When Peter Lim Lo Suy was born on October 16, 1948 his proud parents, Andres Catiam Lim Lo Suy and So Tin Uy gave him a name that would truly reflect his traits as a person: the steadfast Rock in the Sea of Life that provides shelter and stability in all kinds of weather.

Early in his youth, he would need the full measure of all those traits as adversity struck his father’s health and the family business. His late brother Manuel had to stop his schooling in Manila and come home to help Peter put the family back on its feet. Peter himself had to continue his schooling as a part-time student in nearby Xavier University since he could not afford to pay for a full-load and had to help Manuel at the store.

With only P5, 000 capital which the family borrowed from friends and some banks, the family set up Catiam Enterprises, a wholesaler/retailer which bought and sold dried fish and groceries.

The young Peter U. Lim Lo Suy (center, back) with his siblings.

“We had no other workers in our store except my brother and me,” Peter recalls. “We did everything from hauling the merchandise to being sales clerk and cashier all in one.”

Ever on the lookout for additional income, Peter took up locksmithing after his father fired the employee who was operating their manual key duplicating machine.

“I only saw it done once so I wasted about six key blanks before I managed to fabricate one which worked,” Peter said. In those days, a house key cost P1.50 each to duplicate, and a car key P3.00. With around 10 customers a day, the business brought in an income which was a welcome addition to the family coffers.

Not content with this daily practice, Peter also bought old locks which he took apart to gain a better understanding of how they worked and subscribed to “Locksmith Ledger”, a US magazine which discussed the latest trends on the business. As the first locksmith in Cagayan de Oro, Peter also made Catiam’s Enterprises the first to have a machine operated key duplicator (made in Germany) which could do in minutes what used to take a locksmith hours to do by hand.

To further supplement the family’s income, Peter joined the insurance and real estate brokerage business. He had himself licensed as an underwriter for the Malayan Insurance Co., Inc. and as a real estate broker.

“I thought of undertaking these businesses since they had the potential to give you a fair return on your efforts with little or no capital,” he said.

The latter was the result of a chance encounter with a friend who was attending a real estate broker’s review seminar to prepare for the realtor’s board exam that would take place in two days. Peter joined the review and took all of two days to study enroute to topping the exams in the region given the very same weekend.

He became one of the youngest Board Members of the Real Estate Broker Association for Northern Mindanao, rubbing elbows with subdivision developers in Cagayan de Oro City and Northern Mindanao while gaining accolades as a consistent top insurance agent of Malayan Insurance Company.

To improve himself further, he became one of only 30 qualifiers in the region for the U.P. Institute of Small Scale Industries extension classes on Entrepreneurship Development in 1976 joining the likes of See Hong, Juan Sia, Cocoy Velez and Emil Bolongaita.

With knowledge gained from this course, he would revive an ailing ice cream and soy sauce factory, help establish their construction supply store, put up a noodle manufacturing firm and a tinsmith shop.

Finally, after 4 ½ years of hard labor and study, Peter finished his accounting course but balked at the idea of going to Manila for six months to review for the licensure exams for Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

“I was afraid that I would not pass even if I wasted six months of my life studying,” he recalls. “I also feared our store would no longer be around when I came back.”

Luckily, one of the 1971 CPA Board topnotchers who worked as an accountant with a local bank branch set up a review class in a local school. From 6-9PM every day Peter reviewed for the exam which he took in Cebu and became one of only two examines of the 30 who took the exam who passed. During those days, the CPA was a much in demand professional and offers poured in from banks to join them. Finally, however, Peter heeded his father’s advice that no matter how big a salary he got paid in the bank, a business would always give him a better income.

In 1992 he established Philtyres Corporation without any previous experience in the tires business and became the distributor of  Firestone tires in Cagayan de Oro and Northern Mindanao, eventually branching out to Davao and Cebu.

The following year, he established Limac Enterprises as the family’s flagship company to  distribute consumer products in Cagayan de Oro and Northern Mindanao. Among its present products lines are wines, kaong, energy drinks, condoms, canned sardines, coffee, and paper diapers. Limac provided him with the foundation from which he became one of the incorporators of Toyota Cagayan de Oro, Inc., the leading car distribution company in the city and the region.

Today, he continues to serve as Chairman of the Board and President of Limac Enterprises, Inc.;  Executive Vice President and General Manager of  Toyota Cagayan de Oro, and President and General Manager of Philtyres Corporation.

On April 25, 2009, MW Peter U. Lim Lo Suy will be officially installed as the Grand Master of The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines, the first native-born Kagay-anon to be so honored.

“I never aspired for this position,” Peter confides. “I has never been my dream to be Grand Master.”

Yet, his brother Masons unanimously voted him as their next Grand Master after he served with distinction during the previous years in various capacities as an Officer of the Grand Lodge, including Junior Grand Warden and Deputy Grand Warden.

Outgoing Grand Master Pacifico B. Aniag recalls how he was impressed at how extraordinarily simple MW Peter could be.

“Many will recall the most beautiful scene during the Tagaytay AnCom election in 2005 when, after two ballotings, then candidate VW Peter and I embraced each other at the stage after he had withdrawn from the race and prevented a third balloting,” PGM Aniag reminisces. “That could perhaps be recorded as the most friendly, fair and honorable election in recent history of our Grand Lodge…and also was a testimony to the character of the man who shall now be elevated to that exalted position at the Grand Oriental Chair. We have seen in MW Peter the embodiment of fairness, hard work and humility which are the traits of a true leader.”

MW Peter U. Lim Lo Suy at work for Ancom 2009 with brethren James Go and Richard Baban.

The incoming Grand Master’s record speaks for itself:   Most Outstanding Worshipful Master in District 17 (1985);Most Outstanding Worshipful Master of the GLP (1986) and Most Outstanding District Deputy Grand Master in the Philippines (GLP Award) from 1988 to 1991, the only time this award was conferred on a Mason for three consecutive years.

His involvement in matters outside the Masonic Fraternity has been equally impressive:

as a member of Lions Clubs International and a Melvin Jones Fellow of the Lions Clubs International Foundation, he was cited as Most Outstanding Lion of District 301-E Award (1991-1992); elected Vice District Governor of Lions Clubs International, District 301-E, Mindanao (1993-1994)  and recognized with the 35 years Monarch Award by the International body. He has been a member of the Knights of Columbus since 1972, preceding his stint with the Freemasonry.

He has served with the boards of the Misamis Oriental Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kong Hua School Alumni Association and the Cagayan de Oro Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade Foundation Inc., and as a President of the Golden Village Homeowners Association, Inc.

MW Peter U. Lim Lo Suy & Family

Today, he has reached the pinnacle of his Craft with the Freemasonry as the first ever Grand Master who was born and raised in Cagayan de Oro City. He has been married for 16 years to Doris Ang Gaeid with whom he has three children, Sharmaine, Lorraine and Bryan.

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