Notes on the beat: Reliving John Gokongwei Jr.’s greatness

MANILA, Philippines — Much has been said about the story and life of one of the country’s most influential and inspiring tycoons, John Gokongwei Jr. But reliving Big John’s greatness never fails to hit the spot.

An icon in business and in nation-building, John left a massive legacy that is forever etched in the annals of Philippine history for bringing household names like Chippy and C2 as well as prominent brands like Robinsons Malls and Cebu Pacific.

But John’s greatness goes beyond his accolades in putting up a conglomerate that spanned the areas of property development, food and beverage, retail, air transport, power, media and petrochemicals.

“My father always had the desire to make a difference. You can see it in the way he lived his life,” John’s daughter Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng said.

To honor John’s legacy, Lisa, general manager of the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation (GBF), tapped journalist Lala Rimando and filmmaker Troy Bernardo to create a documentary titled “A Boy, a Bicycle, and a Legacy. Remembering John Gokongwei Jr.”

The nearly one-hour documentary that is currently available on video sharing platform YouTube tells John’s story through the eyes of the people he worked closely with and the beneficiaries of the foundation’s projects.

The short film, which has been released in celebration of GBF’s 32nd anniversary this year, is the first of a tri-platform project about John’s legacy. It will be followed by a book and podcasts on his life and business, respectively, which are slated to be released in the next few years.

“Even if I remove the fact that we are related, I think it is a very inspiring story.  It’s a story of a boy who has to support his entire family. When he looks back at it, he always said that those were the best times of his life because it’s those times that made him what he became,” Lisa said.

“When I listened to what the GBF scholars were saying, I believe that they felt the same way – that even they were inspired by Mr. John’s story. That if Mr. John can do it, so can they. I think that is what we want. We want the people who watch it to feel that they can do it also,” she said.

Brothers John, Henry, Johnson and James who believed that education was key to national progress established the GBF in 1992.

The foundation takes pride in its various programs that have reached over 50,000 teachers, potentially impacting more than 1.5 million learners all over the country.

It started with scholarship programs, institutional endowments and building a technical training center to provide access to quality education for underprivileged youth.

Since then, GBF has also expanded to educators’ development programs with the belief that investing in educators will have a positive multiplier effect on student learning outcomes.

It is also using edtech solutions to empower educators and learners to teach and study more effectively.

“Dad always believed that education was the key to nation-building,” his son Lance Gokongwei said.

As a testament to this, Lance recalled that on his father’s 80th birthday, John donated half of his personal holdings in JG Summit Holdings Inc. to the GBF.

“He wanted to focus on giving the Filipino youth the opportunity to receive quality science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. He wanted to help educate the next generation and the generations to come, so that they could continue to move our country forward,” he said.

Almost five years since he passed away, John’s accomplishments continues to inspire people from all walks of life and the release of this short film will ensure that his legacy will be remembered for many years more.

By using YouTube as platform, the documentary hopes to reach as many viewers as possible to share the success story of one of the country’s most respected taipans.

“The film is meant to target the widest possible audience and the way to do that is to tug at the heart. So it is meant to reach out to as many. Even if you’re not in business, it’s also meant to inspire you to take a look at yourself and maybe ask, am I also giving back to the society?” Rimando said.