Felisa Velasco-Go, matriarch of the Go publishing family, passed away peacefully yesterday at the age of 91, with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren by her bedside. Mrs. Go was the wife of the late Dr. Go Puan Seng, publisher of the pre-martial law
Fookien Times, and mother of the late Betty Go-Belmonte, founding chairman of
The Philippine STAR, and wife of Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. She is survived by her son, Andrew, chairman of Canada’s
Sing Tao newspaper, and former president, Business Ventures of the
Toronto Star; daughters, Cecily Go Chua of Florida, Elsie Go of Los Angeles, and Grace Glory Go, executive vice president of
The Philippine STAR, and president and publisher of the
Fookien Times Philippines Yearbook,
Pulp and
MTV Ink. Among her 16 grandchildren are Howard Chua-Eoan, news director of
TIME magazine; Isaac Belmonte,
Philippine STAR editor-in-chief, Kevin Belmonte, president of
philstar.com, Miguel G. Belmonte, president and CEO of
The Philippine STAR, and Vernon Go, editor-in-chief of
Fookien Times Philippines Yearbook and
Pulp. She had 22 great grandchildren.
Mrs. Go worked alongside her husband in establishing the
Fookien Times as the leading Chinese newspaper in the Philippines. She was chairman of the
Fookien Times Philippines Yearbook at the time of her death, and was also very active in church and missionary work. Those who knew her describe her as God-fearing, kind and generous.
Funeral services and interment details will be announced later.