One of my friends in facebook made the following observations about Henry Sy and the SM group of companies:
1. Sy and his family own SM malls and supermarkets, Banco de Oro, Save More and Hypermart, SMDC residential condos, etc. Why do they own and earn so much? This is corporate greed.
2. Many local businesses die instantly when an SM Mall is built in the community, there should be a cap to wealth and greed, and monopolies in various forms should not be allowed.
3. In the Bible, there was the year of Jubilee when the wealth of the rich would be redistributed to the people.
I commented that where there are more malls, more high rise condos, whether they are by the Sys or Ayalas or Gokongweis or any other businessmen, there are more jobs, contractual or permanent. Where more people have jobs, there is less dependence -- on government, on family and relatives.
It is not true that SM, Robinsons, etc. usually put up their malls only in prime commercial properties. They also put their malls in idle, far out places where frogs, snakes, crickets occupy huge grassland areas. What used to be idle lands where only very few people work, later have thousands of workers -- from construction to mall and shop workers and entrepreneurs. Like in North Fairview, Quezon City, then Robinsons followed, the place became busy. In Cavite, SM Molino is in a far out, all cogon area, now surrounded by various housing projects. SM San Fernando, Pampanga, beside NLEX, also on a cogonal/grasland area. They need several hectares of land, so they prefer far out, non commercial areas where land prices are cheap. And this helps disperse business activities
It is not good to recommend stoppage of the expansion of those malls that "kill small businesses". Ordinary people who prefer to go to the air-conditioned, well-lighted and clean malls should not be deprived of enjoying such perks if these are available near their areas. Besides, these malls often allot small stalls for micro entrepreneurs.
SM and the local mall developers are generally super rich simply because they do not have enough competitors. The Constitution effectively disallows Wallmart, Target, Phoenix, Utama, other huge malls abroad to come in and compete with SM, Robinsons, Ayala and other local malls. The latter are oligopolies, they can be a monopoly in a particular city, like CSI mall is a monopoly in Dagupan City (owned by the family of the city mayor, I think).
There are also individual greed or the "poor's greed", an oxymoron. During heavy flooding (most recent was Habagat flooding), trisikads were charging P100 to P200 per person, when the usual rate was P10 to P20. Then there are also politicians and high government officials. One cannot start a simple business unless he/she gets their signatures and such signatures can come at a high price.
The Sys may have been very greedy while they give jobs, directly and indirectly, to hundreds of thousands of people. But someone who is "not greedy" but cannot give job to even one needy person may not be helpful either.
We can assume that if given the chance, most people would be greedy -- as a government official, as a trisikad driver, as a physician, as a lawyer, as a businessman, and so on. One way to "control the greed" is to have competition in each sector and sub-sector. Greed by mall owners can be tempered by the existence of competing malls, both local and foreign. Greed by local physicians can be tempered by the competition of foreign physicians, and so on. Our problem is that we have a Constitution plus local laws that outlaw foreign competition, and so the greed by locals cannot be tempered by other potential players.
A Filipino friend in the US,
Emmanuel Tabones, made his own observations too. He gave me permission to quote him.
1. Class envy and resentment remain big problems in the Philippines. Personally, I am not jealous of anyone's financial success, kahit kung sino. Why should I care if Henry Sy has multiple homes? That's not an example of corporate greed. That's merely his right to spend lawfully earned money as he sees fit...Anyhow, I am doubtful Walmart, Target, Costco, or any big foreign retail chains will choose to compete in the Philippine market because its simply not lucrative, and there's too much corruption.
2. There should be a cap on class envy and resentment....Make it as close to zero as possible. In the Bible, there are two important commandments that people often ignore: the 7th Commandment-Thou shalt not Steal, and the 10th Commandment-Thou shalt not Covet Thy Neighbor's Goods. Any attempt to redistribute other people's possessions/property without their voluntary consent represents a gross violation, even if its done through political means or what is known as legal plunder.
