Businessman William Ong can still vividly picture Bacolod during his boyhood days. “Traffic was very light and Negros was rich as the sugar industry was booming,” he recalls. Those were the days when, as a boy and the eldest of the seven children of Ong Hong Tee and wife, Siok Hian, his father was already exposing him to the discipline and rigors of business. His father traces his roots to  China’s southeastern province of Fukien. As early as the grade school, he says, he was already helping in the business of his father, the American Shoe Emporium, which continues to operate with several branches in the city today.

But as a young man, he was a dreamer, too, and, after spending his basic education at St. John’s Institute, La Consolacion College and Tay Tung High School, he decided to study in Manila. The pull of adventure brought him to the University of the East where he studied Business Management. At the same time, he worked in his grandfather’s grocery business in Divisoria.

His stay in Manila was, however, cut short after two years of studies as his father wanted him to return to Bacolod to help run the family shoe sales business. A couple of years later, he had to make a crucial decision – to continue spending his time in the shoe emporium business or to return to Manila to help his Hong Kong-based uncle run the establishment he was planning to set up in Manila.  Ong chose to help his uncle and was soon  in Hong Kong where he trained for three months 1972 so he could take care of his uncle’s business – exporting to the Philippines jewelry-making equipment.

The opportunity eventually  paved the way for the then young businessman to start his own venture, later expanding to the sales of dental equipment and supplies that, today, his own firm, Intercast, or Internaitonal casting, eventually grew to become one of the  industry leaders in the country.

After almost 40 years of living in Metro Manila, Ong said he got bored with life in the metropolis that he decided to retire and looked at the opportunity of coming home to Bacolod that in 2004, he constructed his home in Ayala, which provided him an opportunity to renew ties with family members, friends and former classmates. His children, he adds, has taken over the management of his family business in Metro Manila.

In his frequent trips home during the past few years, he realized that many lots in the city have remained idle. Inquiring on the vacant lot owned by the Provincial Government along Gatuslao Street, which was just cleared of squatters, he found out it was offered for sale but, knowing the big amount required for the acquisition, he ventured into checking whether the land could be leased.

Today,  after a little more than a year since the start of the construction, 888 Chinatown Square of the Bacolod Capitol Hill Land Development Corporation, where Ong sits as president and chief executive officer, is ready to serve the needs of Negrenses and Bacolod residents “who  want to get the best value for their money”. The square, the name of which was influenced by the number, 8, considered in Chinese numerology as a lucky figure because of its infinity in design, will hold its soft opening on Friday this week. The establishment which cost a little more than P100 million, is a ‘tiangge’ type of mall, Ong said, is similar to Manila 168 and Divisoria, which are booming initiatives in the Metro Manila.

Ong said he is realizing the dream of bringing to Bacolod a type of mall which will cater to the variety of options of buyers at very low prices.

He said he learned that because of the operations  of these tiangge types of business, operations and income of giant malls in metro Manila declined because “consumers  will always prefer goods with greater value at a lesser cost. Buyers want to stretch the value of every peso spent, he recounts as telling 888 tenants during a briefing last week.

With these observations, he added, he and his four business associates decided to build 888 “to provide a wise shopping alternative and also a rare business opportunity for small and medium entrepreneurs, those who cannot afford the lease rates of big malls to start their own business all in one place”. At 888, he added, entrepreneurs can rent space as low as between P4,000 and P5,000 a month, or about P150 a day.

He believes that 888 will provide employment to thousands of Negrenses through its more than 200 stalls. The square,  constructed by H.E.O, a  Metro Manila-based company, has four main sections – food court and restaurant, a wet market, supermarket and general merchandise stores.

Ong, who headed the 2008 BacoLaodiat Festival, also took the opportunity to thank those who helped make the celebration a success on its third year, adding he is very happy of the encouraging outcome of this year’s four-day commemoration. This early, he further says,  we’re planning for next year’s festival as he expressed hopes that the momentum of public interest and support will be sustained and promised to provide bigger attractions in future celebrations.

A civic minded business executive, Ong finds time to work with organizations, like Amity, the Bacolod Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Lions. He is also vice president of the Ong Family Association and is active in Buddhist Temple activities and organizations.

He lets out a big laugh when asked how he spends his time off business concerns, saying : “I play golf, watch television and play cards.”

Asked why he decided to start his big business in Bacolod instead of Metro Manila or other places, Ong said: “Bacolod is ready for this kind of business and we’re optimistic of its appeal on the people,” Ong said, emphasizing: “This is an opportunity to pay back the city and place that nurtured you.”