THE COUNTRY?S wealthiest man, Henry Sy, has proven that there?s no barrier to entry for him in corporate Philippines. After building the biggest banking, shopping mall and retailing groups in the country over the years, his group is on track to becoming the largest residential property developer as well, despite being a relative newbie among the giants in the industry.

According to property research specialist Colliers International Philippines, SM Development Corp.?led by eldest son and namesake Henry Sy Jr.?is now the largest residential developer in Metro Manila for the first half of 2010, both in terms of the number of units sold and the value of sales.

Not only surpassing its own full-year real estate sales in 2009, SMDC was able to sell more than 5,000 units for a 26-percent share of total industry sales in Metro Manila. Doris C. Dumlao

Purisima vs bankers

FINANCE Secretary Cesar Purisima is serious about cracking the whip on tax evaders and parties that help them. In fact, he is so serious about it that he has been breathing down the necks of bankers?traditionally an apolitical bunch of people?urging them to jump on the anti-tax evader bandwagon.

Well and good, except that banks are now starting to squirm under the pressure.

In Purisima?s view, banks should not lend money to borrowers who use fudged books to justify their ability to pay back their loans (i.e. borrowers who overtly present to banks misstated BIR documents while at the same time secretly showing them their ?real? books, presumably showing much better figures).

The question going through bankers minds at this point is this: Should they be held liable for lending to borrowers who fund their books? Should banks assume the responsibility for validating whether their borrowers? BIR documents are accurate or not?

Purisima, who sits on the BSP?s Monetary Board, thinks so. But many bankers disagree (they?re bankers, not auditors, they say).

So far, the finance chief has been on the offensive, taking every speaking engagement as an opportunity to drive home this point, while an official position on the matter from the Department of Justice is pending. The bankers, on the other hand, have so far not made their collective voices heard. Even the Bankers Association of the Philippines?which is meant to advance the industry?s interests?is mum on the issue.

Who will prevail: The acknowledged ?primus inter pares? of President Aquino?s working Cabinet or the group headed by the person considered by many to be the country?s next central bank governor? Daxim L. Lucas

Hiking stake in Petron

A P10.9-billion block sale of 1.52 billion Petron Corp. yesterday bloated the value turnover at the stock market. The block, which accounted for 15.6 percent of Petron's outstanding float, was sold by British fund Ashmore for P7.20 each.

The transaction, as expected by the market, was part of San Miguel Corp.'s exercise of its option to buy shares of Petron from Ashmore. After all, the diversifying conglomerate has the option to acquire 60 percent of Ashmore unit SEA Refinery Holdings BV in order to eventually control 67 percent of Petron?on or before Dec. 15 this year.

The price at which the block was transacted was a bit higher than the P6.85-a-share tender offer earlier made by San Miguel, suggesting that Ashmore was better off having sold the additional stake (approximately half of its remaining stake in Petron) at this later date. This suggested that Ashmore is selling to San Miguel at a staggered pace?and at an escalating price. Doris C. Dumlao

Fake ?green? architecture

WITH ?green architecture? becoming a buzz phrase in the property development and construction industries, a number of companies are adopting the term in their marketing campaigns. Architecture and design firms are apparently doing the same.

But just how green is green?

A number of leading Filipino architects and designers have disclosed that many property developers in the Philippines are not really building environmentally friendly projects. They use foreign-made designs that, more often than not, need imported materials and are not livable without greenhouse-gas emitting, energy-guzzling appliances like air-conditioning units.

Worse, some developments are not future-proofed for changes in population, traffic and so on.

Plus there is the huge carbon footprint of flying in foreign designers and materials, wasting locally available resources.

Sadly, according to our sources, it?s not just colonial mentality at work, it?s also some local company officials wanting to go on foreign trips to attend ?presentations.?

Often, the next step is to fly in the foreign designers, get local talents to become the architects on record, and use the imported designs, which are often just rehashes of existing structures.

How green is that? Riza T. Olchondra

Death and taxes

SPEAKING of Secretary Purisima, the finance chief was recently contacted by parties close to businessman and architect Gerry Contreras, who was the subject of recent text rumors about his untimely demise.

To recall, the rumors claimed that Contreras?who owns several buildings around Makati City, including the pinkish Gercon Plaza along Makati Ave.?had died of a massive coronary, but that his death was being kept a secret so as not to unduly alert the taxman.

Well, the good news, according to Purisima, was that Contreras is alive but in a coma and confined at the Makati Medical Center.

?I was even invited to visit him,? he said, quickly adding that he declined the invitation.

But he has ordered the Bureau of Internal Revenue to be watchful of other people who think that only death is inevitable and not the taxman. Daxim L. Lucas

Absent for health reasons

SPEAKING of Makati Med, the former president of bond trading firm Tullet Prebon Philippines, Jaime Villalon, did not show up for his court arraignment yesterday, with his lawyer saying that the official was confined in Makati City?s premier hospital due to a heart attack.

Villalon and some of his co-officials were sued by Tullet Prebon for allegedly poaching 28 brokers from the local office on behalf of a rival firm, Tradition Financial Services, while they were still employed by their former firm.

Villalon has denied any wrongdoing.

Tullet Prebon is represented by the lawyers of the Villaraza Cruz Marcelo & Angangco law firm, while Villalon is represented by lawyer Gabby Villareal. Daxim L. Lucas

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