Vicente María Epifanio López Madrigal
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Vicente María Epifanio López Madrigal (born Vicente María Epifanio Madrigal y López; April 5, 1880 – June 6, 1972) was a successful Spanish Filipino business tycoon, industrialist and politician. At the height of his wealth, from the 1950s to his death in the early 1970s, his portfolio was estimated to be $850 million American dollars, which would translate to more than $9 billion American dollars today. Madrigal died at home in New Manila, Quezon City, under the care of his youngest daughter, Maria Luisa.


Early life

Born in 1880, Vicente Madrigal grew up in
Ligao, Albay Ligao, officially the City of Ligao ( bcl, Siyudad kan Ligao; fil, Lungsod ng Ligao), is a 4th class component city in the province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 118,096 people. Most of the city's ...
. He was the only son of José María Madrigal, who emigrated from
Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, a
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
migrant and former soldier, and Macaria López y Pardo de Tavera, a Castilian mestiza. Macaria was one of two natural daughters of Joaquín Pardo de Tavera who lived in Albay as a bachelor prior to his marriage to Gertrudis Gorricho, a wealthy heiress. Growing up in meager circumstances in remote provinces, he dreamt of owning his own shipping fleet. When the monsoon rains came, he created paper boats. His mother, nicknamed Nena, teased him that his paper boats would not take him too far away and his reply was always that one day he would take his mom and dad away on his real ship across the seas to visit Spain, his father's dying wish. He studied at Colegio de San Juan de Letran, a Manila college known for its roster of half-Spanish Filipinos and for its location in the walled city of Intramuros, once the regional bastion of Spanish power. With his father depending on a small pension, the family exploited its military connections with the Escuela Nautica who were close with the friars who owned San Juan de Letran. He graduated with the highest honors. His closest college classmates were future Presidents Manuel Luis Quezon and Sergio Osmeña, who were themselves poor relatives of rich families. While in Manila, he came face-to-face with the staggering wealth of his maternal grandfather's family, that of Joaquin Pardo de Tavera and the Gorricho real estate portfolio spanning the Escolta and the ancestral house of the Gorricho-Pardo de Tavera. He was determined to match or even surpass the huge wealth of his Manila relatives, who did not recognize that he, his mother and his aunt existed.


Business career

Madrigal established large businesses in coal, oil, sugar, cement, shipping and real estate. In the shipping business, his Madrigal Steamship Company did not begin to return profits until after his mother's death, frustrating his childhood dream of bringing his parents to Spain. He settled for treating his sister Rosario to an extended vacation aboard a Madrigal ship to Barcelona. In the cement business, he acquired Rizal Cement Corporation from
Ynchausti y Compañía Ynchausti y Compañía (Ynchausti and Company, also known as YCO) was a prominent Philippine conglomerate from 1816 to 1936. In 1936, the Ynchausti family completed the divestment of most of their corporate holdings with the intention of adopting ...
. In the coal business, Madrigal was criticized by contemporaries and modern commentators for having engaged in war profiteering, supplying coal to the Japanese navy during its occupation of the Philippines between 1942 and 1945. It appears that he did so under duress, as he was known to be patriotic and the approximately one million pesos he made in profit was a far smaller amount than he would have made by closing operations during the war. Madrigal attributed this situation to the loss of the good luck that his wife Susana brought to his life, for she died a few months before the war began and left him a widower raising five girls and two boys. Madrigal was a close friend of Manuel Luis Quezon, Commonwealth President of the country and a former classmate. He used this connection to acquire certificates to refineries from bankrupt Spanish-Filipino families, whose business had been devastated by the transfer of the Philippines from Spanish to American control. This allowed Madrigal to expand into the commodities market, selling sugar and palm oil, as well as claiming real estate, which he primarily disposed of to increase his shares in growing companies. The remainder he gave to his wife, who managed the properties successfully.


Marriage and family

He married Susana Paterno y Ramos, who grew up in Pangil, Laguna and was a poor relation to her own Manila relatives, the Paternos of Quiapo and Santa Cruz, Manila. She was a dressmaker to the prominent Cuyugan and Catigbac families, established a jewelry shop with the Salgado family of Pampanga, and dabbled in real estate. Before the war she acquired an hacienda in Canlubang, Laguna. She was responsible for the purchase of the Madrigal property where the old Jai Alai fronton used to stand, as well as buildings near her aunts' mansions on Calle Hidalgo,
Quiapo, Manila Quiapo () is a district of the city of Manila, in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. Referred to as the "Old Downtown of Manila", Quiapo is home to the Quiapo Church, where the feast of the Black Nazarene is held with millions of p ...
and its adjacent streets. She urged her husband to invest in Hacienda de Mandaluyong even when her husband did not agree to be a major investor without control of the partnership built by Francisco Ortigas Jr. Susana foresaw that upon her husband's eventual divestment, the Ortigas clan would have to surrender large chunks of their property in payment. That property became what is now known as Corinthian Gardens and Arcadia Village in Pasig where even a small lot commands millions today. She obtained lots in Wack-Wack Golf Club which eventually devolved to her daughter Josefina. Further, she recognized the possibilities of Alabang. Today, Ayala Alabang's mango trees are her visible legacies in the mini-city, which features schools, Madrigal Business Park, and even a Polo field named after the family. Her descendants receive rents from the centrally located commercial real estate properties she acquired. In contrast, Vicente preferred non-real estate investments. He was frightened at how agricultural holdings like haciendas owned by great Spanish families in the Philippines remained idle, or worse, were confiscated or expropriated ''ad absentia'' by the government or unscrupulous ''encargados''. Upon the deaths of her Paterno aunts she and her brothers Simon and Jose inherited the old, beautiful Paterno mansions. Their children were Macaria (de Leon), Paz (Warns, later Gonzalez) who served as senator from 1955 until 1961, Josefina (Bayot), Antonio and Jose married to sisters Amanda Abad Santos and Victoria Abad Santos respectively, Consuelo Alejandra (Vazquez later Collantes) and Maria Luisa (Vazquez, his brother's marriage to Consuelo Alejandra having been annulled). Madrigal's wealth was equally divided among his seven offspring. He is the grandfather of former Senator
Jamby Madrigal Maria Ana Consuelo Madrigal-Valade (born Maria Ana Consuelo Abad Santos Madrigal; April 26, 1958), better known as Jamby Madrigal, is a Filipina politician and businesswoman. She was elected as a senator in the 2004 elections. After only one t ...
.


Illegitimacy scandal

As Madrigal rose in wealth, the opposite happened to the Pardo de Tavera family. After the flamboyant Crystal Arcade venture of Andres Luna de San Pedro (son of Juan Luna and Paz Pardo de Tavera), one of the heirs and grandnephews of his grandfather Joaquin, the Pardo de Tavera holding firm could no longer service its mounting debts. In a desperate move, Madrigal was named as respondent by Pardo de Tavera, seeking to nullify the Motion to Foreclose by its creditor El Hogar Filipino, on the basis that he signed some of the papers involved in the loan. Madrigal did not know that money he loaned to El Hogar Filipino was used by the firm to facilitate a loan to the Pardo de Tavera family, and neither did El Hogar Filipino know that Madrigal and the Pardo de Taveras were related by blood illegitimately. This caused a scandal among business circles at that time, although, in deference to other involved families including the Legarda and Roces clans, no specific accounts were published in the leading newspapers. This is also the reason why afterwards Madrigal distanced himself from El Hogar Filipino. When its headquarters in
Escolta Escolta Street (lit: Escort) is a historic east–west street located in the old downtown district of Binondo in Manila, Philippines. It runs parallel to the Pasig River, from Plaza Santa Cruz to Plaza Moraga and Quintin Paredes Street. The s ...
was set up for sale at a heavy discount, he refused to buy the property.


Political career

Madrigal won 1941 Senate Election under the banner of
Nacionalista Party The Nacionalista Party (Filipino and Spanish: ''Partido Nacionalista''; ) is the oldest political party in both the Philippines and in Southeast Asia in general. It is responsible for leading the country throughout the majority of the 20th ce ...
of Incumbent
President Manuel L. Quezon Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, (; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier and politician who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his dea ...
. His wife had died a few months before his victory, in 1941. He forbade his daughters from returning to Manila, fearing the Japanese. They remained in Washington, DC and New York, continuing their studies or furthering their careers in Diplomatic Service. The
Philippine Congress The Congress of the Philippines ( fil, Kongreso ng Pilipinas, italic=unset) is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, although colloquially the ter ...
opened its session on June 9, 1945 but Madrigal was not able to serve due to charges of Collaboration. He had been part of the Japanese-sponsored government of Jose P. Laurel together with senators Claro M. Recto,
Eulogio Rodriguez Eulogio "Amang" Adona Rodriguez Sr. (born Eulogio Rodríguez y Adona; January 21, 1883 – December 19, 1964) was a Filipino politician who twice served as President of the Senate of the Philippines. Early life Coming from a poor family, Rodri ...
, Emiliano Tria Tirona,
Quintin Paredes Quintin (; br, Kintin) is a commune in the Cotes-d'Armor department (Brittany region) in the northwest of France from Saint-Brieuc, the department capital. History The area around Quintin has been occupied since the Neolithic. Early Quintin w ...
, Prospero Sebastian, Antonio de las Alas and Jose Yulo who was appointed Chief Justice during the war. When Manuel Roxas was elected president on 1946, Madrigal, together with other collaborators, was pardoned. He was re-elected in 1947 under the banner of Liberal Party. He ran again in 1953 but was unsuccessful. He later sponsored his second oldest daughter Pacita Madrigal, who won handily during Ramon Magsaysay's presidency.


Legacy

In 1992, a public school in Binangonan,
Rizal Rizal, officially the Province of Rizal ( fil, Lalawigan ng Rizal), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Its capital is the city of Antipolo. It is about east of Manila. The p ...
was built and was named after him, the Vicente Madrigal Municipal High School. Binangonan was once a stop-over point for Susana, who lived on the other side of the
Laguna de Bay Laguna de Bay (Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon/Lake of Bay, Laguna, Bay"; tl, Lawa ng Bay, ), also known as Laguna Lake, is the List of lakes of the Philippines, largest lake in the Philippines. It is located southeast of Metro Manila, b ...
in
Pangil Pangil, officially the Municipality of Pangil ( tgl, Bayan ng Pangil), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 25,026 people. Etymology According to a paper ent ...
prior to marrying Madrigal.


See also

* Vicente Madrigal National High School *
Jamby Madrigal Maria Ana Consuelo Madrigal-Valade (born Maria Ana Consuelo Abad Santos Madrigal; April 26, 1958), better known as Jamby Madrigal, is a Filipina politician and businesswoman. She was elected as a senator in the 2004 elections. After only one t ...
* Spanish Filipino *
Ligao, Albay Ligao, officially the City of Ligao ( bcl, Siyudad kan Ligao; fil, Lungsod ng Ligao), is a 4th class component city in the province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 118,096 people. Most of the city's ...
* Liberal Party of the Philippines *
Nacionalista Party The Nacionalista Party (Filipino and Spanish: ''Partido Nacionalista''; ) is the oldest political party in both the Philippines and in Southeast Asia in general. It is responsible for leading the country throughout the majority of the 20th ce ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madrigal, Vicente 1880 births 1972 deaths 20th-century Filipino businesspeople Filipino collaborators with Imperial Japan Colegio de San Juan de Letran alumni Senators of the 2nd Congress of the Philippines Senators of the 1st Congress of the Commonwealth of the Philippines People from Albay Liberal Party (Philippines) politicians Nacionalista Party politicians Filipino people of Spanish descent Senators of the 1st Congress of the Philippines Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Merit (Philippines)