MANILA, Philippines – Former Customs commissioner Albert “Bert” Lina has died, the Lina Group of Companies (LGC) announced on Tuesday, February 25. He was 76.
The LGC is involved in logistics, customs brokerage, transport and travel, technology services, among others. It is best known for its defunct PBA team, AIR21 Express, as well as transport firm UBE Express.
“A visionary entrepreneur, Bert transformed Philippine logistics through his unwavering dedidation and innovative spirit,” LGC said in a statement posted on its website.
It added: “From selling sweet pineapples as a child to help his mother, he began his career in earnest as a certified public accountant. As a self-proclaimed ‘kargador,’ (porter) he built a logistics and waste management empire that revolutionized support for the semi-conductor, hazardous and medical waste industry and shaped modern Philippine commerce,” LGC added.
Lina, an older brother of former senator Jose “Joey” Lina, first served as Customs chief in 2005 under the Gloria Arroyo administration. He was recruited by then-finance secretary Cesar Purisima and ordered to clean up the corrupt agency.
Along with Purisima, Bert Lina was part of the so-called “Hyatt 10,” a group of government officials who quit in July 2005 and called on Arroyo to resign following the “Hello Garci” scandal which exposed election fraud in the 2004 presidential elections. (READ: Where are the Hyatt 10 now?)
Lina returned as Customs chief in April 2015 during the presidency of the late Benigno S. Aquino III, replacing John Sevilla.
In an interview with Rappler in August 2015, Lina appealed to Filipinos who are sending or bringing items home to honestly declare them so the agency can collect the right taxes.
Aside from being a basketball patron, Lina also supported cycling and golf.
“An avid golfer, Bert has four holes-in-one and carries a 15 handicap. With his booming baritone voice, he is known to serenade his wife with his trademark Johnny Mathis song, ‘All The Time’ Bert considers his family as his greatest achievement,” a profile of him on the LGC website reads.
After graduating from the Philippine School of Business Administration, Lina worked as a certified public accountant in the auditing firm Diaz Murillo and Dalupan. He also taught at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.
“Being exposed to clients in freight forwarding gave Bert the inspiration and opportunity to switch paths from being an auditor to becoming an entrepreneur. Αs fate would have it, an unfortunate incident of getting fired from his job would be the catalyst for Bert, and his wife Sylvia, to establish Airfreight 2100 Inc., now AIR21,” his profile reads.
In August 2022, Lina sold 60% of AIR21 Holdings Incorporated (AHI) to Ayala Corporation’s AC Logistics, making AIR21 now part of the Ayala Group of Companies. AHI has controlling stakes in eight companies: Airfreight 2100 Incorporated, Air 2100 Incorporated, U-Freight Philippines Incorporated, U-Ocean Incorporated, Cargohaus Incorporated, LGC Logistics Incorporated, Waste & Resources Management Incorporated, and Integrated Waste Management Incorporated (AIR21 Group).
During AIR21’s 43rd anniversary, Lina said his company would not have survived for more than four decades if not for its employees. Citing the difficult pandemic years, he said: “Kayo ay ang unsung heroes ng bayan! (You’re the country’s unsung heroes)”
The LGC described Lina as a “serial entrepreneur.”
“The second son of 12 children, he strove to support his family as a young boy by selling pineapples and helping his mother with their ‘tindahan’ (store). He excelled academically and was the valedictorian of his class in both grade school and high school,” his profile says.
His humble beginnings “taught him valuable lessons about hard work, perseverance, and connecting with others which are key values that shaped his path to becoming a successful business leader,” the LGC says.
Lina’s name was dragged into a controversy during the 2013 elections when one of his companies, Airfreight 2100, got an allegedly anomalous contract with the Commission on Elections for the deployment of election paraphernalia to Mindanao.
He was also a campaign donor of Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV in his 2013 senatorial bid, and Joseph Estrada when he ran for president in 1998.
Lina is survived by his wife, Sylvia, and four daughters who will take over the leadership roles he vacated in the LGC.
His funeral Mass and inurnment is set on Thursday, February 27, in Alabang, Muntinlupa. – Rappler.com