Robina on recent kidnappings, retirement

Outside the Gokongwei Group and the UP Fighting Maroons, tycoon and sports patron Robina Gokongwei is famously synonymous with two enduring tales that refuse to die – one a cult urban legend, the other a real-life horror story.

The first involves a snake twin said to haunt a Robinson’s department store ladies’ fitting room, a story that spread like wildfire in the ’90s, like retail folklore.

The second, far less mythical, was her dramatic 1981 kidnapping – a headline-grabbing ordeal that once gripped the nation.

Admittedly, her kidnapping was what entered my mind when I saw her recently at a birthday dinner because of the recent high-profile kidnapping cases in the country.

Is she bothered? Is she extra careful these days? Does she think there is indeed a new spate of kidnappings?

Robina said that then and now, she still goes around with her security staff.

But, she said firmly and with no hesitation, that she hopes that supercop-turned-lawmaker Ping Lacson, the man who rescued her, will win one of the 12 coveted senate seats.

Ping Lacson, white knight

Lacson led the team that rescued Robina from her kidnappers.

This was what Robina posted when Lacson lost in the 2022 presidential elections.

“Thank you for rescuing my cousin Celina and myself in August 1981 after we were kidnapped for seven days by a gang headed by the wayward son of a judge. I still have newspaper clippings and a diary about the incident. I refused to read them again for the past 40 years but decided to finally bring them out of my baul after you announced that you just want to go home and spend time with your family.

“Time to relax, White Knight!”

Robina and her cousin were kidnapped on the morning of Aug. 20, 1981 on their way to the University of the Philippines Diliman Campus in Quezon City.

Robina’s father John Gokongwei immediately sought assistance from the authorities. Lacson then led a team from the Philippine Constabulary’s Metropolitan Command to rescue Robina and her cousin.

In 2019, when the elder Gokongwei died, Lacson, in a tribute to the retail tycoon, recalled how he taught him how to negotiate with Robina’s kidnappers.

“I instructed him not to sound intimidated. While negotiating for Robina’s ransom, he snapped at her kidnappers, ‘10M? Do you know how long it’ll take me to count that much money? You can have my daughter!’” Lacson said in a post on X.

“I said, not too bold either, Mr. John,” he added.

Robina and her cousin were rescued without any ransom being paid. Gokongwei offered P400,000 as reward money, which Lacson declined.

It’s no surprise that Robina wants to see Lacson win a Senate seat again. Many Filipino-Chinese kidnap victims who were rescued by Lacson also support him and attest to his character and leadership skills.

Last month, Lacson, commenting on the recent kidnapping incidents, said that authorities must bring the perpetrators to justice to deter similar incidents in the future.

Anson Que, a Filipino-Chinese steel businessman, was kidnapped last month and was later found dead in Rizal. Before that, a Chinese student was also kidnapped but later freed.

Industry sources said there have been other cases but were not reported in the news. One supposedly involved a prominent member of a Filipino-Chinese family that is behind a listed company. The victim, according to the grapevine, was released after paying ransom.

Retirement

As for Robina, she was moved to the US after her kidnapping and later returned home to help her father build their retail empire.

Today, she is enjoying her retirement from her role as president and CEO of Robinsons Retail, but sheepishly admits, “nakikialam pa din!”

Retired but still nagging although with more time now to attend ribbon-cuttings and many other events including weddings and birthday dinners, she said.

As the now chairman of Robinsons Retail, she said she still goes to the office, because “old habits are hard to break” but has more time to chat with anyone who wants to sit down with her.

Turning serious, Robina said, she listens to her successor Stanley Co’s new strategies on how to move the business forward.

Robinsons Retail grew its gross profit by 6.2 percent to P11.589 billion in the first quarter of the year.

Forty-four years after her kidnapping, Robina does not hesitate to talk about that ordeal decades ago. She does not go into every detail but had to correct what was shown in that Lacson movie “Supercop” decades ago, that she was not kidnapped while jogging in UP wearing a midriff as portrayed by actress Angel Locsin.

In the first place, she said with her trademark humor, she didn’t have the body to wear that outfit and she never will.

But Robina looks more visibly relaxed now as a retired – though still nagging – boss.

Another thing that Robina also talks about freely, and never without humor, is her snake twin.

In January, she even posed with some Year of the Snake decor at their mall in Ortigas with the caption: “My shining shimmering golden twin.”

It’s classic Robina, always game to laugh at this long enduring urban myth.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on X @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.