John Gokongwei Jr., from angry boy to legendary Taipan

His story reads like fiction, every bit like an urban legend, straight out of a movie. But fiction it is not.

The setting is in Cebu, the Queen City of the South. There is a chauffeur who drove him to school in a sleek, shiny car, there are friends who watched for free in their family’s chain of air-conditioned movie houses, there is a sprawling house in the province’s version of Forbes Park and lots and lots of money.

But all that would change one fateful day. His father, a Chinese migrant from Fujian, China would die of complications due to typhoid.  The story changes in the wink of an eye.

Gone were the chauffeurs, the sleek cars, and the big house. One by one, the friends disappeared.

But this isn’t a script from a movie or some fictional plot.

This is the story of John Gokongwei Jr., who was only 13 years old when his father died.

“Everything I enjoyed vanished instantly. My father’s empire was built on credit. When he died, we lost everything-our big house, our cars, our business-to the banks. I felt angry at the world for taking away my father, and for taking away all that I enjoyed before. When the free movies disappeared, I also lost half my friends,” he recalls in a speech delivered in 2007.

Suddenly, Gokongwei had to walk two miles to school. But he did not sulk in anger.

“I cried to my mother, a widow at 32. But she said: ‘You should feel lucky. Some people have no shoes to walk to school. What can you do? Your father died with 10 centavos in his pocket.’ So, what can I do? I worked,” Gokongwei recalls.

To survive, mother and son opened a small stall in the market, selling a wide array of goods – soap, candles, thread and garlic peanuts.

In 1943, when he was able to earn enough to expand, he traded goods between Cebu and Manila.

“From Cebu, I would transport tires on a small boat called a ‘batel.’ After traveling for five days to Lucena, I would load them into a truck for the six-hour trip to Manila. I would end up sitting on top of my goods so they would not be stolen! In Manila, I would then purchase other goods from the earnings I made from the tires, to sell in Cebu,” he recalls.

When World War II ended, he put up Amasia Trading, which imported onions, flour, used clothing, old newspapers and magazines, and fruits from the United States.

In 1957, at age 31, he then ventured into cornstarch manufacturing.

“But I was going to compete with Ludo and Luym Corp., the richest group in Cebu and the biggest cornstarch manufacturers. I borrowed money to finance the project. The first bank I approached made me wait for two hours, only to refuse my loan. The second one, China Bank, approved a P500,000  clean loan for me. Years later, the banker who extended that loan, Dr. Albino Sycip said that he saw something special in me. Today, I still wonder what that was, but I still thank Dr. Sycip to this day. Upon launching our first product, Panda corn starch, a price war ensued. After the smoke cleared, Universal Corn Products was still left standing. It is the foundation upon which JG Summit Holdings now stands,” Gokongwei says.

Today, JG Summit, the taipan’s conglomerate, is a vast empire with many businesses to its name –  from a disruptive budget airline to snack foods and retail.

It has investments in agro-industrial and commodities, real estate and hotel, the airline business, banking, petrochemicals and food.

Its subsidiaries include JG Summit Petrochemical Corp., Cebu Air Holdings Inc., Universal Robina Corporation, Robinsons Land Corporation, and Robinsons Bank Corp.

Outside the country, its branded foods businesses are in China, the ASEAN region, New Zealand, and a core investment in a property development company in Singapore.

Gokongwei, who has now passed on the leadership of his holding company to his son Lance, still guides his children in the different businesses.

He is proud of how his story has evolved. It wasn’t easy but no doubt much better than the way it was before when he was that young boy of 13. 

He cannot wish for anything more but for his countrymen to enjoy the same success.

“As a boy, I sold peanuts from my backyard. Today, I sell snacks to the world. I want to see other Filipinos do the same,” Gokongwei says in his speech.

(Author’s note: I wrote this piece in 2017 for Legends, Lives and Legacies, a coffee table book published by the Philippine Retailers Association. With the passing of taipan John Gokongwei late Saturday night, I am reprinting it in today’s column because it is an inspiring story about a great man whose businesses opened many doors to ordinary Filipinos).

Iris Gonzales’ email address is [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at eyesgonzales.com