By Tony Lopez
Lawyer Felipe L. Gozon celebrated his 85th year on earth Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024.
Gozon, FLG to executives and subordinates at GMA Network Channel 7 or Henry to friends, is the best broadcast tycoon in Asia.
He took over GMA Channel 7 in 2000. That year, the suburban Quezon City station had only two studios –small, and smaller. In just a decade, Henry made Channel 7 No. 1—in audience share, in being the most trusted, in revenues, in profits and in nearly every metric of performance. Today, GMA 7 is unrivalled, with as much as 70% share of the free television market.
On Dec. 9, 2023, celebrating his 84th birthday at Shangri-La Mandaluyong, Gozon announced his retirement.
Henry has lived a fulfilling and blessed life. He has been outstanding as a blue chip lawyer. He has succeeded in one of the most difficult and competitive businesses to be engaged in, television. For that, he is thankful to the Lord. And he is most of all thankful for the blessing of a happy and solid family. The best measure of success is your family. Few can meet that high bar. Henry did. He said of his family last year:
Gozon’s family
“I particularly thank the Lord for Tessie, a good wife given to me by God, who, after going steady with me for 11 years and being married to me for 54 years and 6 months, I can truly say is the love of my life; my three good children: Annette, valedictorian in her grade and high school from Colegio de San Agustin, Makati; Cum Laude graduate in Management Engineering from Ateneo Manila University, Cum Laude graduate and valedictorian in Law from the U.P. College of Law; and Master of Law graduate from Harvard Law School; Philip, valedictorian in his grade school, salutatorian in high school from Colegio de San Agustin, Makati, graduate with honors in Management Engineering from Ateneo de Manila University, graduate (no. 7) in Law from U.P. College of Law and Master of Law graduate from Harvard Law School; and Maritess, valedictorian in her grade and high school from Colegio de San Agustin, Makati, Magna Cum Laude graduate in BS Psychology, U.P.; and among the top in her class in Medicine from the U.P.; and my 8 wonderful grandchildren: Annette’s children, Anja, No. 1 in her grade and high school in Poveda and Magna Cum Laude graduate in Management Engineering from Ateneo de Manila University; and Andy, First Honor and Gold Award for academic excellence High school graduate from Everest Academy. He is now studying at the University of Toronto; Raffy, Baste, Bono, and Fort who are Maritess’ children are either at the top of their grade and high school classes or near the top at Colegio de San Agustin, Makati City; and Philip’s children Ariana and Henry who are the youngest and in pre-grade school.”
Near death incidents
Gozon also recalled the four incidents in which the Lord saved him from death when he was young.
“I also thank the Lord for saving me from death in four incidents that happened to me when I was young.
“When I was about 3 to 4 years old, I fell in the Malabon Sugar Factory and in a small well in my maternal grandfather’s residence in Malabon.
“When I was a little older, about 6 to 7 years old, I was run over by a passenger jeepney on Arellano St. Malabon and hit my head in the barnacles in the underside of the wide and long Salambao (a bamboo raft used in fishing in the Malabon river). If I was not able to swim to the light I would have drowned,” he said.
Having survived these incidents, Gozon recalled his mother, a very religious woman, believed that “God must have a plan for me.”
One will have to grope for words to describe — in a grander manner —how FLG repurposed GMA into the best, biggest and No. 1 in the TV business.
Being No. 1 was a trophy snatched from its arch rival (now gone) as early as 2011. “We were No. 1 even before the (2020) non-renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise,” Chairman Felipe “Henry” Gozon likes to remind stockholders.
More than 84 million viewers or listeners nationwide, or seven of every 10 Filipinos watch Channel 7. Under Gozon, GMA Network saw the greatest revenue and profit growth in the past 70 years of its existence and enjoyed the highest credibility.
Fair and balanced reporting
For GMA Network, fair and balanced in reporting is a given. Remarkable is the network’s incessant and unflinching search for truth. That doctrine is hermetic—a passion embraced by management and work crews.
Twenty years ago, GMA Channel 7 was a slumbering second placer, adrift in a sea of uncertainty and listless, unimaginative programming.
Then Yale-educated Gozon started looking for an outlet for his passion while in semi-retirement from his exceptionally successful lawyering.
Almost in jiffy, by the magic of Henry’s savvy and tough management, GMA became No. 1 in audience share, in tv ratings, in credibility, in profitability, in market value, in prestige, and in reputation.
GMA’s transformation, in turn, brought in immense wealth to the three families which control 77% — Gilberto Duavit, Menardo Jimenez, and Gozon himself.
From 2000 to 2023, the Gozon years, cumulative revenues swelled to over P305 billion and cumulative profits to more than P60 billion.
April this year, GMA’s market cap rose to a high of P34.10 billion, only to fall to P22 billion, a 35% drop, reflecting the more challenging times.
The baton has been passed on to Gilberto R. Duavit Jr., the new CEO, genial, gentle and warm. I am sure the young Duavit can manage the challenge of remaining No. 1.