Antonio "Tony" Chua (1965-September 26, 2009) was a

Filipino Chinese Chinese Filipinos; tl, Tsinoy, / Tsinong Pilipino, ; Philippine Hokkien , Mandarin (also known as Filipino Chinese in the Philippines) are Filipinos of Chinese descent, mostly of southern Fujianese ancestry, where the majority are bo ...

businessman. His family owns Photokina Marketing Corporation, which distributed

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

in the Philippines; he managed and was the governor of the

Barako Bull Energy Boosters The Barako Bull Energy Boosters were a professional basketball team of the Philippine Basketball Association owned by the Photokina Marketing Corporation. They entered the league in 2000 after a successful stint in the semi-professional Philipp ...

, the company's team in the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

(PBA) in which he previously served as chairman. Chua also served as vice president of

Philippine Football Federation The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of association football in the Philippines. Established as the Philippine Amateur Football Association (PAFA) in 1907, the PFF is one of the oldest national football associations in ...

(PFF); he previously played high school varsity football for

Colegio de San Juan de Letran The Colegio de San Juan de Letran, (transl: College of San Juan de Letran) also referred to by its acronym CSJL, is a private Catholic coeducational basic and higher education institution owned and run by the friars of the Order of Preachers i ...

Early life and career

Chua studied in

up to college, graduating in 1975. He played for the

Letran Squires The Letran Knights are the collegiate varsity teams representing Colegio de San Juan de Letran in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The collegiate women's varsity teams are called the ''Lady Knights'', while the high school varsity t ...

football team and was known as "Mr. Football." Chua coached the

Philippine women's national football team The Philippines women's national football team represents the Philippines in international Women's association football, women's football. It is managed by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), the governing body of football in the country ...

, and later served as vice president of the PFF.

Basketball manager

Chua's company Photokina Marketing Corporation fielded the

to the semiprofessional

Philippine Basketball League The Philippine Basketball League (PBL) was a commercial semi-professional basketball league in the Philippines. The league was composed of several commercial teams with several collegiate and provincial stars. History The PBL was formed on Ma ...

(PBL), and he was tasked to manage the team. Then PBL commissioner

Yeng Guiao Joseller "Yeng" Medina Guiao (born March 19, 1959) is a Filipino professional basketball head coach, politician, commentator and sports commissioner. He is currently the head coach of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters of the Philippine Basketba ...

allowed the team to compete, and the team won several championships. When the Photokina franchise entered the professional

(PBA) as Batang Red Bull, Chua appointed Guiao as the coach of the team. Guiao led the Red Bull team to three championships: the 2001 and 2002 Commissioner's Cups, and the 2006 Fiesta Conference. After

Noli Eala Jose Emmanuel "Noli" M. Eala is a Filipino sports executive and disbarred lawyer who served as the 11th chairperson of the Philippine Sports Commission from August 30 to December 28, 2022. He previously served as the sixth commissioner of the P ...

resigned as PBA commissioner, Chua as chairman of the board of governors ran the daily affairs of the league while a replacement was being found. When

Sonny Barrios Renauld N. Barrios, better known as Sonny Barrios, is the seventh commissioner of the Philippine Basketball Association and the current executive director of Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas. Before serving as commissioner, he took on the role in a ...

was appointed as interim commissioner, Chua personally welcomed Barrios on his first day on the job. After the 2008–09 Philippine Cup, Guiao resigned and the team was renamed as the Barako Bull Energy Boosters. Guiao was later signed as head coach of the

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but the two remained close. Among his projects in the PBA is the

PBA Hall of Fame The Philippine Basketball Association Hall of Fame is an institution that honors selected former players and personalities of the Philippine Basketball Association. It was launched on May 29, 2005, during the Reunion Game pitting two teams consist ...

; he was one of the selectors for the third batch which were announced in 2009.

Death

At the height of Tropical Storm Ketsana (Ondoy), traffic was not moving and he and his driver and Barako Bull liaison officer aides alighted their car. The three trekked the flooded road when a strong current engulfed them, sucking away the driver; Chua can only look at his aide as his body faded out of sight. The two decided to stop and hold on to a tree when a truck carrying lumber passed by, the lumber that jutted out of the truck hit Chua in the face. The details right after he was hit by the lumber weren't clear; he could have died because of

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...

or from

internal hemorrhage Internal bleeding (also called internal hemorrhage) is a loss of blood from a blood vessel that collects inside the body. Internal bleeding is usually not visible from the outside. It is a serious medical emergency but the extent of severity depen ...

, for he was bleeding from the ears. His liaison officer caught up with him and tried to revive him, but he died on the way. The driver's body was fished out of the waters two days after the storm.

Reaction

Sports officials were saddened by Chua's demise. Guiao was "deeply shocked" and remarked that Chua was "well liked by everyone in the basketball community". Guiao's successor as commissioner in the PBL Chino Trinidad said described Chua as "a funny guy" but "passionate in the game". PBA commissioner Barrios, who announced Chua's death to the press, was personally affected by Chua's death, saying that we always "worked well" with him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chua. George 2009 deaths Colegio de San Juan de Letran alumni Deaths in tropical cyclones Natural disaster deaths in the Philippines Philippine Basketball Association executives National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) players 20th-century Filipino businesspeople 1965 births