For 17 years, Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. has stood by the UP Fighting Maroons, not just through their championship years, but through the difficult seasons that came long before them.
The partnership began in 2010, when UP Men’s Basketball was still searching for its identity and enduring some of the toughest seasons in program history. Even through winless campaigns and the darkest days of the program, Robinsons Retail continued to stand behind the team.
The belief was tested by the scoreboard and the standings season after season but never abandoned. For Robina Gokongwei-Pe, chairman of Robinsons Retail, the decision to stay was rooted in something she recognized from her own experience building Robinsons Retail from the ground up.
“No one wants to support a losing team. But I’ve been in business for 40 years. When Robinsons Retail started 46 years ago, we were building the business from the ground up with a single store. Very few suppliers wanted to support us because they weren’t sure we knew what we were doing. But there were a small group of suppliers who saw in our eyes that, with their support, we could be successful one day,” Gokongwei-Pe shared.
“It was the same with the UP Fighting Maroons. We saw it in their eyes.”
That belief became the foundation of a partnership that would endure through rebuilding years, breakthrough moments, and eventually, championship success.
For Gokongwei-Pe, the relationship with the Fighting Maroons was also about giving back to the university that helped make her and the Robinsons Retail family who they are today.
“Supporting the UP MBT was never just a sponsorship. It was one way of giving back to the university that helped make us who we are today. There are many ways to help one’s school, and this was one way we could help,” she said.
Over the years, the Robinsons Retail family watched and grew alongside generations of Fighting Maroons, with the partnership also bringing together brands under the Robinsons Retail portfolio, namely Robinsons Supermarket, Handyman, Robinsons Appliances, Daiso Japan, and TGP. Through the years, they shared in the team’s struggles, breakthroughs, and milestones.
Then came the turning point.
The Fighting Maroons returned to the UAAP Final Four in 2018 after a 21-year absence before finally ending a 36-year championship drought in 2022. Since then, the Fighting Maroons have established themselves as one of the league’s top programs, making five straight Finals appearances and winning another championship in 2024.
The team’s rise also reflected how far the partnership had come since its early days, when success seemed a distant goal and belief was often the only thing to hold on to.
For Gokongwei-Pe, it was the team’s return to the UAAP Finals in Season 81 in 2018 that best captured just how far the program had come.“When the team reached the finals for the first time in 32 years during Season 81 in 2018, our ninth year of sponsorship, that’s when I realized, ang layo na pala ng narating natin,” she said.
The journey, however, has never been defined solely by results on the court. Over 17 years, it has also been about the friendships formed, the memories created, and the shared experiences between the Fighting Maroons community and the Robinsons Retail family.
“A lot of joy, and a lot of friends made along the way,” Gokongwei-Pe said when asked what the Fighting Maroons’ journey had given her over the years.
Now entering its 17th year, the partnership between the Fighting Maroons and Robinsons Retail stands as a testament to a belief that began long before UP became a perennial contender.
From the difficult days to championship celebrations, Robinsons Retail has been there to witness the transformation and, more importantly, to be part of the journey.
Time and again, the partnership between the Fighting Maroons and Robinsons Retail has shown that it was built not simply on wins, but on the people, memories, and shared belief that have carried the program forward.
