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From G.I. Joe to Tycoon
"History repeats itself,  first as tragedy, the second as farce"   
                                                                      -Karl Marx                                                                                                                                  
                                       
The Uncanny Businessman

Harry Stonehill courtesy of Lopez Museum

In the less than two decades of his stay in the Philippines, Harry Stonehill  was able to build a business empire reputedly valued at around 50 Million US Dollars. The 18 corporations  he started in the country were indeed pioneering and high earning business ventures, some of which are still existing today.

From tobacco, to glass manufacture, to cement production and publishing,  Stonehill was the uncanny businessman never ceasing in his search for new ventures. Reclaiming parts of Manila Bay and turning it into an opulent district was said to be his original idea.

Indeed, Harry Stonehill was turning the country into his business playground when suddenly his luck turned sour. In 1960 he was a subject to a congressional investigation on alleged tax evasion charges. What happened next in the following years were series of events falling into places exposing Stonehill in his illegal business activities. Charges of bribery,influence peddling, economic sabotage etc. surfaced. Discovered to be receiving money from Stonehill in exchange of favors were known government officials and media men . The scandal even reached the president and some of his cabinet members.  Feeling a  fallout in the case, then PresidentDiosdado Macapagal  ordered Stonehill's sudden deportation without trial. Macapagal even dismissed his justice secretary Jose W. Diokno who was heading the government investigation on the Stonehill case.