"WILL" would be the perfect word to use here. Government's will and determination to implement such proactive program.



and filipinos due to the experience during the marcos years would react negatively, changing cultural norms and society by a government would take no less than an authoritarian regime

Please take note that I was talking about support system. What does that mean? That’s a solid, concrete, well-defined program of the government that provides information to the local people of the many opportunities that they can get into, or the several resources that they can utilize because they are abundant locally. And, of course, that also includes trainings, seminars on how to go about their business activities so that they could ensure growth and success. And most importantly, the accessibility of these businessmen/entrepreneurs to funds for their either initial capital or additional capital.

I did not see any form of dictatorial approach with the support system I’m suggesting. This is like encouraging a group of bums (pasaway na mga tambay) in Tondo, Manila, for example, to group together, attend seminars, and receive the support that they needed to start a business of their own or expand their already established businesses.

:)

we already have the new magna carta for MSME's(RA 9501) which was just recently passed (repealing the old one RA 6977).

and if i'm not mistaken mas open na (or mas marami na) ang nag ooffer ng micro-financing., pati cooperatives dumadami na din... its not as if wala namang ginagawa ang gobyerno. mabagal, yes. pero to say na wala is grabe naman. :)

it may not be what you're looking for, but its a step nonetheless. :)

:D yes, they do lagay to help them survive. it's a fact of life but they only do so when it is necessary. alam mo naman barat ang mga chinese. kung puede lang di maglagay, di sila maglalagay. minsan napipilitan nalang kasi may nanghihingi na dapat bigyan dahil baka maantala ang mga papeles na kailangan. :D



confucianism is also considered a religion. chinese traditions and customs are basically confucian. you are allowed to marry non-chinese but non-chinese who are knowledgeable and who adheres to confucian practices which would include basic chinese customs like avoiding color white or black in festive occassions. although at present most families have already assimilated and are less strict when it comes to the choice of their future spouses. but one thing is still considered very important. and that is financial stability and/or a good academic background and most of all, family medical history (e.g. mental illness or any inheritable medical conditions like psoriasis).

have you heard of chinese who don't want marriages with another chinese because the chinese family had history of genetic abnormalities?

a fine young filipino man can marry a chinese, usually if he can prove himself worthy of being accepted into their family, in other words, most often the filipino would have to be wealthier and more famous than the chinese.


so they can marry Vietnamese and other Asian peoples who practice confucianism but just not filipino?
:lol: hindi pala pwede sayo si Amigo kailangan niya muna maging bilyonaryo. :lol:

Sorry, I'm actually too young to have observed the eras you've mentioned; I'm only 15 years old. However, I have an opinion about this, albeit my personal. Let's me tell you how I view this. :)

My point about this is simple: the government can curve and/or create tradition or system. How?

When the government has the will and true determination to implement something, ordinance or laws, for example, it can make a tremendous amount of results. Everyone would feel obliged to follow the system, especially when the system at place brings benefits to the people or to their own self and their family/ies.

For example, our country has one of the highest growth rates in the world. If you simply assess this dilemma that we're in (I call it dilemma as I believe our overpopulation problem has brought us further down economically), you would blame the people instantly. But have you thought what will happen once the family planning program takes place? I think there would be changes as to the birth rate issues are concern.

Therefore, my personal assessment on this is that, the government plays a huge and very important role in creating a culture of entrepreneurship to our people. They say entrepreneurship is not created, but intrinsic...however, the culture you follow may improve one's perception and mindset. When you grow up in such environment, like growing up in a Chinese family, for example, you will learn to be entrepreneurial, profit oriented and productive. Well, maybe not entirely, but your exposure to such environment would certainly give you many ideas about getting into business.

To really solve this, we should ask our government to have a system that supports entrepreneurship in a concrete, solid and well-defined, easy-to-follow system. Without it, we cannot easily create a culture of entrepreneurship as our resources are scanty.

I like thinking individuals...you have a rare thinking mind for your age ;)

I agree, the government can help encourage and promote entrepreneurship by say, giving financial help to those who want to go in business but does not have capital or provide technical assistance to those who are already in business but lacks knowledge. For those enterprising pinoys who sell things in the streets, maybe the government can provide them a clear path on where they should be taking their business and not just stop at getting income from the business. However the willingness to go into business and take risks still depends on you and I. I was a slave to the paycheck once but I realized I wasnt satisfied with it so I did something about it. Though I'm still working in an office, I have my business as a priority. The government didnt convince me to go into business, I made the conscious choice to do it by myself by thinking things through. I refuse to believe that I'm an exemption, that my breed is rare because I wasnt born and raised with business in mind. I was raised to be an employee as both my parents were. Being an employee is not all bad if that's all you want to be. But if that's all you want to be then I dont think one should be concerned about why others are poor and others are well to do since there no point in worrying about things you dont desire, right?.

I think, generally, most Pinoys are too afraid to go into business because we are too afraid to fail. And when most of us do go into business we tend to take the once with low risks, "ung siguradong kikita"...I cant say I blame them and I do understand, but fear of falure didnt stop Andrew Tan, Henry Sy, Manny Villar or NeNe Aguilar...They didnt stop where other did and that's the mindset I'm trying to learn and understand.

Zest-O eyes Indonesia
Local juice drink maker Zest-O Corp. plans to build a new plant outside the country next year to expand its market reach.

In an interview, Zest-O Chairman Alfredo M. Yao told BusinessWorld that he was looking for a strategic property in Indonesia where Zest-O can set up a new plant.

"Right now, we are already exporting to Indonesia and next year we are putting up our plant," Mr. Yao said.

He said Zest-O was also on lookout for other regions that have the same culture as the Philippines, where it would be easier to do business.

Zest-O has seven manufacturing facilities in the country and one in the Middle East.

Mr. Yao said Zest-O was not affected by the global financial crunch unlike other companies because of the nature of its product, which he described as a "low-cost" drink.

The businessman noted that Zest-O products are sold not only in the country but also in other parts of Asia, the Middle East, and the United States.

Zest-O products include Sunglo juice drinks, Zest-O Juice in Can, Zest-O Juice Drinks, Big 250, Orchard Fresh, and Zest-O Choc-o and Milk-o.

Mr. Yao last month changed the name of budget airline Asian Spirit, Inc. to Zest Airways, Inc. after his AMY Holdings, Inc. bought Asian Spirit, reportedly for P1 billion, in March. — KJRL
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW102708/content.php?id=044

http://photos21.flickr.com/27395336_39d0999e9a_o.jpg

damn, Doodie looks so damn like a bitch here :bash: i hate her.

I wonder what happened to Tan yu's riches, Has it been passed on to his children? companies?


I asked my father abut this and this is what he told me: Tan Yu's fortune was based purely on speculation. Forbes was said to have overvalued his assets. He was into real estates and his businesses are present in many parts of Asia. However, his company was marketing driven. They made public announcements of developments that have not yet been developed and sold them even when they're still in the drawing phase. He bought an island in the north and announced it to the media that the island will become the next Las Vegas. Of course, that did not happen obviously. Many of his company's project buildings in Ortigas Centre have not been completed.


^^ actually it was the 1997 asian economic crisis that hit him hard, as you said his investments were mostly in asia (especially taiwan),he remained very rich still a billionaire but never reached the same high of 7 until he died and he's wealths been distributed among his numerous relatives


Sayang at magiging kaparehas sana o modelled/patterned after Hong Kong at Hawaii ang Isla ng Barit at Isla ng Fuga na nabili ng Tan Yu group.

Naalala ko pa nuong mid-90's na nagta-trabaho ako dyan sa Ortigas ang mga lote ng AIC at may mga billboard na nakalagay na: Empire Tower, Gold Tower, Grand Tower at Crown Tower. Yun pala ay mate-tengga.

http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/96/0202/biz1.html

Mayroong naisulat noong May 2004 ang Manila Standard tungkol dito.

Revisiting the Tan Yu empire (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business04_may27_2004)

The return of the Tan Yu family to the local property business after the debilitating financial crisis of 1997 could give the struggling sector a timely boost. The late tycoon was a major player in Taiwan’s property market and his winning bid to develop reclaimed land by the Manila Bay in the late ’80s blazed the trail for what is now turning out to be Manila’s premier residential area.

Nobody has yet assumed the helm at the Tan Yu business empire two years after his death. But the grapevine said the five children have agreed among themselves to separately take care of the businesses left by their father. The tycoon’s widow, Pacita “Asing” See Tan Yu, will continue to remain in the background and provide moral support to the children.

Emilia “Bien Bien” Roxas, the eldest child, takes charge of Tan Yu’s Taiwan properties, including the giant Asiaworld Hotel in the heart of the capital, Taipei. Bien Bien, married to architect Andrew Yang, stays mostly in Taipei.

Elena Tan Yu Coyiuto, who is married to Peter Coyiuto — brother of stockbroker Robert Coyiuto Jr. — takes the lead in handling the Philippine operations of the family’s real estate business. She is vice chairman and CEO of Asiaworld Properties Philippines Corp. (APPC), owner and developer of Asiaworld City near Manila Bay.

Tan Yu’s Philippine interests include AIC Realty Corp., Marina Properties Corp., A&A Group, Fuga Internationale Group Inc. and Barit Island Holdings Corp.

Elton Tan Yu, the only son, is also based in Taipei and manages the trust funds of the family. He takes care of the group’s banking and finance requirements. Elton is married to a former Miss Korea.

Elizabeth Tan Yu, a computer wizard, handles the accounting and auditing requirements of the family business, while Tessa Tan Yu manages the Hong Kong properties.

Nelia Gonzalez, a trusted lieutenant of Tan Yu, continues to help Elena and the Philippine operations of the group. Gonzalez, a member of the UP board of regents, is president of APPC. She said the Tan Yu group decided to revitalize its property business because of improving economic conditions.

“Real estate is picking up a little bit and pretty soon it will improve further,” she told this columnist. She said accessibility to the reclaimed land has tremendously improved with the construction of the Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard.

The Tan Yus, she added, have chosen equity partners in their property projects — a major shift in business strategy. The late tycoon had always preferred to go solo on the group’s numerous projects.

^^ but he's dream is now being realized, did you know that he planned the bay project which is now the Bagong Nayon Pilipino plan, if the asian economic crisis hadn't happen, we would have had it by now, I remember Emilia bien-bien roxas his daughter who oversaw the project was in a Time Magazine cover ,they hailed her as the " Queen of the Bay"

this article was dated 1995

ENTREPRENEURS
From Backwater to Fantasy Isle
After a Near-Death Experience, a Filipino-Chinese Tycoon Makes an Audacious Move
By Antonio Lopez / Manila

BY RIGHTS, SAYS TAN Yu, he should have died more than a year ago. In 1994, the Filipino-Chinese tycoon was admitted to the Hermann Medical Center in Houston for a kidney transplant. "Three days after the operation, the new kidney apparently failed," he recalls. "Doctors told me I would live for only 20 days unless I had another operation. But that would extend my life only for six months. I refused the operation." Instead, he made a deal with God: "If I live, I would work 17 hours a day so I can help people." Tan Yu recovered -- "the only one to do so out of 3,000 cases of failed kidney transplants in Texas." Now in his 60s, he has high blood pressure, a quadruple heart bypass -- and a new mission.

Tan Yu wants to transform two Philippine islands he owns, Fuga and Barit, into the "Hong Kong and Hawaii of the 21st century." The Fuga Island Project is meant to jump-start the economic development of northern Philippines. It will be a haven for foreign investors, including those from Taiwan and Hong Kong who want permanent-resident status in a friendly country at a time of uncertainty over China's intentions. Fuga and neighboring islet Barit form part of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone. Investors need pay a flat levy of only 5% of gross income and can import goods and materials tax free. And Fuga is just 45 minutes by air from Taiwan and less than two hours from Hong Kong (see map, next page).

"We'll build a city from scratch, without squatters, pollution, traffic, government red tape," says Tan Yu. Because he owns the islands, he can construct anything on them without government permission or interference. But the cost could give even a tycoon a heart attack. The Fuga project will require some $50 billion -- the amount Manila hopes the private sector will invest in public works for the entire country in the next four years. Fuga and Barit boast pristine beaches but hardly any infrastructure. Tan Yu and partner Tuntex, the Taiwan property, petrochemicals and textile company that owns 30% of Fuga Internationale Group, must build an airport, seaport, power plants, a water system, phone lines, roads, bridges -- the whole works.

Tan Yu, who has made an estimated $12-billion fortune from property, hotels, finance and textiles, says Fuga Internationale -- there's an "e" so the name will not have 13 letters -- will spend $5.7 billion of internally generated funds from 1997 to 2000. He and Tuntex chairman Chen Yu-how hope to raise another $19 billion through borrowings and land sales in 1999. They are counting on concessionaires to take care of the remaining $25 billion. "In 50 years, Fuga will be a city of at least 3 million people," says Tan Yu. He envisions high-rise condominiums overlooking the ocean, hotels, golf courses, a casino, shopping malls, office towers and light-manufacturing industries such as semi-conductors.

But skeptics abound. "This is the first big news since the reclamation project," says a property analyst in Manila. "There was lots of loud noise at the time and then nothing." In 1989, the tycoon said he would develop 173 hectares of reclaimed land overlooking the famed Manila Bay into a city within a city. It would have eight-lane streets, six apartment blocks, a 2,577-room five-star hotel, a 1,000-bed hospital, shopping malls and a financial district. Seven years on, only two condominium towers and a townhouse complex have been completed. Tan Yu blames the nearly successful coup by military rebels in December 1989 for derailing the project. For now, he wants to build eight more residential towers on the property. He has bought more lots and did reclamation work to expand the area to 200 hectares.

In Taiwan, the business community is taking a wait-and-see attitude. Some executives are rather negative on the Philippines . Others are wary of Tan Yu. "Asiaworld is notoriously difficult to deal with," says a Taipei property consultant, referring to Tan Yu's hotel group. "Hyatt backed out of a deal because of this." Tan Yu says the deal was scuttled because he decided his own executives can manage his hotels. "Tuntex and [Tan Yu flagship] Asia Trust make money through risky speculative investments," says another source. Tan Yu was accused of pulling strings when the Taiwan government bailed out financially troubled Asia Trust in 1982. He regained control in 1989.

For all the carping, Tan Yu has a lot going for him. Fuga is a tropical paradise of 10,000 hectares. The island was a favorite playground of the jet set during Ferdinand Marcos's 20-year rule, which ended in 1986. The president had declared Fuga a marine reserve. It is surrounded by 70 kms of fine white beaches and has numerous sites for scuba diving, snorkeling, wind surfing and game fishing. There are thick stands of rare narra trees, cliffs, waterfalls and valleys. Tan Yu vows to preserve Fuga's environment and says he has hired an ecosystem specialist to make sure it is protected.

Influential Filipinos are backing the project. Former president Diosdado Macapagal leads a group that owns 5% of Fuga Internationale subsidiary Fuga Development Corp., which will build up the islands. Renato Cayetano, Fuga Internationale's legal counsel, was recently named to the cabinet as President Fidel Ramos's chief legal counsel. Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, who hails from Cagayan, pushed the Cagayan Special Economic Zone Act of 1995 that Ramos signed into law a year ago. The Act governs the granting of permanent resident status, tax exemptions and certain fiscal incentives.

Tan Yu also has clean title to Fuga, which is a third larger than Hong Kong island, and 700-hectare Barit. In a presidential decree, Marcos had stopped the practice of individuals

OWNING ISLANDS, BUT SAID those already in private hands before 1981 will not be affected. Fuga and Barit had been owned by two businessmen for decades. Tan Yu bought the islands in 1990 from a Filipino-Chinese businessman who was facing bank foreclosure and government sequestration of his properties. Tan Yu says he never met the seller and declines to identify him or the amount he paid. At the current price of up to $3.80 a square meter, the islands are worth more than $400 million.

Tan Yu got them far cheaper. Still, a lot of money changed hands. From his commission, the broker who arranged the sale reportedly bought a hotel and financed his winning bid for governor of a large province south of Manila in a special election last year. Tan Yu bought the islands without seeing them. There was just one consideration: location. "He looked at the map of the Philippines and Southeast Asia and said, ÔO.K.,'" recalls an aide. The Fuga airstrip could accommodate only small planes and Tan Yu did not want to ride in one. So he asked his friend Chen to inspect the proposed purchase. The Tuntex chairman "landed on the airstrip, ate sashimi and then left," says the aide. Chen liked what he saw and accepted Tan Yu's offer of a 30% stake.

Tuntex has a lot of financial muscle. It is a large property developer, construction group, hotel operator, textile manufacturer and petrochemicals maker. The 85-story tower it is building in Kaoshiung will be Taiwan's tallest. Last year, Tuntex made a commitment to construct a $4-billion petrochemicals plant in Thailand, where it already has $1.2 billion in investments. The Taiwan group is also building a $1-billion cement plant in the Philippines. Part of its annual output of 6.8 million tons is earmarked for the Fuga project.

"Fuga will be a major international resort," says James Chang, a senior adviser to Tuntex's Chen and a director of Fuga Internationale. A key target is Asia's Chinese: "They gamble a lot and also love to play golf." Last year, more than 6 million Taiwan residents traveled abroad, many to play high-stakes games in Macau and Las Vegas. Plans for Fuga and Barit include the world's biggest casino, 17 golf courses and at least 12,000 hotel rooms. "But tourism will only be 10% of the development," says Tan Yu. In addition to light industry, he wants to attract foreign retirees -- a Philippine law grants permanent-resident visas to people 50 and older who put $50,000 into the country -- and Filipinos who want to enjoy the good life in a well-appointed and safe community.

If Tuntex is bullish, Tan Yu is even more so. "Fuga will be the most beautiful city in the world, a garden, a paradise," he says. Because Fuga and Barit are privately owned, government will have a minimal role in their development and operation. Tan Yu cannot call on the state's financial resources, but he is also free from the permits, public bidding, land rights and politics that often hold back major infrastructure deals. The islands have 1,540 inhabitants, most of them poor fishermen. Tan Yu says they are eager for development and the job opportunities it will bring. He intends the private sector to take care of security and other services, and not depend on the national police and other agencies.

An indication of Tan Yu's commitment: he has agreed to become chairman of Fuga Internationale subsidiary Fuga Island Holdings. The tycoon has always refused to formally head any of his more than 100 companies, preferring to install his 14 children or relatives instead. (Daughter Emilia "Bien-Bien" Roxas, who is in her late 30s, is chairman and chief executive of main holding company Asiaworld Internationale. As chairman of Fuga Island Holdings, says Tan Yu, "I report to her.") Why is the project so close to his heart? Tan Yu says Fuga is the vehicle to fulfill the promise he made God after his kidney transplant: "The first 20 years of my life were for myself. The next 30 to 40 years were for my family. Now it's the turn of my fellow men."

Tan Yu says he is ready to use his own money for Fuga. There is a lot of it. In the Philippines, his total property holdings of 20,000 hectares make him the country's largest landowner after the government. Tan Yu says he owns 37 pieces of prime real estate in Taiwan, 3,845 hectares of residential and commercial land in Texas and 50 hectares in downtown Vancouver. He holds leases on 8,000 hectares of land in China. "I'm no longer interested in manufacturing," he says, though he still owns a textile mill near Manila. "Real estate is the best business. You can make 10 billion pesos [$385 million] in just one year."

Property is a consuming passion. Ten days after his kidney transplant, he donned his $1,000-Stetson hat, sneaked out of his hospital suite and spent $100 million on two 19-story office towers in Houston's business district and 100 lots in the city's Sweetwater housing estate. Tan Yu has a photographic memory when it comes to his real estate holdings. He remembers the size and cost of each lot, though he does his calculations with pencil and paper, muttering the numbers like the Chinese merchants of old. One thing he cannot say with accuracy: his age and those of his children.

None of his companies are listed, so it is difficult to estimate Tan Yu's net worth. Because of the capital's property boom, some analysts value the 200 hectares of reclaimed land he owns near Manila Bay at some $7 billion. Tan Yu had bought 173 hectares of the property, now known as Asiaworld City, for only $68 million at a 1988 government auction. The next year, he bought 2.8 hectares in Ortigas Center east of Manila at a time when land there was selling for $1,150 per square meter. Ortigas is now a financial center that hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank and the Philippine Stock Exchange. Real estate prices in the district have soared to $5,719 per square meter.

Daughter Elena Tanyu Coyiuto, who is in her mid-30s, is chief executive of AIC Realty. She plans to erect eight condominium buildings in Ortigas Center. Other commercial and residential projects are on the drawing board. "We will build an AIC tower in every major block in Ortigas, the Makati business district and Manila," she says. "Each will be a showcase of elegance, prestige and high quality and will be my monument to my father." Says her dad: "When you develop, you increase the value of your property by 100 to 1,000 times." Spun off just two years ago from the Philippine holding company AIC Group, AIC Realty aims for profits of $385 million on annual sales of $1.28 billion.

Actual work on Fuga starts next year. A team of international consultants led by the RBA Group, an engineering and architectural firm based in New Jersey, is now on the island drafting a $10-million master plan. One priority is an international airport with a 4-km runway for jumbo jets. Can Tan Yu really transform a backwater into a world-class fantasy resort and business island? He dismisses the doubters with a hearty laugh. Look at my record, he says. Through Fuga, the man who says he has come back from the dead is determined to live forever.

With reporting by Chris Bodeen/Taipei and Alexandra A. Seno/Hong Kong

so they can marry Vietnamese and other Asian peoples who practice confucianism but just not filipino?
:lol: hindi pala pwede sayo si Amigo kailangan niya muna maging bilyonaryo. :lol:

:lol::lol::lol:watch out konti na lang kulang, maging bilyonaryo na rin ako:D at may exception din basta guapo:D

interezting Thread...!! hehehehe eow guyz..!!:banana::banana::banana:

social Thread...!!

I heard that Tan Yu is from Bicol..!? Nice 2 know that once one of the world richest man is a Bicolano..!!?

uragon ini..!!^^

^^ he is kamaganak nya si ,the forumer formerly known as tsinoy,....hindi lang si ate marites ang secret na heredera dito....

so they can marry Vietnamese and other Asian peoples who practice confucianism but just not filipino?
:lol: hindi pala pwede sayo si Amigo kailangan niya muna maging bilyonaryo. :lol:

sons are usually permitted to choose anyone they wish to marry. they are only more strict with the daughters. :D

and they can marry vietnamese and other nationalities if they can pass the other criterias specially family background and financial stability.

as for me, i'm a son and a mestizo so i would have no problem marrying amigo. :D pero ayaw kasi kaming ikasal ni judge e, nagseselos siguro. kaya punta nalang kami sa europe. dun nalang kami magpapakasal. :D:D:D

^^ oo nga nakalimutan ko. paano kasi si jose pidal daw may-ari nun e.

^^ it's because you're a chinese mestizo.. Pure chinese are ethno-centric people that's why many Chinese do not allow intermarriages with Filipinos. They look down on Filipinos.

^^ i think they do allow intermarriages but under a much more strict criteria. but i also observed that the older generation moms do not like dark skinned in laws. so if the filipino is light skinned, he/she had higher possiblity of being accepted into the chinese family. and what's interesting is that the men (grandpa/father) don't really care who their sons marry so long as the lady is beautiful and they like them. but the matriarchs are the ones who are really strict, if they don't like the girl, they will not let you marry her. i have cousins who married filipinas. but the girls are really told to choose chinese men if possible, if not, at least filipinos who are financially stable and from a good family (well known and well respected and known for being good people.) my cousins are pure chinese and i know many pure chinese who allows intermarriages as long as it is among chinese sons and filipinas but not filipinos and their chinese daughters. i think it has something to do with the family name too. they don't want to have grandchildren who will have no chinese surnames.

although you might see chinese with filipino surnames but they also have chinese surnames which they use within the community and so they did not lose their chinese identity because they still have their chinese family names with them. but the grandchildren who are with filipino father will eventually lose their chinese surnames. maybe that's the reason. the lost identity.

How about Chiongbians, Laurels of Philbanking, Yupangcos, Nublas of PBCom, JY Campos Unilab, Cacho of former FEBTC, Puyat of Manila Bank?
Kahit "et al" dito na lang sa SSC yun? :)

^^ i think they do allow intermarriages but under a much more strict criteria. but i also observed that the older generation moms do not like dark skinned in laws. so if the filipino is light skinned, he/she had higher possiblity of being accepted into the chinese family. and what's interesting is that the men (grandpa/father) don't really care who their sons marry so long as the lady is beautiful and they like them. but the matriarchs are the ones who are really strict, if they don't like the girl, they will not let you marry her. i have cousins who married filipinas. but the girls are really told to choose chinese men if possible, if not, at least filipinos who are financially stable and from a good family (well known and well respected and known for being good people.) my cousins are pure chinese and i know many pure chinese who allows intermarriages as long as it is among chinese sons and filipinas but not filipinos and their chinese daughters. i think it has something to do with the family name too. they don't want to have grandchildren who will have no chinese surnames.

although you might see chinese with filipino surnames but they also have chinese surnames which they use within the community and so they did not lose their chinese identity because they still have their chinese family names with them. but the grandchildren who are with filipino father will eventually lose their chinese surnames. maybe that's the reason. the lost identity.

oh, thanks for explaining. :)