25 Facts About Vicente Madrigal

Vicente Maria Epifanio Lopez Madrigal was a Spanish Filipino businessman, industrialist and politician.

Vicente Madrigal was the only son of Jose Maria Madrigal, who emigrated from Barcelona, Spain, a Catalan migrant and former soldier, and Macaria Lopez y Pardo de Tavera, a Castilian mestiza.

Vicente Madrigal's 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.

Vicente Madrigal 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.

Vicente Madrigal 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.

Vicente Madrigal established large businesses in coal, oil, sugar, cement, shipping and real estate.

Vicente Madrigal settled for treating his sister Rosario to an extended vacation aboard a Madrigal ship to Barcelona.

Vicente 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.

Vicente Madrigal was named as President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands thrice, from 1919 to 1920, from 1936 to 1941, and from 1941 to 1945.

Vicente Madrigal 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.

Vicente Madrigal 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.

Vicente Madrigal 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.

Vicente Madrigal 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 and its adjacent streets.

Vicente Madrigal 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.

Vicente Madrigal obtained lots in Wack-Wack Golf Club which eventually devolved to her daughter Josefina.

Vicente Madrigal's descendants receive rents from the centrally located commercial real estate properties she acquired.

Vicente Madrigal 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.

Vicente Madrigal is the grandfather of former Senator Jamby Madrigal, the daughter of Antonio Madrigal.

Vicente 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 Vicente Madrigal and the Pardo de Taveras were related by blood illegitimately.

Vicente Madrigal's wife had died a few months before his victory, in 1941.

Vicente Madrigal forbade his daughters from returning to Manila, fearing the Japanese.

The Philippine Congress opened its session on June 9,1945, but Vicente Madrigal was not able to serve due to charges of Collaboration.

Vicente Madrigal had been part of the Japanese-sponsored government of Jose P Laurel together with senators Claro M Recto, Eulogio Rodriguez, Emiliano Tria Tirona, Quintin Paredes, Prospero Sebastian, Antonio de las Alas and Jose Yulo who was appointed Chief Justice during the war.

Vicente Madrigal was re-elected in 1947 under the banner of Liberal Party.

Vicente Madrigal later sponsored his second oldest daughter Pacita Madrigal, who won handily during Ramon Magsaysay's presidency.