Chinese immigrant’s son
Alex — the fifth child of Wong Chu King, a self-made immigrant from Fujian, China, and Nelia Pardo Dy of Naic, Cavite — was educated at Xavier School and Colegio San Juan de Letran.
After the untimely passing of their father in 1987, whose rags-to-riches journey saw the founding of La Campana Fabrica de Tobacos Inc. immediately after the war, Alex and his siblings took over the management of Mighty Corporation, a Virginia-blended cigarette manufacturing company established in 1985.
Steering the family business
Despite stiff competition as the 1990s rolled along, coupled with pressure from authorities concerning the harmful effects of cigarette smoking, the Wongchuking siblings, led by Alex and brother Caesar, managed to steer their business away from imminent collapse, shifting to toll manufacturing in the early 2000s in partnership with Indonesian-owned Sterling Tobacco.
The success of this venture allowed Mighty to embark on the modernization of its manufacturing plants, leading to other partnerships such as with Lubritrade Pte. Limited, a Singaporean fast-moving consumer goods conglomerate.
For his part, Alex, as president, was known to join his managers and agents on their sales routes, allowing him to gain a better understanding of the market, particularly that of low-priced cigarette products, the linchpin of the family’s wealth.
“You must know it [your business] by heart; why, where, and when you started, the goals you aim to reach, and the strategies you learned along the way,” wrote Alex in 2018. “Those strategies are your unique solutions that can be passed on and can be enhanced by your future successor.”
Crisis and controversy
In 2017, Mighty Corporation, which had by then had 23 percent of the local cigarette market found itself at the center of controversy due to allegations of smuggling and economic sabotage for using counterfeit Bureau of Internal Revenue tax stamps on their products.
The case, which instantly became cause célèbre during the Duterte administration, forced the firm to enter into an out-of-court settlement for a P30-billion payment plus an additional P10 billion in taxes and penalties.
To raise the necessary funds, the Wongchuking family sold Mighty Corp. to Japan Tobacco, Inc. (JTI) for P46.8 billion, spelling the end of their long exposure to the cigarette industry.
Said JTI in a statement: “The acquisition is in line with JT Group’s geographic expansion for sustainable growth. It also provides a nationwide distribution network in the Philippines and strengthens the Group’s brand portfolio with the addition of local brands such as ‘Mighty’ and ‘Marvels’.”
The agreement, which extinguished all the family’s legal liabilities, was reported to be the biggest sum on record raised by the government from a tax settlement.
Moving ahead
No longer involved in the tobacco industry, the Wongchukings, through Wong Chu King Holdings, Inc., ventured into real estate, industrial leasing, logistics, printing, sports apparel, and agriculture.
As part of the transformation of the family’s business empire, Alex and Caesar started in 2019 a firm called T12 Polo Land Inc. which has a sprawling 23-hectare site in the fast growing municipality of Guiguinto, Bulacan, 30 minutes north of Metro Manila.
The venture, run by the younger Wongchuking sibling, is a sprawling compound occupied by large warehouses which the firm then rents out to tenants who need space for their logistics operations on a large scale.
More recently, the family has pivoted the project toward becoming a P2-billion commercial and industrial township dubbed “AcroCity”, envisioned to be a lifestyle hub catering to the growing needs of the surrounding communities and residents of nearby areas including Metro Manila.
During his semi-retirement years, Alex, with the help if his wife Belen Ong at his side, focused his attention on philanthropy under the Wong Chu King Foundation, supporting educational and apostolic charities and providing scholarships to underprivileged but deserving students.
He was also a known Mercedes-Benz aficionado, having inherited his father's fleet.
Alex survived a serious bout with Covid-19 in 2020. He was afflicted with cancer after this but was cleared of the disease after treatment, until it recurred earlier this year.
With his passing, the multibillion-peso Wongchuking empire is now in the hands of Caesar, who is committed to completing the transformation of the family business into new fields of growth.
Features Reporter
