Company Overview
Telengtan Brothers and Sons, Inc. doing business under the style of La Suerte Cigar and Cigarette Factory, was formally organized by the Telengtan Brothers: Namely, Chung Te, Ching Leng and Ching Tan.
The company started its operation in April 1949 in Dolores St., Pasay City wherein, several brands of native-type cigarettes which were followed by American cigarettes using American grown Virginia and Burley tobaccos were manufactured.
In 1955 Philip Morris Inc. (PMI), PMI entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with a local manufacturer, La Suerte Cigar and Cigarette Factory. This introduced PMI products into the Philippine market for the first time and was PMI’s first such agreement outside of the United States. Its flagship brands, Marlboro and Philip Morris, were produced at La Suerte’s manufacturing plant.
By the end of 2002, Philip Morris ended its 47 years of partnership with La Suerte. The end of the licensing agreement made La Suerte to stand on its own cigarette brands for domestic and export. Despite government policies on the cigarette industry and high cost of taxes implemented and health awareness campaign, the cigarette industry still has a viable long-term future as cigarette volumes and smoking prevalence fall. The industry will survive even the most severe litigation assaults. Drawing on industry documents, it reveals that the Philippines was long been considered by the tobacco industry as a laissez faire operating environment ripe for exploitation. Areas explored include political corruption, health, employment of consultants, resisting pack labelling, marketing and advertising.
Our Founders
The Late Mr. Ching Tan
The Late Mr. Chung Te
