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| (The Philippine Star) |
What
we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and
the world remains and is immortal. —Albert Pike
What
is a better motivation and use for business profits than to donate part of them
to philanthropy? We can only eat three or five meals a day at most, and
even if our house has many bedrooms, we can only sleep on one bed in one room
per night.
Among
the capitalists I admire the most are Singapore philanthropist Tan Kah Kee, who
donated Xiamen University in south China in 1921 and much of his fortune to
education; he was also an activist tycoon. He donated most of his wealth
to charities long before Warren Buffett and Bill Gates started a similar trend
in the West.
The
recent outpouring of civic efforts and donations to typhoon Yolanda victims
also saw business people’s unprecedented philanthropy in the Philippines. One
of the most active sectors is the ethnic Chinese business community.
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| Clockwise from upper left: SM Group’s Henry Sy Sr., Philippine Airlines’ Lucio Tan, Metrobank Group’s George S.K. Ty, Megaworld’s Andrew Tan, Marketing guru Josiah Go, Singapore philanthropist Tan Kah Kee |
Henry Sy, Lucio Tan, George S.K. Ty, Andrew Tan donate
SM Group, led by founder Henry
Sy’s family, and Lucio Tan’s Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. have each
donated P100 million. Both Sy and Tan are legendary “rags-to-riches” tycoons
who lead simple lifestyles devoid of luxuries, yet they have consistently
donated to charities through the decades. For them, business success is not
about the accumulation of money, but more about the challenges of success and
the passion to be able to create enterprises and jobs, with each new commercial
and civic project being an exciting adventure.
Years ago Henry Sy Sr. invited
me to tour his elegant yet simple newly acquired house in Makati and he
half-jokingly recounted that his daughter, BDO chairperson Teresita “Tessie” Sy
Coson, took his checkbook to pay for that home purchase, after his having lived
for decades in a condominium unit.
Lucio Tan also leads a simple
lifestyle. He is often seen using a second-hand Mercedes-Benz and used to ride
economy-class airline seats before he became chairman of Philippine Airlines
(now managed by San Miguel Corp. boss Ramon S. Ang).
The Federation of Filipino Chinese
Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII), led by chairman emeritus
Lucio Tan, president Alfonso Siy, executive vice president Angel Ngu and
secretary general Fernando Gan has already raised P60 million in private
donations as of Nov. 21, with an eventual projection of P100 million to be
raised in cooperation with six other organizations. Ngu said that the
Federation is in contact with Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, who is in
charge of much of the logistics operation for the business community’s
donations.
Banker George S.K. Ty has led
Metrobank Group, Toyota Motor Philippines, and Toyota Financial Services
Philippines to donate P50 million to aid the ongoing relief operations for
families affected by super typhoon Yolanda. Another philanthropic arm helping
in relief efforts is GT-Metro Foundation Inc. For decades, George Ty has been a
patron of the arts and culture and has donated a lot to medical, educational
and other civic causes.
Self-made tycoon Andrew Tan of
Megaworld, Resorts World Philippines and McDonald’s Philippines also donated
P50 million through the Philippine Red Cross, ABS-CBN Foundation and the United
Nations Children’s Fund.
The local Chinese community has
diverse religious beliefs, from Catholic and Protestant to Taoist and Buddhist
faiths. One of the most dynamic segments in philanthropy is the Buddhist group
called the Tzu Chi Foundation, which recently teamed up with the Yuyitung
family’s 94-year-old Chinese Commercial News or Siong-po to raise donations
totalling P47 million to help the typhoon Yolanda victims. Philippine STAR
reader Robert Young Jr. told this writer: “At the outset, the Tzu Chi
Foundation Philippines Chapter medical team has treated over a thousand
patients in Tacloban City. They also hire typhoon victims to clear the street
of debris.”
Solomon Yuyitung told the STAR:
“These donations of P47 million came from many members of the Filipino-Chinese
community from all walks of life, from small traders, entrepreneurs to even
professionals and top business people, some of whom even refused to put down
their names for our receipts and for publication.”
The Association of Young
Filipino Chinese Entrepreneurs (formerly known as the Anvil Business Club) led
by chairman Jeffrey Ng and president Jovenson Ong also donated cash and relief
goods for the typhoon victims.
A unique social enterprise
venture to aid future disaster relief
One unique civic endeavour from
the business community is now being spearheaded by marketing guru and book
author Josiah L. Go starting Nov. 19, which he undertook using mobile phone
text messages to friends and also via Facebook. He said, “I’d like to
start a sustainable social enterprise where 100 percent of the profit will go
to future disaster victims (not that I wish there would be), who are willing to
invest without dividends P50,000 minimum for a start with top investors sitting
on the board. I am taking inventory but will start early 2014.”
I decided to donate all my fees
from three recent speaking engagements at AXA Philippines life insurance firm
last Nov. 11 in Makati, Nov. 13 in Baguio City and Nov. 18 in Cebu City to Go’s
sustainable social enterprise project.
It is not true that you have to
be a tycoon in order to donate, because you can give according to your own
capacity and resources. Donations are not measured by size but by our idealism.
If not for typhoon Yolanda, I
would not have written this. Last year, I heard that the Tacloban Filipino
Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Leyte province wanted to help the people of
Limasawa island construct a public school building and their officers were
looking for donors. Limasawa is a poor sixth-class municipality in southern
Leyte where the first Catholic mass was held 492 years ago in 1521. Much
earlier in 1225, the Chinese merchant Chau Ju Kuo described the local
population of “Mazaua” as friendly and congenial to trade relations.
Although I am not a tycoon and
have no personal connection to Leyte, last year I volunteered to donate the
money needed for this public school project, which I coursed through my former
Ateneo de Manila University classmate Carlos Lim Legaspi who is with the
secretariat of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce &
Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII). Early this year I also donated to another public
school.
Why? As a kid, I promised my
late mother that I would someday try to be rich so that I could donate 100
schools in honor of her and our late father.
Due to the sheer difficulty of
shipping construction supplies from Leyte’s main island to Limasawa and the
lack of electricity there, the construction was delayed and super typhoon
Yolanda later hit the region.
I wonder what happened to the
people of Limasawa in southern Leyte? Now my concern is also how the SME
entrepreneurs of the Tacloban Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce can rebuild
their businesses, homes and lives, so that they can help construct a new public
school for the people of Limasawa.
More than just immediate and
decisive relief efforts to save typhoon Yolanda victims, let us think long-term
and help the economic reconstruction of the Visayan areas hard-hit by the
typhoon, which have also been economically neglected for generations by our
many Manila-centric politicians.
Let us not only build ports,
municipal halls and churches but also prioritize public schools and help public
school teachers. I believe education is the best investment for anti-poverty
alleviation and promoting true social justice.
Source: What better use and motive for business profits than philanthropy?
Source: What better use and motive for business profits than philanthropy?
