Documentary on John Gokongwei, Jr.’s advocacy for learning just the first of a 3-part tribute to the late tycoon
WHEN the Gokongwei family decided to honor their patriarch in a three-part multimedia tribute, they knew they had to start by focusing on what fueled John Gokongwei, Jr.’s philanthropic side.
As a teenager during the Second World War, he supported his family, which had lost their fortune, by peddling items along the streets of Cebu on his bicycle.
The documentary A Boy, a Bicycle, and a Legacy: Remembering John Gokongwei Jr. traces his dedication to help Filipinos further their education through the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation (GBF) to the man’s humble beginnings.
The film is available to watch on YouTube.
Business journalist Lala Rimando produced the documentary, the first of three tributes lined up.
The other two are a book and a podcast, both of which will center on Mr. Gokongwei’s colorful, business-savvy journey to the top.
For Troy Bernardo, who directed the film, there was not much drama behind its making. The Gokongwei family and scholarship program recipients were all happy to talk about “Mr. John,” as he was affectionately called.
Mr. Gokongwei passed away in 2019 at the age of 93.
“The material on him that is already out there is usually technical, all business. For this documentary, we wanted to focus on the heart,” said the director at the documentary’s Aug. 15 premiere in the recently opened Opus Mall in Bridgetowne, Quezon City.
The GBF’s Iskolar ni Juan tech-voc program is a fully subsidized Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) scholarship done in partnership with Universal Robina Corp. It provides industry-standard training, work immersion, and eventual job opportunities to underprivileged high school graduates.
Interviews with family members and proponents of this program, plus snippets from a 2011 interview with Mr. Gokongwei himself, paint a picture of the conglomerate’s thrust towards nation-building.
Ms. Rimando said that the documentary was chosen to represent this side of Mr. Gokongwei because it would have “the widest reach.”
“Meanwhile, book readers are very few. It’s a very niche market, so we’re making that for students, businessmen, and people who want to learn from the man through a more detailed account of his work,” she explained. “The podcast will do that as well, but it will be more emotional and motivational.”
Both the book and the podcast are scheduled for release next year.
Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng, the general manager of GBF and Mr. Gokongwei’s third child, told the press: “Most know about Mr. John’s business legacy, but few knew how important the foundation and its purpose were to him. I think we were very lucky to have grown up and lived with him.”
The documentary can be viewed for free on YouTube at https://tinyurl.com/49z5jbdr. — Brontë H. Lacsamana
