Andrés Soriano Sr. (February 8, 1898 – December 30, 1964) was a Spanish Filipino industrialist. Described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 1964 as "one of the most dominant business personalities in the western Pacific area," he was best known for expanding the original San Miguel Brewery evolving into

San Miguel Corporation San Miguel Corporation, abbreviated as SMC, is a Philippine multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila. The company is one of the largest and most diversified conglomerates in the Philippines. Originally founded ...

. He also established

philanthropies Philanthropies, formerly LDS Philanthropies, is a department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and is responsible for facilitating donations to humanitarian and educational initiatives. The department works under the ...

and encouraged good employee relations by sharing profits with his more than 16,000 employees by establishing a

pension plan A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payment ...

that paid retired employees 25% of their salary, with guaranteed sick leaves and medical benefits. He was the founder of Philippine Airlines, Asia's first air carrier. In 1935, during

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

era, Soriano established Commonwealth Insurance Company, a non-life insurance company.

Family

Soriano was born on February 8, 1898 in

San Miguel, Manila San Miguel is a primarily middle-class residential area of the City of Manila, and is one of the city's sixteen traditional districts. Background Much of San Miguel is located on a riverine island, separated by the mainland by the Estero de ( ...

, Philippines. His father, Don Eduardo Soriano y Sanz, was a Spanish engineer who migrated to Philippines in the late 19th century. His mother, Doña Margarita Róxas de Ayala y Róxas, was the daughter of Pedro Pablo Róxas, and the granddaughter of Antonio de Ayala and Doña Margarita Róxas, progenitors of the prominent Róxas de Ayala and Zóbel de Ayala clans. Soriano was a second cousin of siblings, Col. Jacobo Zóbel (father of Enrique J. Zobel), Alfonso Zóbel de Ayala (father of

Jaime Zobel de Ayala Jaime Zóbel de Ayala y Pfitz (born 18 July 1934), also known as Jaime Zóbel, is a Filipino businessman who served as the chairman of the Ayala Corporation from 1984 to 2006 and as its president from 1984 to 1994. Presently, he holds the ho ...

), Mercedes Zóbel McMicking and the artist Fernando Zóbel. Soriano had three siblings, including sisters, Carmen and Margarita. Soriano was married to Carmen Montemar in 1924. The couple had two sons, José María Soriano (born on February 6, 1925) and Andres Soriano Jr.

Career

San Miguel Corporation

In 1920, the 22-year-old Soriano joined the original San Miguel Brewery as an accountant. In six months, he became acting manager. By 1924, he was its general manager, and in 1931, at the age of 33 he was elected as its president. During his incumbency, the San Miguel expanded beyond brewery and began to bottle

Royal Tru Royal Tru (often referred to simply as Royal) is a carbonated fruit-flavored soft drink brand owned by The Coca-Cola Company that is only available in the Philippines. The brand was introduced in 1922 by the original San Miguel Brewery. Sin ...

-Orange and

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance bar, temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pembe ...

, manufacture

Magnolia Ice Cream Magnolia is a food and beverage brand owned by San Miguel Corporation (SMC) and used by its various subsidiaries. The brand was commercially established by SMC (then known as San Miguel Brewery) as an ice cream brand in 1925. History The hist ...

and dairy products, carbonic acid, dry ice and Fleischmann's Yeast. During his presidency, Soriano was known for being authoritative and paternalistic in managing the company. His employees described his leadership as known for having "his word was law", and that includes deciding the "flavor of the month" in

, one of the company's products. He was also actively involved in rebuilding San Miguel after the war and its further expansion with the acquisition of the Balintawak Beer Brewery in Polo, Bulacan.

A. Soriano Corporation (ANSCOR)

In the 1930s, Soriano established A. Soriano Corporation (ANSCOR) as a holding company for his investments outside of San Miguel. Initially, ANSCOR concentrated on natural resources and basic industries, investing in Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation, Phelps Dodge Philippines and Atlas Fertilizer Corporation. ANSCOR also went into insurance; gold mining (Antamok Mining, which together with the companies of John Hausserman and Jan Hendrik Marsman, made the Philippines second only to California as the top gold producer of the world); oil exploration (Philippine Oil Development Company, Inc.); airline ( Philippine Airlines);

copper mining Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, loca ...

(Atlas Consolidated); copper wire manufacture ( Phelps Dodge Philippines);

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

from pyrite (Atlas Fertilizer); logging and

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

(Bislig Bay Lumber); paper manufacture (Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines (PICOP)); fluorescent lamps and

incandescent light bulb An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxi ...

s (Philippine Electrical Manufacturing Company (PEMCO)); jute bags (Industrial Textiles Manufacturing Company of the Philippines, Inc. (ITEMCOP)); steel drums ( Rheem Philippines); newspapers (''The Philippines Herald'') and broadcasting ( DZTV Channel 13). Atlas Consolidated grew to be the largest copper mine of its time in the Far East and one of the ten largest copper mines in the world.

Citizenship

He was a Spanish citizen and leader of the Philippine Falange during the late 1930s until he applied for Filipino citizenship. After becoming a Filipino citizen, Soriano served as secretary of finance, agriculture and commerce during the wartime cabinet of the Quezon administration. Soriano also served with USAFFE and later as a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

on General Douglas MacArthur's staff in the Southwest Pacific Theater. He was granted American citizenship for his wartime services and remained an American citizen until his death.

Death

Soriano died on December 30, 1964, at

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts.

References

External links

A. Soriano Corporation

The Andres Soriano Foundation

40 Richest Filipinos – Moneysense.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soriano, Andres Falangists 20th-century Spanish businesspeople Filipino people of Spanish descent People from San Miguel, Manila Secretaries of Finance of the Philippines Secretaries of Agriculture of the Philippines Secretaries of Trade and Industry of the Philippines 1898 births 1964 deaths Deaths from pancreatic cancer San Miguel Corporation people Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation people Ateneo de Manila University alumni People educated at Stonyhurst College Quezon administration cabinet members Filipino company founders 20th-century Filipino businesspeople