Dr. James Dy: The musical chair

At 84, Dyna Drug chairman Dr. James Dy presides his 17 companies’ board meetings and attends to his socio-civic commitments with the liveliness and mental sharpness of a 34-year-old. He is considered the captain of the Philippine recording industry and we

“Mahjong is not exactly gambling. It trains your mind so you won’t get Alzheimer’s Disease. It sharpens your mind. It’s 144 pieces and there are four players. Now, I have to remember what the other players throw so I won’t lose, so that way, my mind works,” laughs Dy, who also swims 24 laps for more than an hour and runs 400 times on an underwater treadmill every day to keep his body in shape. He also reveals that for 30 years now, he has been drinking 350 milliliters of Stolle milk every morning.

Aside from being the chairman of the board of Dyna Drug, Dy also chairs JGD Realty and Development Corp., Subic International Hotel, Sonic International Inc., Dyna Music Entertainment Corp., and Polyeast Records Corporation (a licensee of EMI Music International). He is the chairman of the board and president of the following companies: Universal Records, Inc., Eagle Electric of the Philippines, Machinebanks’ Corp., Pan Pacific Travel Corp., LATTDS Development Corp., Pan Euro International, Inc., Pacific Place Multi-Development Corp. and James & Sons Corp. He is also the president of Pacific World Plaza International Development Corp., SEMPCO Realty Development Corporation and JJD Realty and Development Corp. “System is very important, so I divide my time. Saturday and Sunday are for my family. At my age now, I attend mostly socio-civic commitments. I concentrate more in doing charity work especially in managing the hospital for almost 28 years now,” he shares, referring to the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center, which he spearheads through the Philippine-Chinese Charitable Association, Inc., the same owner and operator of the CGHMC Colleges formerly College of Nursing, Home for the Aged and the Chinese Cemetery. His father is his role model, from whom learned a lot from him in doing business, but he reveals that through his social engagements, he also learns from a lot of people. “I learn from their styles,” he quips. For Dy, who considers himself a leader rather than a manager, timing as well as sincerity and honesty are the best guiding principles in life and in business. He also laments how some leaders today put things over people. “When you deal with business, you have to be honest and sincere. Honesty means that you don’t cheat people. That is one of the factors for success in business. Sell only genuine pharmaceutical products only because you are dealing with human lives. At Dyna, we deal with our customers very fairly,” continues Dy, who shares that managing a pharmaceutical company is not so different from managing a hospital or a recording studio. “As I manage the hospital, I know that many people are in need of medicines. Even healthy people need medicines. I foresee big opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry because our population is growing.”

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS: THE DY FROM DIVISORIA

The second among the nine children — six boys and three girls — of Dy Hun and wife Go Tia, the couple who is etched in the history of Dyna Drug and whose painted portrait welcomes each visitor at the company’s premises, James was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. “I was very hardworking during my childhood days. I did everything I could, from being a sidewalk vendor selling ampao to manufacturing lihiya. I even raised female horses to supply milk. I also distributed suman to different sari-sari stores and sold matches,” he recounts. He and his brothers, including Dyna president Jack Dy,

would sell peanuts and cigarettes to the original owners of the famous Aristocrat restaurant in Manila.

As a little boy, he wanted to be a lawyer but was trained by his father to be a businessman. While studying, he started working for his father during the Japanese occupation, wherein he was almost killed by a Japanese soldier who robbed their store.

“At first, I worked as an errand boy for my father. I was asked to deal with other people and companies, negotiating and transacting business. After that, I had to dispatch the items as a warehouse man, waiting for all the provincial trucks to come and get their shipments. I would stay in the warehouse up to 11 p.m. or midnight, until all items had been be dispatched. That’s how I started, until my father appointed me as manager. I started to import not only cigarettes but many other grocery items, like construction materials.”

In 1951, he got married to Siot Keng Go, also known as Julieta Go, who consequently became a doting mother to their two boys and four girls. At present, the couple enjoys their real wealth: 19 grandchildren and four great grandchildren, who make the big Dy clan a lot bigger and merrier.

“After several years at our family’s store, I put up my own business because I knew I couldn’t always depend on my father and my salary was limited to educate my children because I already had a family of my own. That’s the time when Dyna Music was formed, in 1959, someone in the music business invited me to produce records,” shares Dy, who plays the saxophone and harmonica.

Dy, who brought The Beatles to the Philippines and made several names famous in the music industry, then trained his brothers to manage their cigarette and grocery store. Later on, the Dy brothers diverted towards simple medicines, soaps, etc. until finally, Dyna Drug Corp. was formed.

“When I started the recording business, I thought of changing Dy An to Dyna. Dyna can mean “dynamic” also. My brothers who were managing Dy An Trading adopted the name and named it into Dyna Drug. That was 40 years ago,” he beams.

Now, after 40 years since the adoption of the new business name, Dyna Drug is diversifying to include other allied food products like a premium coffee brand, which is being imported from Malaysia.

“That is the aim of every corporation — to expand into subsidiary lines of business,” smiles Dy.

James of all trades

Dy can be considered the most awarded philanthropist in the country. Many of his projects were accomplished through the Filipino-Chinese General Chamber of Commerce Inc., of which he was honorary president (1989-1997) and now its chairman emeritus. He is also the current president of the Philippine Chinese Charitable Association, Inc. (PCCAI), owner and operator of the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center (CGHMC), the Chinese Cemetery, Home for the Aged, the Chinese General Hospital Colleges wherein he is the chairman of the board and president, the CGH Charity Pavilion, and the Free Clinic at the PCCAI Building in Binondo, Manila.

He personally heads and arranges medical teams from the CGHMC to provide free medical consultation, treatment and medicines to the poor in rural, urban, coastal and “squatter” areas throughout the country on a regular basis. He also conducts relief operations in different areas of the country, those devastated by natural calamities like typhoons, earthquakes and floods.

Although not a medical doctor by profession, Dy has been conferred Doctor of Humanities, Honoris Causa by the University of Pangasinan and by Central Luzon State University, Doctor of Business Administration, Honoris Causa by Lyceum-Northwestern University and Doctor of Philosophy, Major in Technology Management by the Technological University of the Philippines.

His lengthy list of recognition includes Outstanding Chinese Business Leader Awardee ( 2013), GUSI Peace Prize International Laureate (2012), Paul Harris Medal by Rotary International ( 2012), Paul Harris Medal by Rotary International ( 2004), Dr. Jose P. Rizal Awards of Excellence ( 2004), Outstanding Father of the Year (2001), and The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Award for Humanitarian Service (2001).