Michael Tan on airplanes, his first job and lessons learned from Lucio Tan

MANILA, Philippines — When he was young, Michael Tan wanted to fly.

“Every boy dreams of becoming a pilot at some point in his childhood,” says Michael over breakfast in London, our stopover en route to our destination, Toulouse, to fetch PAL’s new Airbus.

“I tried taking flying lessons once, with the rotary plane. But I had to discontinue because I had my eyes lasered, and the recovery time took long.”

That childhood dream somewhat came true, but in a different way. Michael now has to ride airplanes as part of his job for Philippine Airlines, the country’s flag carrier owned by his father Lucio Tan, the Forbes-listed billionaire whose businesses include airline, real estate, banking, tobacco and liquor industries.

Michael is president and COO of the Lucio Tan Group Inc., and director of PAL, which he helps pilot with PAL president and COO Jaime Bautista at the control wheel, together with his brother, PAL vice chairman Bong Tan.

“But wait, I don’t want to be in the limelight. I’d rather be behind the scenes. I wish you’d interview my siblings instead,” says Michael as he slices a waffle.

Yes, I would love to interview his siblings. But right now, I am just a journalist, sitting in front of this interesting man, asking him to continue with our interview.

“Interesting” is of course an understatement. This tall and handsome man happens to be brilliant as well.

My research showed he was a topnotcher when he finished his Civil Engineering course at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. That info would never come from him. Michael is not one to boast.

Lucio Tan, one of the self-made taipans whose success story inspires us all, taught his children one main lesson: humility.

“My father taught us to be humble,” says Michael. “Help the community. And the rest will fall into place. Always share. If you have a plate of food and somebody comes, share it. He would tell that to us. Everybody should be happy.”

His father also taught him the value of education, discipline and hard work.

“After grade school at Xavier, I attended high school at Dunman, a Chinese language school in Singapore (his father would regularly ask Michael and his brother Bong to recite Mandarin lines). Then on to Beijing University for pre-college (where he stayed at the student dorms with spartan furnishings) before taking his four-year Civil Engineering course at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver where he met his future wife, Angeline Ng.

Michael says his first job upon coming back to the Philippines was  “in a place where nobody wanted to go because it was in faraway Cabuyao. I worked in the glass bottle factory of Asia Brewery for one year.”

From inspecting beer bottles, Michael now helps the PAL team inspect wine bottles and major aspects of its airline business to make sure PAL provides a good product and excellent service.

Asked what details he looks into, Michael says when he flies, he wants to catch up on sleep so he makes sure PAL has seats that comfortably turn into lie-flat beds (such as in the A350) and where a Business class passenger has everything he needs within reach, just beside him. Details for the premium Economy and Economy also fall under his scrutiny. “Our seats are now the best in the industry,” he declares.

“Hopefully PAL will get 5-star rating and that will happen when our lounges get upgraded when the NAIA expansion project pushes through. This is a joint effort between the Gokongwei, Gotianun, Andrew Tan, Lucio Tan, Aboitiz, Zobel and MVP (Manny Pangilinan) groups.”

Mighty proud of the new A350, Michael reminds me that PAL was the first Asian airline. “Did you know that Japan bought its first airplane from PAL?”

He shows me a vintage photo on his cell phone — it’s an aircraft with the Philippine flag still on its body, with Japanese passengers lining up to board it. “It was a wet sale by PAL to Japan, meaning even the pilot and crew were from PAL,” explains Michael, pointing out the difference between a wet sale and a dry sale.

On board a small British Airways plane from London to Toulouse, there was only one vacant seat in Business class, and guess what? Michael gave up that seat and chose to stay with the rest of us in Economy class.

Humility is a lesson which Michael is also teaching his four daughters and one son (his eldest is 25 years old and his youngest, 10).

“Everybody has to work hard. You cannot forever depend on me. You have to be independent and hardworking,” he tells his children. His older daughters did their own due diligent surveys before choosing their schools in US and Canada.

On the birthday celebration of Lucio Tan last Tuesday where the Airbus from Toulouse was unveiled in Manila, President Duterte wished the 83-year-old taipan more success and a thousand more years.

Michael’s wish for his father? “More happiness, peace of mind.”

No hyperboles for Michael whose own mind is well-grounded though filled with sky-high dreams for the airline, real estate, banking, liquor and cigarette businesses which he oversees.

After all, Michael Tan has proven that he can fly.

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Follow the author on Instagram and Facebook @milletmartinezmananquil. Email her at mmmananquil@philstarmedia.com.