Gokongwei patriarch leaves half of fortune to charity

Self-made multibillionaire John Gokongwei Jr. is donating half his fortune — at least P20 billion — to charity to mark his 80th birthday and his holding company’s 50th anniversary.

At a dinner reception for 1,500 guests held last Friday at his Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas Center, Pasig City, Gokongwei announced that he would donate half of all his shares in the JG Summit Holdings conglomerate to various charities through the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation.

He said he was doing this "after discussions with my wife and children." On the day of his birthday, the total market capitalization of JG Summit Holdings, Inc. was pegged at P41,462,869,108.

The first recipient of Gokongwei’s donation is his alma mater, San Carlos University in Cebu, which received P50 million for its new Gokongwei School of Engineering.

"Gokongwei Brothers Foundation has donated around P400 million in the last five years and we shall be doing more philanthropy in the coming years," he said.

Gokongwei’s donation is the biggest philanthropic endowment in Philippine history, similar to American tycoon Warren Buffett’s announcement two months ago donating 10 million shares of his Berkshire Hathaway firm to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan also recently announced he is donating half his fortune to charities through his own foundation.

Gokongwei told The STAR he admires Hong Kong taipan Li Ka Shing, whose vast charities include major educational causes all over China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

In his speech, Gokongwei said "successes and failures are all part of life. Forget failures. Take them in stride and let them make you stronger. However, if something seems like it’s bound for success, then pour all your energy and resources and focus to make success a reality."

"I will devote the rest of my life to philanthropy. Life has been good to me, and I want to give back the blessings I have received...Others say life begins at 40. I say life is again beginning at 80 for me. And it can only get better," he added.

Philippine processed food exports leader Henson Tiu Laurel told The STAR that "this is the first time in Philippine history that such a big donation to charity has been made. Gokongwei is following in the footsteps of the world’s great philanthropic tycoons Andrew Carnegie, John Rockefeller, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. It seems Gokongwei is now focused on his name in history and posterity. He will be like Buffett, Gates and the Bank of America founder who chose not to leave all their wealth only to their children."

Born on Aug. 11, 1926 to a privileged family in their colonial-style mansion in Gulangyu isle across Xiamen City in Fujian province, southeast China, Gokongwei grew up in Cebu City.

At age 13, Gokongwei’s idyllic life was abruptly turned upside down when his father died. The family residence in Cebu and his late father’s moviehouses were foreclosed by creditors.

The young Gokongwei had to struggle as a trader on a bicycle and later in sea-going "batel" during the tumultuous Japanese military occupation of the Philippines. His widowed mother and other siblings moved to southern China to survive.

It was the start of an epic entrepreneurial saga, which resulted in the diversified JG Summit Holdings engaged in branded consumer foods, textiles and garments, airlines, petrochemicals, real estate, telecommunications, banking, hotels, electric power plants, publishing, among others.

After officially retiring, Gokongwei assumed the title of "chairman emeritus" of JG Summit Holdings and appointed his youngest brother James Go as chairman and chief executive officer and son Lance Gokongwei as president and chief operating officer.

James Go graduated with a bachelor’s and masteral degrees in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.

Lance Gokongwei graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Applied Science) from Pennsylvania Engineering School and a Bachelor of Science (Finance) from Wharton School in the US, both with summa cum laude honors.

He also attended the management and technology program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Gokongwei’s daughters, New York University-educated Robina Gokongwei-Pe and Columbia University-educated Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng, respectively oversee their family’s retail and publishing businesses, and both are columnists in the Lifestyle section of The STAR.

Among Gokongwei’s major businesses include Jack ‘n’ Jill snack foods, C-2 tea drinks, Great Taste and Blend 45 coffee, Nissin’s and Payless noodles, Robinsons malls, Robinsons Land, Cebu Pacific Air, Sun Cellular, and Summit Media.

Today, JG Summit Holidings, Inc. has given jobs to more than 30,000 families in the Philippines.

Gokongwei strongly believes in globalization and his JG Summit Holdings has in recent years expanded to China and other countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as a multinational conglomerate. Its 50th anniversary theme was "Going Global at 50."

Boldly competing with the world’s top multinationals for the fast-growing China market, JG Summit Holdings has ventures in Xiamen City in Fujian province, Shanghai City, Chengdu City in Sichuan province and also Guangdong province.

Gokongwei admires the visionary leadership of former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and his successor son Lee Hsien Loong.

JG Summit is one of the major shareholders in Singapore-listed United Industrial Corp., which controls Singapore Land Limited and its 2.2-million square feet of prime office spaces and one million square feet of posh retail spaces. UIC’s realty investments include Stamford Court, the sprawling Marina Square shopping and hotel complex, West Mall, The Gateway, UIC Building, and others, including Beijing Landmark Towers and Tianjin Sheraton Hotel in China.

Gokongwei’s three-hour birthday dinner celebration was emceed by television newscaster Karen Davila, organized by Stratworks and directed by Floy Quintos.

Lea Salonga, The Company, Robert Seña, Isay Alvarez, Whiplash dance group and Jay-R performed before guests comprised mainly of family members, JG Summit executives, businessmen, diplomats, bankers and close friends. Foreign diplomats who graced the affair included Singapore Ambassador Lim Keng Hwa and Italian Ambassador Rubens Fedele.

Among the diverse guests were SGV Group founder Dr. Washington SyCip, former prime minister Cesar Virata, clan patriarch Oscar Lopez, Gokongwei-owned Sun Cellular’s competitor Smart Communications’ Napoleon Nazareno, former Bangko Sentral governors Gabriel Singson and Jose Cuisia, Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. president Francis Chua, George Drysdale Sr. of the American Chamber of Commerce, National Bookstore founder Socorro Ramos, Philippine Stock Exchange leader Robert Coyiuto Jr., Antonio Go of Equitable Foundation, Ateneo de Manila University president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, Ambassador Ramon del Rosario, Oscar Hilado of Phinma Group, Alfred Ty of Toyota Philippines and Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee.

There were no politicians at the birthday dinner celebration, except for Gokongwei’s distant relatives Sen. Sergio Osmeña III and former senator Nikki Marquez-Lim Coseteng. Osmeña’s forebear President Sergio Osmeña was the Chinese mestizo son of Gokongwei’s immigrant great-great-grandfather Pedro Gotiaoco of Cebu, while Gokongwei is the eldest male great-grandson of the Chinese family of Pedro Gotiaoco. Other descendants of Gotiaoco include the Sy-Gaisano retail clan of central and southern Philippines, while Gotiaoco’s brother was the grandfather of Filinvest Group and East-West Bank boss Andrew Gotianun. Coseteng’s mother was the Chinese mestiza descendant of Gokongwei’s immigrant maternal grandfather Pedro Marquez Lim of Iloilo.