Lucio Tan cuts ties with son-in-law

MANILA, Philippines — Taipan Lucio Tan has issued a public advisory, saying that his son-in-law Joseph Chua is not authorized to represent the Tan Group of companies and the family itself.

“The public is hereby notified that Mr. Joseph Chua has no authority to represent Dr. Lucio C. Tan, the Tan Family and Lucio Tan Group of Companies. Any prior authority of representation given to Mr. Joseph Chua are deemed void and or revoked,” said a newspaper advertisement published yesterday.

Chua did not respond when sought for comment about the newspaper advertisement.

Sources told The STAR that “this has been a long time coming and that there have been disagreements within the Tan business empire involving Chua.”

Many of Tan’s sons, daughters, in-laws and grandchildren play key roles in the tycoon’s many businesses.

It is not clear what the implications of this advisory are as Chua currently holds key positions in many Tan-owned companies.

Chua, the husband of Tan’s eldest daughter Rowena, was said to have enjoyed the support of Lucio “Bong” Tan Jr. until his death in November 2019.

Chua was re-elected president and COO of Tan’s MacroAsia Corp., a ground handling services company, according to the last organizational meeting of its board of directors which is currently chaired by the taipan.

He is also a director of PAL Holdings Inc., the parent company of Philippine Airlines, based on the results of the last annual stockholders meeting held in July last year.

Chua is also part of Tan’s Hong Kong-listed property company Dynamic Holdings Ltd.

As Tan clipped the powers of Chua, he recently appointed another daughter, Irene as executive director of Dynamic Holdings.

In an announcement last Sept. 14, Dynamic Holdings said Irene “has years of senior managerial experience specializing in banking, hotel, securities and insurance industries.”

Irene is also the director of Alliedbankers Insurance Corp. as well as the director and president of Pan Asia Securities Corp.

Another son-in-law Ramon Sy Pascual, husband of another Tan daughter Sheila, also plays key roles in the empire.

Pascual was named Eton president and CEO in November 2019, taking the role of Tan Jr.

Another Tan daughter Karlu Say is Eton COO.

Tan, 87, is a Forbes-listed billionaire with a tobacco, banking and airlines empire. For a time the country’s richest man, he is No. 12 in the 2021 Forbes list of the Philippines’ 50 richest, with a net worth of $1.9 billion.

The pandemic affected Tan’s Philippine Airlines, which racked up losses and filed for bankruptcy in the US, causing his ranking to slip to No. 12 from consistently being on the Top 10 in the Forbes list.