TOP CONGLOMERATES ON NATION-BUILDING
AS CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY, DO WE BOTHER TO ASK OURSELVES WHAT WE HAVE DONE OR WHAT ELSE WE CAN DO TO HELP BUILD THIS NATION? DO WE DREAM PERHAPS OF SEEING THE PHILIPPINES BECOME THE GREAT NATION THAT IT DESERVES TO BE? OR IS IT EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF IN THIS COUNTRY OF 100 MILLION PEOPLE?
Nation-building is no easy task, and perhaps, does not end in a single lifetime.
As the country’s former national security adviser Jose Almonte once said, “Building our nation is a continuing struggle. A collective work in progress. It is an endless journey like a relay without end. All we can do is pass on the baton – forged in the core values our heroes died for: dignity, honor, freedom, justice, self-determination, peace – to the next runner, to the next generation.”
It is no doubt an endless journey and everyone should have a role to play to achieve it.
As citizens of this country, do we bother to ask ourselves what we have done or what else we can do to help build this nation? Do we dream perhaps of seeing the Philippines become the great nation that it deserves to be? Or is it every man for himself in this country of 100 million people?
Do we muster the courage to slay the fire-spewing dragons that destroy this nation’s fabric; remain passive to their ills but look the other way; or worse, end up being the enemy within?
Do we put coins in beggars’ alms to salve our conscience or fund petty CSR projects that have no lasting benefits? Or do we strive every single day of our lives to help build this nation
— brick by brick, one story after another, one project at a time?
As The Philippine STAR celebrates its 33rd anniversary reflecting on a turning point in the country’s climb to greatness, we asked some of the country’s billionaires what they and their sprawling billion-dollar empires have been doing to contribute to nationbuilding.
GT Capital, the conglomerate of the late taipan Dr. George Ty, traces its history to Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (Metrobank), one of the Philippines’ largest banks.
Ty founded Metrobank in 1963, initially to serve the Chinese-Filipino community. Key non-banking businesses of the Ty family were initially folded into Metrobank, as allowed under what was then known as the universal banking regime.
Decades later, in light of more stringent Basel III regulations, GT Capital was formed to assume Metrobank’s non-banking businesses and to function as the Ty family’s official holding company. Today, GT Capital owns market-dominant businesses in five vital high-growth sectors that drive the Philippine economy, namely banking, automotive, infrastructure and utilities, property development, insurance, and microfinancing.
Its goal is to become a world-class conglomerate, dominant in all the key sectors where it is invested, most sought after by global investors seeking opportunities for strategic partnership in the Philippines, a major contributor to nation building.
Through the years, it has earned its stature of prominence in these key sectors by blending local ingenuity and resources with the technology and expertise of bestof-class global business partners.
Anchored on core values of integrity, competence, excellence, respect, entrepreneurial spirit, and commitment to value creation, GT Capital fulfils its mission to ensure sustainable long-term profitability, increase shareholder value, create synergies, provide career opportunities, and contribute to nation-building.
Dr. Ty believed in the value of education and its crucial role in nation-building.
Philippine STAR’s Wilson Lee-Flores wrote: “Ty was outstanding and unique as a preeminent philanthropist due to the sheer diversity of and numerous socio-civic, cultural, education and community causes that he and his Metrobank Foundation undertook.
“The civic causes he supported ranged from numerous scholarships to medical and calamity relief, annual awards for outstanding teachers, police and soldiers, plus his most sought-after annual awards for the Philippines’ young artists and designers.
“He believed in the importance of arts and culture in nation-building. An art patron, Ty had an office which was like a museum with works by top Philippine masters Fernando Amorsolo, Botong Francisco, Ang Kiu Kok, Anita Magsaysay Ho, Victorio Edades, etc. I also saw a horse painting by the legendary Chinese painter Xu Beihong and I heard he was one of the world’s top collectors of contemporary Chinese art starting in the 1960s.
“Under his visionary leadership, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) achieved phenomenal growth and became a diversified conglomerate, which now includes Toyota Philippines, AXA Philippines, Federal Land, Philippine Savings Bank (PS Bank), Grand Hyatt Hotel, Marco Polo Plaza Hotel Cebu, and many other enterprises.”
PHILIPPINE STAR: What has your group contributed toward nation-building?
GT CAPITAL CHAIRMAN ARTHUR TY: I can sum up my father’s contribution to nation-building as having a good heart for the country most of all.
I noticed that as we got older, he started to take time and sit down with us and in his own way explained his philosophy. What is there not to be proud of? He started something from scratch, which ended up to be one of the most successful, one of the biggest, one of the most admired conglomerates in the entire country. And you add to that this whole idea of really wanting to help people and to contribute to nation-building. Our father was one of the most accomplished businessmen – a businessman with a heart.
George Ty’s philanthropic legacy centers on his contributions to the promotion of excellence in education in the Philippines and abroad, as well as in empowering pillars of the society toward nation-building.
Through the George Ty Foundation, Inc. (GTFI) led by Ty’s son Alfred, the group is able to carry on Ty’s legacy. In particular, the foundation has been funding infrastructure projects of top educational and community institutions, among others.
Alfred is at the helm of these endeavors. Among the foundation’s latest projects is the De La Salle University’s George S.K. Ty Advanced Instrumentation Building, which houses the University’s research laboratories in different areas of science, engineering, and technology.
In all, Alfred said the mission and vision of GTFI is to address the needs of the less privileged to improve the quality of their lives.