Today, January 1, 2024, Felipe Gozon is no longer the chairman and CEO of GMA Network Inc.
Upon retiring from the post he held for 23 years, he leaves behind a legacy that is as inspiring as it is impressive.
His leadership has been described as “transformative,” steadily steering a fledgling network on the verge of shutting down into a broadcast media giant, which today stands alone as the biggest player in its field.
The 84-year-old network executive announced his retirement during a birthday celebration organized for him at the EDSA Shangri-La on December 9, 2023.
Taking over the reins as CEO starting January 2024 is current GMA President and Chief Operating Officer Gilberto R. Duavit Jr.
“With the Lord’s help and the changes we are implementing, we are confident that GMA Network and GTV will not only continue to maintain their top rankings in ratings and superiority in gross revenues and net income in the coming years but improve on them,” he said in his speech.
As the Kapuso network embarks on a new era, we take a look at FLG’s long but fulfilling journey from a curious kid from Malabon to the upper echelons of business.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Felipe Enrique Lapus Gozon was born on December 8, 1939, to Carolina Lapus and Benjamin Gozon.
Carolina was a pharmacy graduate from the University of the Philippines.
She became an entrepreneur and was behind the fish sauce brand Dalisay Patis before branching out to other ventures, including owning a salt mine and supplying coffee seedlings.
Meanwhile, Benjamin was a “government career official” according to Felipe’s sister Florencia Tarriela in a Manila Bulletin article published in 2020.
Benjamin served as director for the Bureau of Mines before joining the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources as secretary.
Both parents instilled in Felipe the value of hard work, dedication, and honesty.
“The softest pillow to a good sleep is a clear conscience,” Benjamin would often say, a remark that stuck to his children, including Felipe.
Felipe is the third child among four siblings.
Their eldest, Ben, is a businessman and a chemical engineer; followed by Kay Jimenez, popularly known as the “Bamboo Queen”; and their youngest Florencia, the first woman chair of the Philippine National Bank and advisor to several corporate institutions.
A MAN OF MANY NICKNAMES
Felipe, who grew up in Malabon, is fondly called “Henry” by loved ones and close friends.
He earned the Henry nickname after a life-threatening accident as a seven-year-old kid.
Story has it that the young Felipe was hit by a passenger jeepney on Arellano Street in Malabon, and hit his head on the underside of a salambao—a fishing net supported by a bamboo crosspiece mounted on a raft—after falling into the Malabon River.
Bleeding profusely, Felipe’s hair had to be shaved so friends who came to his aide could put plaster on his head.
Henry was a reference to the comic strip character of a bald young boy created in 1932 by American cartoonist Carl Thomas Anderson.
The Malabon River incident was just one of the four near-death experiences that Felipe endured as a young man.
He recalled during his recent birthday speech, “When I was about three to four years old, I fell in the Malabon Sugar Factory and a small well in my maternal grandfather’s residence in Malabon.”
All these incidents made his mother think that God must have a plan for the young boy for him to survive multiple serious mishaps.
His other nickname is “Diko,” a Chinese word which means second-oldest or second-eldest brother.
In the business world, particularly inside GMA Network Inc., Felipe is fondly addressed by peers, colleagues, and talents by his initials: FLG.
MODEL STUDENT
As a student, FLG showed both dedication and intelligence at an early age.
He studied at Union Elementary School, now known as Philippine Christian University, where he was the class valedictorian.
After elementary, FLG went to UP Preparatory High School, also graduating with honors.
FLG obtained a degree in Bachelor of Laws in 1962 at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.
He placed 13th overall at the Philippine Bar Examination in 1963.
The young lawyer didn’t stop there, signing up at Yale University in Connecticut, USA, where he got his Master of Laws degree in 1965.
FROM LAWYER TO MEDIA MOGUL
One of FLG’s clients as a lawyer was an American entrepreneur and former war correspondent named Robert La Rue Stewart.
Kids who grew up in the ’60s and ’70s knew Robert as “Uncle Bob” of the popular kids show, Uncle Bob’s Lucky 7 Club.
Robert, above all else, was the founder of the Republic Broadcasting System (RBS), which we now know today as GMA Network.
He launched the network on October 29, 1961, initially carrying programs sourced from the U.S. before gradually airing local shows.
But while the network enjoyed relative success in its early years, the country’s volatile political situation under President Ferdinand Marcos, along with the crackdown on media entities, crippled the company by the time the ’70s came along.
A Vera Files profile article stated that Robert offered FLG a 30 percent share of the company in an attempt to entice the young lawyer to invest in the struggling network.
“At that time Channel 7 was way, way down,” FLG told financial planner Henry Ong in an interview for Esquire Philippines in a May 2023 article.
He continued, “I think they could hardly meet their expenses kasi they were small and the capitalization was not great compared to the others.
“It was martial law and you can imagine there was no competition, but Channel 7 was allowed to reopen, maybe because the owner was Bob Stewart, who is an American.
“Nevertheless, it was an unfair situation. Channel 7 was hardly breaking even.”
The lack of money, despite the bargain offer, didn’t hinder FLG from jumping in on Robert’s offer.
To do this, he asked his brother-in-law Menardo Jimenez to cover the remaining 20 percent just so they could pull off the deal.
Some might say that it was a foolish decision on FLG’s part, what with the network struggling financially to keep itself afloat and his naive understanding of the broadcasting business.
In 1974, Felipe, Menardo, along with their friend Gilberto Duavit Sr., gained majority control of the network, which they later renamed GMA Radio-Television Arts.
GMA stood for Greater Manila Area but was eventually changed to Global Media Arts.
The first order of business for FLG and his team was to obtain funds to purchase equipment to enable the network to broadcast from black and white to color.
The network under its new management steadily regained its footing through programs that appealed to growing viewers.
He remarked, “Looking back, it was not that formalized, but we knew instinctively that if we do it properly and manage it properly, there is a good chance, even if you become number 2, you will already earn.”
