Lucio C. Tan Sr. | |||||||||||
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陳永栽 | |||||||||||
.jpg) Tan in 2018 | |||||||||||
| Born | (1934-07-17)July 17, 1934 (age 91) | ||||||||||
| Alma mater | Chiang Kai Shek College Far Eastern University | ||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, philanthropist | ||||||||||
| Known for | Chairman and CEO (LT Group, Inc.,[2]Philippine Airlines,[3]MacroAsia Corporation) | ||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Carmen Khao-Tan Lucia G. Tan (died 2020) | ||||||||||
| Children | 6, includingBong | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 陳永栽 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 陈永栽 | ||||||||||
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Lucio Chua Tan Sr. (traditional Chinese:陳永栽;simplified Chinese:陈永栽;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Tân Éng-chai;pinyin:Chén Yǒngzāi; born July 17, 1934) is a Filipino billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He presides over the Filipino conglomerate companyLT Group, Inc., a company with extensive business interests in sports, banking, airline, liquor, tobacco, real estate, beverages, and education. As of November 2024,Forbes estimated his net worth at US$2.8 billion.[4][5]
Tan was born in Amoy (nowXiamen), Fujian, China. His parents moved toCebu in the Philippines when he was a child. He was said to have gone to school on barefoot and first worked as a stevedore who tied cargo with ropes made from abaca.[6] He earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from theFar Eastern University inManila.[7]Forbes states that while in college, Tan "worked as a janitor at a tobacco factory"[8] where he "mopped floors to pay for school."[9]
In 1966, Tan co-foundedFortune Tobacco Corporation (FTC), with Benito Tan Kee Hiong, Atty. Florencio N. Santos, and Mariano Tanenglian.
Tan acquired the insolvent General Bank and Trust in 1977 and subsequently renamed itAllied Banking Corporation.[10]
Asia Brewery, Inc. was established by Tan in 1982, with the inauguration of its brewery inCabuyao,Laguna and the launch of its first brand, Beer Hausen Pale Pilsen. The brewery growth steadily in the following decade, increasing its capacity, expanding and diversifying its product lines.[11][12]
In 1988, Tan acquiredTanduay Distillers for PHP 1 billion through Twin Ace Holdings Corporation.[13]
In 1992, Tan won the bid that secured the purchase of the newly-privatizedPhilippine Airlines and became chairman of the airline three years later.[10] FounderBenjamin M. Bitanga of the aviation support services companyMacroAsia Corporation sold it to Tan in 1995.
In 2012, Tan created aconglomerate with estimated total assets of atleast $5 billion by consolidating all his holdings in liquor, cigarette, banking, real estate and airlines into a single listed entity, Tanduay Holdings Inc. Tanduay Holdings Inc. was also approved to change its name to LT Group Inc.[14][15]
Though the companies of Lucio Tan Group has been involved in various social responsible programs, Tan has benevolent personal philanthropy works, particularly in the academic sector. Notable of which is his ownership stake with theUniversity of the East, resulting for the erection of the nine-storey Dr. Lucio C. Tan Building on the university's Caloocan City campus. Tan also gave a grant as an endowment for the development ofCentral Philippine University Institute of HRM and Tourism inJaro, Iloilo City, which in return, was renamed in his honor as the Dr. Lucio C. Tan College of Hospitality Management, the first college/school in his namesake outside Manila. A building which houses the said college is also named after him on the CPU's main campus, the Lucio C. Tan Building.[16]
In the 1990s, Tan was president of the Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Institute Foundation (LRMFI), an organization established in 1989 and composed of Chinese-Filipino Catholics that aims to spread the Christian faith worldwide.[17]
In the 1990s,Forbes reported about the "considerable corruption still prevalent" in the Philippines, bolstering that claim by citing how Tan "single-handedly held up a tax reform intended to remove special privileges for local tobacco and beer producers."[18] and that Tan was spending his free time "[j]ousting with the government over charges of tax evasion" and withPhilippine Airlines "shareholders who tried to block his bid for the airline."[19] However, the 25 billion-peso (US$622 million) tax evasion case against Tan was dismissed in March 1999, after simmering through the terms of presidentsCorazon Aquino andFidel Ramos.[20]
ThePresidential Commission on Good Government ("PCGG") filed a case against Tan in July 1987, claiming that the state is entitled to PHP 50 billion in damages and PHP 1 billion in legal expenses.[citation needed] The PCGG also alleged that the companies that Tan held in trust for the former president Marcos – such asFortune Tobacco,Asia Brewery,Allied Banking Corporation, Foremost Farms, Himmel Industries, Grandspan Development Corp., Silangan Holdings, Dominium Realty and Construction Corp., and Shareholdings Inc. – were illegally acquired by Marcos using government funds. The state was seeking to recover 60% of Tan's holdings in those companies.[21] The PCGG then seized control of Tan's companies until the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan's decision in 2006 to nullify the writs of sequestration on the companies—the court ruled that the writs had no basis as there was noprima facie proof that any of Tan's assets were obtained illegally. Following the PCGG's appeal, theSupreme Court of the Philippines on 7 December 2007 affirmed the decision of the lower court, having found no proof that Tan, his family, or his various businesses took undue advantage of their relationship with former president Marcos or no factual basis for the sequestration of the stocks.[22] The PCGG announced through court filings on 29 April 2009 that it would be "resting its case" and terminating its PHP 51 billion lawsuit even though the government lawyers had earlier insisted in court that they still had several key witnesses, including former First LadyImelda Marcos.[23]
In 2017, PresidentRodrigo Duterte accused Tan of owing the Philippine government around US$600 million in unpaid taxes, but subsequently decided to stop discussing the issue.[24]
Tan is married, with six children, and lives in Manila, Philippines.[4] His first wife, Carmen is the mother of his eldest son,Lucio Jr. ("Bong"), who died in November 2019. Bong's son, Lucio III ("Hun Hun"), is considered to be Tan's heir apparent.[25]
His second wife Lucia G. Tan, with whom he had five children, died on 31 August 2020, aged 77.[26]
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