Once upon a time, a young boy from a poor neighborhood played with seashells on the shores of Bacoor, Cavite, while his father eked out a living selling table salt.
That boy struggled with his studies financially, but eventually became an industry leader, holding various executive positions in multiple companies both at home and abroad.
Presently, Edgar Chua is chairman of the Makati Business Club and the Philippine Business for the Environment. He is also chairman of the College of Saint Benilde, the University of La Salle Bacolod, and chief executive of De La Salle Philippines.
He has served as an independent director of Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. and the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. since 2017, and of Philcement and First Gen Corp. since 2021. He is also a trustee and treasurer of the Philippine Business for Education, and a trustee for De La Salle Greenhills since 2019, the English-Speaking Union of the Philippines Inc. since 2009, Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation Inc. since 2005, and Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc. since 2003.
Chua is a member of the advisory board of Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. and Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines. He is also affiliated with the Integrity Initiative, the National Resilience Council, and the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation.
He held key positions in various subsidiaries of the Shell Group of Companies, both locally and globally, including chairman and president of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum from September 2003 to May 2017.
Chua was first elected as an independent director of Phinma in April 2021.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from De La Salle University in 1978 and attended various international seminars and courses, including a senior management course at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
In retrospect, Chua’s journey to power and success began in a life of poverty in Bacoor. However, he excelled as a high school student in Parañaque City, where Cardinal Antonio Tagle was a classmate.
He initially considered studying medicine at the state-run University of the Philippines, although he also applied to De La Salle University. He weighed his options: UP offered lower tuition, but was far from home, which would have required substantial spending on daily commutes. Meanwhile, his father suffered a heart attack and was bedridden, setting back the family finances.
“I had to consider the cost of transportation. And more importantly to me then was to start making money for my family. It would take ten years in medicine for that to happen—four years in pre-med and another five years in proper. Then a few more years for internship, and then the board exams. So, I asked myself, where do I go?” Chua recalled.
Sometimes, problems are solved without you taking action. Relatives who were better off offered to shoulder his studies at DLSU. “Education is the great equalizer. It gives everyone a shot at a fairly brighter future,” Chua said matter-of-factly.
After college, his first job was at Procter & Gamble, selling a popular brand of margarine.
It was short-lived, and two days later, he quit to join Unilever as a technical management trainee. After about a year, Shell hired him as a salesman—with a car to boot. Altogether, he was receiving P1,800 a month, and he was happy with it.
Chua stayed about 36 years with Shell, gradually climbing the corporate ladder. There were tempting offers along the way, but he stuck it out with the fuel industry, where he eventually met his wife, Veronica, who was then working for Caltex.
“Outside, we were competitors, but we also worked hard together to ensure the overall quality of petroleum supply and strengthen our industry,” he said.
