Bong Tan finally gets own empire

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business6_july31_2009

Bong Tan finally gets own empire

LUCIO “Bong” Tan Jr. has finally been given a chance to run his own kingdom and emerge from the shadows of his driven father, taipan Lucio Tan.

Tan’s eldest son, 43, has been appointed president of Tanduay Distilleries, with the 75-year-old taipan relinquishing the presidency but still keeping the chairman’s title, looking over the shoulders of his son.

The young Tan, who must now cut back on his active social life, will still get day-to-day help from Wilson Young, an ex-SGV auditor who retains the title of chief operating officer, as well as president and chief executive of the parent company, listed Tanduay Holdings.

According to the grapevine, the appointment of Tan Jr. was one of the few benefits of the nasty feud between the taipan and younger brother Mariano Tanenglian, who had been forced to relinquish his long-time title as treasurer of the Lucio Tan Group.

If the pro-Tan grapevine is to be believed, Tanenglian had asked that the junior Tan, whom he is apparently fond of, be given the chance to shine, in exchange for Tanenglian keeping his peace.

Tan Jr., for a time, was kept out of the inner loop of his father’s sprawling empire, as Tanenglian and he were increasingly being sidelined, according to the Tan chatter, by Domingo Chua, the taipan’s brother-in-law and chairman of Allied Bank.