David Consunji’s advice to his kids: ‘With wealth comes responsibility’

The Philippines’ legendary self-made construction magnate, mining mogul and realty developer David “Dave” M. Consunji of DMCI Holdings, Inc. passed away at age 95 on Sept. 4. He was a builder of numerous landmarks here and abroad, from the iconic Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), luxury hotels and shopping malls to the world’s largest residential palace still in use today — the Brunei Sultan’s Istana Nurul Iman which has 1,788 bedrooms, a banquet hall for 5,000 guests, a mosque, a 110-car garage and air-conditioned stable for 200 polo horses.

One of Consunji’s earliest and famous projects was the University of the Philippines (UP) Parish of the Holy Sacrifice, called “UP Chapel,” built in 1955. It had five national artists behind it — architect Leandro “Lindy” Locsin, Vicente Manansala, Ang Kiu Kok, Napoleon Abueva and Arturo Luz. UP College of Engineering dean Alfredo Juinio was its structural engineer. The late David Consunji once told me that my late dad’s sawmill had extended him credit for this project.

Consunji was one of the country’s wealthiest billionaires. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Sept. 4 estimated his net worth at US$3.78 billion or P192.78 billion.

Unknown to most people, the Philippines’ late “Construction King” David Consunji was a 72nd-generation descendant of ancient China’s greatest teacher and philosopher Confucius, and this illustrious lineage was verified after three years of research according to his son Jorge. The tycoon’s children also studied Mandarin.

Jorge added that his dad David’s mother died early, so it was his mother’s widowed sister Dr. Paz Mendoza Guanzon who helped raise him. Manila’s Otis Street was renamed after David Consunji’s aunt who was the third female Filipino physician and the first woman to graduate from the country’s first medical school — UP College of Medicine — in 1912. She was also the first woman graduate of UP, outstanding in pathology research and a philanthropist.

His son Victor Consunji recalled: “Our father allowed us to make mistakes, but of course he didn’t want us to make a mistake twice (laughs). He really loved our mother in a different sense of the word. When our dad was inside the house, he always kept quiet, so walang gulo (no chaos), there was no argument. Our mom, when outside the house, she was the one who was quiet.”

Victor revealed that aside from being dissuaded by his own father from studying agriculture, the late David Consunji had taken the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) entrance exam, but he was rejected due to an enlarged heart.

Victor said: “At age 90 or 91, Dad brought us to Zamboanga where in 1957 he did logging business on 30,000 hectares of leased lands, and he wanted to plant rubber trees, palm oil and industrial trees to reforest again those logged areas. He was already in a wheelchair but wanted to go there; he wanted to travel by land, not by helicopter, to see that place called Vitali. He stopped when he saw a street named ‘Bataan’ and told us that when he was logging there, he had brought workers from his home province of Bataan to this place. I was worried then that Dad was about to die, wanting to go back there and recall these memories, but thank God his life was extended. Following our dad’s wishes, we planted 500,000 African palm oil trees, two million rubber trees and four million other trees like gmelina, acacia and mangium.”

His nephew Philip Cruz said: “Both my uncle Dave and his cousin­—my dad (F.F. Cruz) ­—were successful, but different. We were brought up to put up our own businesses, while he brought up his children ensuring that they’d live in one commune. They had a sense of teamwork: those who participated in the business got a salary, while those that do not, got dividends. Dad and Uncle Dave married two sisters­—Angelita and Fredesvinda Almeda­—who were top two pharmacy graduates of UP, and their two wives controlled the purse.”

His eldest son and successor as CEO of DMCI Holdings, Inc. Isidro “Sid” Consunji, gave Philippine STAR this exclusive interview:

PHILIPPINE STAR: What advice did your father give to his eight children?

ISIDRO CONSUNJI: He advised us never to separate; that if we were disunited, we wouldn’t succeed. He advised us to learn to work together, to settle any differences and not to go our own separate ways. He urged us to “protect your reputation,” that it goes a long way. He also said: “Be competitive, the world doesn’t owe you a living, work and contribute to society.” He said: “Wealth has its responsibility.”

Why have you become No. 1 in construction?

Hindi naman kami No. 1 (We’re not really No. 1). No shortcuts, we try to do our best. He didn’t like to dive in prices (in biddings). He took care of our brand. We’re a service provider, so we try to do our best with our motto “Speed, skill, responsibility.”

What are your dad’s success secrets? How come DMCI has lasted so long, while other big contractors seem to come and go?

First, our emphasis on time cost and quality. Second, teamwork. He said we should create a good team, not only rely on your own. Third, pag-alaga sa tao at skills nila (Taking care of people and their skills). Fourth, strong dedication and commitment. Fifth, malasakit (caring). We have the best interests of our customers at heart. Sixth, integrity.

What was your father’s favorite project, which he thought was his best?

He had a theory. He said, “My next project is my best.” He believed in continuous improvements. Very competitive, he liked pushing the envelope.

Your father originally wanted to study agriculture but was dissuaded by his dad, and I read that he spent his youth on his family farm in Hermosa, Bataan?

His father Gaudencio was the first graduate of agriculture of University of the Philippines. Yes, he worked in his youth in Hermosa, Bataan; his family also had a farm in Samal, Bataan. What remained with him was a fishpond. In fact, our late father knew how to catch crabs with his bare hands. He studied engineering and was entrepreneurial. After he married our mother in Naga City, he lived there with his in-laws. A typhoon once hit that city and one of the flagpoles became like a question mark, so he decided to leave because he saw how typhoons then could wipe out crops of that region.

What was the worst crisis in his successful career?

There were many. There was the early 1960s financial devaluation of the Macapagal administration. He had a construction contract from Philippine National Bank (PNB) in pesos, but he had to buy materials in dollars and PNB was then government-owned, so it was difficult. Then there was the 1972 oil crisis, the 1983 death of Ninoy Aquino, the 1997 Asian financial crisis. It took us seven years to recover from the Asian financial crisis. In 1997, all the banks shut down credit to us contractors and to many of our clients too.

How was your dad as leader of the family business?

We were collegial in making decisions, informal. He always listened and if you pushed strong enough, he’d also change his mind, but it was difficult to change his mind. Hindi siya nagtuturo, bahala ka sa buhay mo (He didn’t teach, we were left to manage our own lives). He gave people leeway, that’s why people liked to work for him.

What are examples of this?

At his biggest project then, the Twin Towers in Makati City, his project manager there was a 28-year-old guy. He believed that what was needed was simply hard work, consistent hard work and a team. When we went to Saudi Arabia to build a dozen bridges in 1979, Ed Palisoc was only 33 years old and I was only 29 years old.

Any stories from your father’s 1984 construction of the world’s largest private residential palace for the Sultan of Brunei?

It was handled by Ayala then led by the late Enrique Zobel and its project manager was Bechtel of America, and the whites were afraid that we, the contractor DMCI, wouldn’t finish in time for the 1984 independence day of Brunei. My dad told Enrique “If you want us to finish this project on time, take out the whites. Our Asian culture is just different, you cannot impose (your system).” We finished in six months. Boy Castro was then project manager of Ayala International.

Our dad said that we shouldn’t be afraid of or feel inferior to white or western engineers, that if we didn’t know something, we could learn it. You see, DMCI almost has no foreign consultants.

How did your father go into mining? Bloomberg described Semirara as “the Philippines’ largest coal producer.”

He went into coal mining in Bislig, we took over from PNOC, it was underground mining. When we had the opportunity to buy Semirara, he went into it. It’s open-pit mining and took us seven years to turn it around from 1997 to 2005. It was my younger brother Victor who turned it around.

What were your dad’s secrets for a long life?

He was disciplined in his diet and exercise. He took an hour siesta (nap) after lunch. Our father was very puritan in his discipline. He never smoked. He didn’t drink too much, especially after he read that alcohol is toxic to the body. He said: “You have to be aware of your genetic inclinations,” like if there are alcoholics in the family, then you need to control your drinking. He believed in moderation.

In his formative years during the Japanese military occupation, he was imprisoned in Fort Santiago for 17 days. Usually people jailed there ended up dead, but he was freed, so no matter how hard life was, he said it was not as difficult as being in that prison.

How was your dad as a husband to your mother Fredesvinda Almeda Consunji?

Our mother was the love of his life. Every time he’d arrive home, he’d always first ask where our mother was. I can’t forget when I was eight years old in 1957, our mother brought us to Los Baños, Laguna to buy plants. We went home at around 7 or 8 p.m. and she didn’t tell him about our trip. When we arrived home, there were lots of police cars outside our house and Mom laughed that he was too “praning” (too hysterical in panic). There were no cellphones then.

How would you describe their relationship?

They didn’t usually vote for the same president. He didn’t impose. Hindi nananakal (There was no suffocating control). 

Was there a private side to your dad that the public doesn’t know about?

He loved photography, just taking pictures of his family. Our father was a student of Shakespeare, he loved the sonnets of William Shakespeare. He was a student of history. Although he was an engineer by education, he advised me to take up an AB course first in college. The problem with the Ateneo then, there were no chicks (laughs), I was enrolled in economics there, then I told my dad that I really wanted to study engineering at UP.

Who were his closest friends?

His best friends were F.F. Cruz, Dean Alfredo Juinio, Lindy Locsin, Formoso, A.M. Oreta, Jamby Carlos, Onofre Banson, Nap Rama, Cesar Virata. He was really impressed with Dean Juinio.

Was there no rivalry between your dad and F.F. Cruz, since both of them were in construction and their wives are sisters?

Siyempre meron (Of course, there was), but it was mainly constructive. He disliked office politics, he liked performance and healthy competition.

I heard that your father really loved farming?

He had many farms, seven or eight farms with rubber, cattle, coconuts, durian, mango, suha, mangosteen, African palm oil. He really loved cattle. He had a milking herd in Davao. His favorite farm was in a barrio called Barakatan, located 30 kilometers out of Davao City.

How often would he go there and what would he do there?

He’d go there on weekends, sometimes once a month. He had a house there, he’d look at the cows and sleep. There used to be 4,000 to 5,000 cows there before, now about 500. He felt that we in the Philippines lacked protein in our diet.

Your father loved farming as a hobby or as a business?

He loved farming, maybe because his own father was into agriculture. It was not earning, but he kept on investing and investing, like a black hole (laughs).

What else did your dad do to relax?

He loved traveling, with our mother and our youngest sister Dinky. They had been to almost all cruises, even safari trips.

When was the happiest moment of your father?

He was happiest when our mom was happy. You know, we learned that when he was courting our mother, he would bring as gifts kaing kaing na santol (woven bamboo baskets of santol fruits), when most suitors would just bring a pack of santol.

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