About Us

The story begins with a man named Ramon Aboitiz.

He was born in a time of possibilities. The opening of the Philippines to world trade in the mid-nineteenth century had created conditions of social stress as well as new economic opportunities. In the southern province of Leyte, global trade stimulated the commercial cultivation of hemp, sugar, and other agricultural products. There was a small but dynamic network of Spanish planters, merchants, and entrepreneurs. One of these Spaniards was the mariner Paulino Aboitiz (1850-1912), a farmer’s son in the Basque province of Vizcaya, Spain, who came to the Philippines in the 1870s. In Leyte, he set about to build a modest fortune, married Spanish mestiza Emilia Yrastorza, and raised ten children in the values of hard work and family solidarity.