YCO Corporation’s True Value hardware store in Garapan.
FRANCES Yumul, known to friends as Kai, remembers helping her husband unload sheets of plywood and pieces of 2×4 lumbers from delivery trucks.
It was all hands-on—even the flowers they sold for All Souls’ Day. Frances Yumul said she and her husband, YCO Corporation President Jesus B. Yumul, were the ones who made the flower bouquets and wreaths that they sold at their first store.
That’s how they built their business—starting from scratch and initially doing everything themselves at their first store in their Garapan home. That first foray into business later grew into what is now YCO Corporation, with stakes in varied businesses that range from hardware store franchises to the Liberty Department store.
At one point, they ran two Jollibee branches and Naked Fish Bar and Grill (now Naked Fish Saipan).
As YCO Corporation turns 50 today, April 4, 2025, Jesus Yumul looks back at all those years when the company he started rose from its humble beginnings to become one of the oldest surviving hardware in the CNMI, taking part in building the island’s vital infrastructures and helping transform the islands into what it is now.
Photo shows YCO Corporation President Jess B. Yumul during an interview in his office in Chalan Kiya.
Saipan looked so different when Jesus Yumul first came to the island in 1969.
A young civil engineer from the Philippines, Yumul came here to work for Amelco Engineers Company, which had been contracted to install the first underground sewer and water facilities on Saipan. At that time, the CNMI was not a commonwealth yet and was being run by the U.S. Trust Territory.
At just 23 years old, Jesus Yumul was the youngest Filipino foreign worker that Amelco Engineers had brought to Saipan.
Besides just a few pieces of clothes, all he had were his civil engineer license from Mapua Institute of Technology (one of the most reputable educational institutions in the Philippines) and $50 he borrowed from a relative.
How it got started
When Amelco’s contract expired after the utilities project was completed in 1972, Yumul was tasked to stay on island for the duration of the warranty period. When they cleared the construction sites of debris and equipment, there were still a lot of surplus electrical and plumbing supplies.
When Amelco’s project manager offered to sell these items to him, he jumped at the chance. And right beside their house on Filooris Avenue in Garapan was a 600-square-foot single-story building where they could store these items and other commodities they bought for their first business.
“Then, I started bringing in other hardware items,” Yumul said.
He vividly remembers the business sign in front of their store: YCO Hardware.
“It looked just like a mom-and-pop store,” he said.
Although it was more of a specialty store that sold items other than just plain hardware, people in the neighborhood already started calling it a hardware.
Jesus Yumul said those first years were a delicate balancing act for him and his wife. At that time, their eldest son, Ralph, was just 1 year old then, and the second, Ray, was only 3 months old.
From left to right are Joebelen Luna, Sohn Macaranas, supervisor Bernard Pamintuan, and Martin C. Duenas Jr. of YCO Corporation’s Do It Best in Chalan Kiya.
High demand
Yumul said YCO Hardware was born at a time when the CNMI’s construction boom was in full swing. Buildings were being built left and right and newly paved roads were starting to crisscross the island from end to end.
YCO Hardware then started bringing in lumber and other construction materials, which they stored in a small space in front of the hardware and some in the garage.
When the business grew into what is now YCO Corporation, they moved to a bigger location on Beach Road, where the Liberty Department Store is now located.
It also housed the expanded YCO Hardware store in a permanent concrete structure attached to a pre-fabricated steel building.
Among the corporation’s original board members were Herman Q. Guerrero and former Speaker Joaquin I. “Mitch” Pangelinan.
“They were among the original incorporators of YCO Corporation. They were the ones close to me at the time. They were active community members,” he said.
Old photo shows the staff of Liberty Plaza.
Old photo shows the staff of the Liberty Plaza.
YCO Corporation President Jesus B. Yumul is shown in these old photos playing with his kids.
This old photograph shows the Yumul family.
Partners in life, partners in business
The story of YCO Corporation is not just about a business; it is also a story about love.
Frances Yumul noted that their marriage and business begun almost at the same time. She remembers she and her husband started putting up their business right after getting married—he with hardware items and she with home items, among others.
At one time, she teased her husband about asking him for a bonus, being his oldest employee.
Despite the limited space they have had in their first store, Jesus Yumul made sure to save almost half of the business space for his wife’s own commodities, which included flower bouquets and wreaths for All Souls’ Day and kitchen wares she ordered from Sears & Roebuck.
“Ever since the business started, there has always been a space for her own store items,” he said.
Later years
YCO Corporation later opened a furniture and appliances store at the corner of Alaihai Avenue and Kadena Di Amor St. where August Store is now located. That later became the corporation’s True Value franchise.
The corporation also opened the Do It Best hardware franchise in Chalan Piao, and the Liberty Plaza next to Kristo Rai Church, where Bank Pacific stands now.
In a departure from their hardware business, YCO Corporation later obtained the franchise for the Philippines’ biggest fast food chain, Jollibee, and they were able to open two stores on Saipan.
Still in the food business, the corporation opened the Naked Fish Bar and Restaurant on Beach Road. When it moved the restaurant to Oleai about 10 years ago, YCO Corporation renovated the old building and moved the True Value store from Alaihai St. in Garapan to the new site.
When garment factories left the islands in the ’90s, the corporation moved its Do It Best store to Msgr. Guerrero Road in Chalan Kiya.
Today, after going through a lot of economic challenges, especially the Covid-19 pandemic and many typhoons, “we are still here and we will be here to stay,” Jesus Yumul said.
That small family business that later became a corporation is now branching out all the way to the island of Tinian. Yumul shares that YCO Corporation now has a two-story commercial building on Tinian and a 7,200-square-foot commercial warehouse building.
He attributes the corporation’s resiliency to its business advantage of never having to pay rent for their stores. Also, he attributes the corporation’s longevity to many of their hardworking employees who have been with them for as long as 31 years now.
“Some of them have been with me for 31 years [and are] still here,” he said.
Yumul said not every company can reach 50 years. “For that alone, I’m very proud of that accomplishment,” he said.
Fiscal discipline
Looking back at all those years when they were competing with giant businesses on island and are still doing so even up to this point, Jesus and Frances Yumul are still a bit puzzled over how they were able to pull it off.
“I could not even figure out how I did it. I did not have big capital. I didn’t know how I did it,” Jesus Yumul said.
Perhaps it may have something to do with that basic economic rule that one should save 10% of one’s earnings first before spending anything. Or part of it may be the discipline he and his wife exercise.
“She’s disciplined when it comes to finances,” Jesus Yumul said.
But Frances Yumul herself is also a bit mystified. She also couldn’t tell how they were able to survive the challenges they encountered in 50 years.
Perhaps, she has a hidden talent in business, she said. She remembers that her mother used to run a small store in their ancestral home in San Roque. She was just 5 years old then, but was already helping her mother run it.
From left are Francisca Yumul and Liberty Department Store staff Kris Sabido, Kristhinne Nunez, and Ann Barce.
These days, Frances Yumul doesn’t need to share space with Jesus Yumul’s hardware items. She now manages the Liberty Department Store on Beach Road where they sell toys, children’s clothes and quality baby products, along with home improvement items, a wide selection of knitting supplies, and bedroom and bathroom necessities.
Through the years, she said, the business she and her husband built continues to survive simply because “we continue.”
“I am always happy. I like doing this. …Maybe I will give up only if I could no longer walk,” she added, laughing.
