Robina Gokongwei-Pe turns 65, honors key business partnerships

The Robinsons Retail leader celebrates decades of trust and collaboration behind Handyman and Southstar Drug.

Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. Chairman Robina Gokongwei-Pe marked her 65th birthday by celebrating something that has helped shape the company’s growth over the years: partnerships built on trust, respect, and friendship.

Sharing the milestone with fellow July birthday celebrators Wilfred “Willy” Co, chairman of Handyman Do it Best, and Manuel “Aboy” Dy of the Dy family behind Southstar Drug, Gokongwei-Pe looked back on the decades-long relationships that helped expand Robinsons Retail’s portfolio.

She recalled how Co, then a hardware supplier to Robinsons Supermarket, introduced the idea of a DIY store more than three decades ago. The concept eventually became Handyman, which has grown to more than 200 stores nationwide.

Gokongwei-Pe also highlighted Robinsons Retail’s partnership with the Dy family, which began in 2012 when the company joined forces with Southstar Drug, a business founded in Bicol in 1937. She said the partnership helped build on the foundation established by the family, with the drugstore chain now operating more than 700 stores across the country.

“Businesses change, people change, and after all these years, all three of us have a little more white hair,” Gokongwei-Pe wrote. “What has remained is the trust, respect, and friendship behind these partnerships.”

Rather than looking back solely on a personal milestone, Gokongwei-Pe used the occasion to highlight the long-term relationships that have helped shape Robinsons Retail’s portfolio, underscoring the role of trust and shared vision in building businesses that continue to grow.

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