Joseph Chua Cua
Outstanding Bicolano Businessman

his fast rising Bicolano tycoon puts service to his fellow islanders above else that indeed makes him a towering figure in the economic and development landscape of the island province of Catanduanes that he loves. When his family was engaged in abaca trading, he introduced the mechanical abaca stripper that increased fiber production and increased the abaca farmers' and strippers' profits with greater efficiency at lesser time.

When he realized that his provincemates had to endure the crude and time-consuming sea and land travel to the Bicol mainland and Metro Manila, he put up a modern shipping line serviced by faster ferryboats and provided them still with a bus fleet such that local passengers would no longer disembark in Tabaco port to look for another bus to Manila. These buses, known as RSL buses, now ply the routes from Naga, Legaspi-Daraga, and Sorsogon to Manila.

With his business acumen, this young Catandunganon entrepreneur talks not about profit alone. He talks about creating more jobs for the Catandunganon, and about creating new businesses that contribute to the development of his province and the region. Aside from shipping, land transportation and abaca merchandising, Cua is also into real estate, tourism and resort operation.