By JAMES LOYOLA
John Gokongwei Jr., one of the Philippines’ original taipans who built a giant conglomerate from scratch, passed away at the age of 93.
“Our beloved husband, father, and grandfather John Gokongwei Jr. passed away peacefully 11:41 p.m., Nov. 9, at the Manila Doctor’s Hospital surrounded by his loved ones. Please pray for the repose of his soul. Details of his wake to follow. Rest in peace, Mr. John,” Gokongwei’s son Lance said in a message.
Ranked by Forbes Magazine as the country’s third richest with an estimated net worth of $5.3 billion in 2019, Gokongwei was the founder and chairman emeritus of JG Summit Holdings Inc. which has interests in food and beverage manufacturing, air transportation, telecommunications, petrochemicals, banking, power, property and hospitality, retail, and media.
Gokongwei was 15-years-old when had to leave school and work for the survival of his family after the death of their father. He started by peddling soaps, candles, and threads in a distant town in Cebu where he would earn a profit of about P20 a day.
“The pesos I made in the palengke (market) were the pesos that went into building the business I have today. After this experience, I told myself, ‘If I can compete with people so much older than me, if I can support my whole family at 15, I can do anything!’” Gokongwei recounted.
In 1943, at the height of World War 2, Gokongwei started trading goods, travelling the whole day to bring tires to Manila and then buying other goods to sell back in Cebu.
After the war, he put up Amasia Trading which imported food and dry goods from the United States.
In 1957, at the age of 31, Gokongwei took out a P500,000 loan to start a cornstarch business to take on leaders in the business by starting a price war. His Universal Cornstarch products was the survivor and became the start of Universal Robina Corp. which now has interests in food and beverage manufacturing in the Asia-Pacific region.
