Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Dynasties don’t endure because they are richer, luckier or more charismatic. They endure because they run on a different operating system. On Sunday, the family shares a meal. On Monday, the same people sit across a board table with roles, rights and rules that are crystal clear. When pressure spikes-succession, acquisitions, crises or sudden success-this operating system does the heavy lifting: it turns emotion into process, opinion into evidence and status into accountability.

In my work advising multigeneration owners across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas, and optimizing their businesses with my teams, the highest-performing families look unremarkable from a distance. Inside, you find precise mechanisms: external voices with authority, conflict protocols, apprenticeship paths for heirs and a relentless bias for truth over ego.

Part 2 goes under the hood of two often-misread components-outside-in wisdom and family harmony-and connects them to the practical disciplines that keep an enterprise resilient over 50-year arcs.

They embrace external wisdom to avoid echo chambers

The most dangerous sentence in a family boardroom is, ‘We already know.’ Loyalty, longevity and shared history create comfort; comfort creates blind spots. Enduring empires inoculate themselves by institutionalizing dissent and importing perspective-not as theatre, but as process.

What this looks like in practice:

A standing outer circle. Independent outside experts who don’t rely on the family for their next mortgage payment. They meet the owners quarterly with live data, not slide decks and they have license to call time-outs on initiatives that drift away from reality.

Red-team drills. For every cherished project, a rotating red team argues the bear case with the same facts. It’s not cynicism-it’s quality control.

A sensing network. Outside analysts scan for weak signals (customer behavior shifts, regulatory tremors, insurgent competitors, defensible AI use-cases). The deliverable is a one-page ‘Stop/Start/Keep’ memo monthly. Less noise, more judgment.

Aligned incentives. If expert advice saves 50 million euros in bad integration costs, they should feel it in their pocket.

Two outcomes recur when families do this well.

First, they find money in the margins: pricing power you never exercised, channels you underfed, brands you’ve under-positioned.

Second, they avoid expensive romance: acquisitions that look strategic on paper but fail culturally; ‘innovation’ programs that automate trivia while missing the few AI applications that actually move profit and cash.

Artificial intelligence (AI), properly used, is a perspective machine. It shouldn’t be a mascot for ‘we’re modern.’ Deploy it to cross-check your story against reality: where your pricing deviates from value perception, where customer friction concentrates, where your cost curves diverge from peers. The outsider armed with clean data becomes a mirror you can’t ignore.

They prioritize family harmony as much as business success

Money magnifies what is already there-generosity and ego, courage and insecurity. As wealth compounds, so does emotional complexity. The paradox: families often pull together in crisis and pull apart in calm. Enduring dynasties treat family harmony as a strategic asset and manage it with the same rigor as cash flow.

Mechanisms that work:

Swim lanes with teeth. Document decision rights, advisory roles and escalation paths in a one-page ‘Family Operating System.’ Pre-agree consequences for lane-crossing. When conflict hits, you won’t be inventing rules while emotions spike.

Two rooms, two agendas. A Family Council (identity, values, education, philanthropy) and a Board (strategy, capital allocation, performance). Publish agendas two weeks ahead. If someone drags board business into the family room-or vice versa-pause, reset, continue.

No-business time. Mandatory nonbusiness gatherings where shop talk is banned.

Love must have a place that PandL can’t touch, or the PandL will eventually touch everything.

A standing facilitator. An external moderator who enables effective communication, resolves conflicts and gets rid of the elephant in the room. I have seen this again and again with clients: Most families do not talk enough and once they reach a certain threshold of miscommunication, an outside expert can fix it and get them back on track.

I’ve watched a common pattern play out: a high-performing sibling leading a growth division triggers status anxiety in another branch. Budget skirmishes turn into public feuds; top executives shift from playing to win to playing politics. In one case, fraud flourished in the fog.

The repair was mechanical, not heroic: rehabilitated board with independent members, monthly owner huddles chaired by an outsider, clarified decision rights and a short family charter that codified conflict protocols. Within a year: higher profitability, higher trust, no oxygen for opportunists.

Training heirs: Apprenticeship over accolades

Diplomas are nice; scar tissue is necessary. The families that last don’t crown capability; they create it. They put heirs through rotational apprenticeships with hard PandL accountability and a simple rule: earn authority, don’t inherit it.

Rotations in sales, operations, finance and customer success-no vanity projects.

The 100-day immersions with scorecards that blend people metrics (retention, engagement) and business outcomes (gross margin, cash conversion).

Mentorship triangles: one internal operator, one external industry veteran, one leadership coach. Three angles prevent flattery from masquerading as feedback. This builds competence and, just as importantly, credibility-inside the company and inside the family.

Five to thrive

1. Install an outside-in cadence. Get the best expert external advice. Give them authority to flag ‘stop now’ issues.

2. Codify swim lanes. Write a one-page Family Operating System defining roles, decision rights and escalation paths. Have every owner sign it. After the next real conflict, update it, don’t litigate it.

3. Separate the rooms. Create a Family Council (identity, values, education) and a Board (strategy, capital). Publish agendas two weeks in advance. Ban cross-talk. If lines blur, pause and reset.

4. Apprentice the next gen. Launch 100-day rotations with PandL and people metrics. Pair each heir with an external mentor who gains from telling the truth, not from pleasing the family.

5. Run a red-team drill + AI reality check. Pick one cherished initiative. Put a red team on it for two weeks. In parallel, deploy an AI-enabled listening post to capture outside-in customer and competitor signals. If the red team and the data disagree with your narrative, change the plan. INQ

Regine Velasquez has called for ‘stolen wealth’ to be poured back to Cebu, after giving her two-cents on why corruption still thrives amid the national outrage over the multibillion-peso flood control projects awarded by government to alleged anomalous contractors.

In a series of posts on her X account, Velasquez joined other celebrities who are voicing their dissatisfaction over the national issue, pointed out that the ‘selective’ justice system is the reason behind rampant corruption.

‘Hay hindi ko mapigilan ang sarili ko nagagalit talaga ako. Alam nyo kung bakit hindi natatapos ang kurapsyon?? Kasi walang consequences (I can’t help myself. I’m really angry. Do you know why corruption doesn’t end? Because there are no consequences). Justice is selective,’ she wrote.

Hay hindi ko mapigilan ang sarili ko nagagalit talaga ako Alam nyo kung bakit hindi natatapos ang kurapsyon?? Kasi walang consequences. Justice is selective.

The ‘Dadalhin’ hitmaker also lamented how ordinary Filipinos continue to pay taxes. She also called on corrupt officials to return their ‘stolen money’ and pour it back to Cebu, which is still reeling from the magnitude 6.9 quake last September 30.

‘Lahat ng ninakaw itulong nyo sa Cebu (All of your stolen money should be used for Cebu instead)!!!!!’ she said.

‘In the meantime, we continue to pay taxes. Taxes na pinagpaguran natin lahat may tax baka isang araw magising tayo na ultimo hangin may tax na (Taxes that were borne out of our hard work. Everything is taxed. We might wake up one day to discover that even the air we breathe is taxed),’ she said in a separate post.

In the meantime we continue to pay taxes. Taxes na pinagpaguran natin lahat may tax baka isang araw magising tayo na ultimo hangin may tax na

Velasquez did not post on social media if she participated in the Sept. 21 anti-corruption rallies in Manila and Quezon City, although her husband Ogie Alcasid was spotted recording the protesters at the People Power Monument.

The Asia’s Songbird is nonetheless among the many celebrities who publicly expressed their fury at the widespread corruption related to the alleged anomalies in flood control funds tied to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and contractors.

Flagship Robinsons malls are set to get a major facelift to keep pace with other developers that pursue renovations as consumer needs rapidly evolve.

Mybelle GoBio, president and CEO of Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), confirmed to reporters last week that they would soon announce the developer’s mall reinvention program. First in line are the older flagship malls.

‘It will be a continuous [program], and it will be the first of such a scale that we will be announcing,’ GoBio said during a press conference.

She added that this would be part of the company’s ‘premiumization’ strategy.

RLC is currently aiming to double its net income to P25 billion by 2030.

The company is investing P125 billion in the upgrade of their projects across business units, including offices and hotels.

Mall reinvention has been a major undertaking of top developers in the Philippines. Companies like Ayala Land Inc. and SM Prime Holdings Inc. are investing billions in the renovation of their biggest malls.

Higher lease rates

In joining competitors in this pursuit, GoBio said modern facilities would justify the premium pricing of their lease rates. Thus, the effort would give RLC better margins.

‘Also, consumer preferences are evolving . they’re looking for more experiential offerings. That’s what we’re trying to address through premiumization,’ GoBio said.

Apart from RLC’s flagship Robinsons Malls across the country, it also has upscale malls like Opus in Quezon City and Nustar in Cebu City.

In its 2024 report, real estate broker Colliers Philippines said that developers were redesigning their existing retail spaces to introduce new concepts and become ‘more experiential [and] less transactional.’

Developers were taking advantage of the high demand for more immersive experiences inside malls. They are expanding their food halls, upgrading cinemas and putting up pop-up stores to gauge market sentiment.

Asked whether expanding their current malls was part of their redesign strategy, GoBio said they were open to increasing their gross leasable area ‘where there is an opportunity.’

Otherwise, she said they would focus first on redevelopment. -MEG J. ADONIS INQ

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday told foreign aid and loan providers that his administration will not tolerate the wastage of public funds, as his administration backs sweeping investigations into billions of pesos worth of corruption-tainted flood control projects.

The president made the guarantee as he announced major reforms to the guidelines for reviewing and approving foreign-assisted flagship programs and projects of the government.

‘We will not tolerate measurement without action, nor will we tolerate the wastage of public funds,’ Marcos said in his keynote address at the 2025 Philippine Development Forum in Mandaluyong City.

‘No money will be wasted. We will not allow the squandering of the nation’s coffers,’ he told the audience.

The president acknowledged ‘critical bottlenecks and systemic challenges’ that have long hindered the government and its development partners from optimally utilizing the Official Development Assistance (ODA).

According to the chief executive, the Economy and Development Council (ED Council), which he chairs, revised the guidelines of the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) ‘to streamline the process, cut bureaucratic delays, and accelerate public service.’

The president said it was the ‘first comprehensive update in a decade’ to the ICC guidelines.

‘Be assured that we continue to listen to the concerns and recommendations of our development partners. We are determined to go further,’ Marcos noted.

The ICC is one of the eight inter-agency bodies comprising the ED Council co-chaired by the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DEPDev) and the Department of Finance (DOF).

In a statement issued by DEPDev, among the key changes in the guidelines include raising the cost threshold for locally funded programs and projects to P5 billion, and expanding ICC coverage to include PPP projects.

The guidelines also institutionalize the ICC’s mandatory review of all foreign loan-assisted projects, regardless of loan amount or total cost, while excluding grant-assisted projects, which are reviewed by DEPDev.

According to the department, the new guidelines were designed to ‘encourage the submission of well-prepared, strategically aligned proposals; and promote discipline among implementing agencies to ensure timely and effective project execution.’

‘As we work to ensure that every peso invested by the government delivers maximum value for Filipinos, streamlining the ICC process and clarifying its scope will make project evaluation more rigorous while minimizing delays,’ ED Council vice chair and DEPDev Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

The department has yet to make public a copy of the revised guidelines of the ICC.

According to the president, the ED Council will also introduce measures to simplify the issuance of special authority, ‘to enable faster mobilization of assistance aligned with national priorities.’

The special presidential authority for government officials to negotiate and sign a foreign loan, guarantee or grant agreement is one of the three requisites for the approval of big-ticket projects funded by ODA loans.

The other two requirements are the ED Council approval and the Forward Obligational Authority by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Marcos made the commitment as he said that the Philippines is projecting itself to transition from lower-middle income to upper-middle-income status by next year.

When this happens, the country’s eligibility for certain ODA may be reduced or eliminated.

Marcos expressed the Philippines’ ‘readiness’ for this transition, but noted that this ‘demands a kind of partnership built on stronger alignment, shared goals and genuine national ownership.’

According to the ODA Portfolio Review Report of the DEPDev, loans and grants received by the Philippines for projects increased by six percent to $39.6 billion in 2024 from $37.3 billion in 2023.

The 2024 ODA portfolio is the highest in a decade, consisting of 92 project loans, 19 program loans and 315 grants.

Japan remained the country’s largest partner, with $13.2 billion in active commitments, supporting 82 loans and grants.

Other key partners include the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and South Korea.

Among the projects that benefited from these loan commitments were the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network Project, Dalton Pass East Alignment Road Project Phase I, Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge Project, Metro Manila Subway Project, and Infrastructure for Safer and Resilient Schools Project.

The 2025 iteration of the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival sailed ahead after a months-long delay, with its executives demanding that government officials be transparent about public funds and reallocate the people’s money to support the arts.

In their respective speeches at the Cinemalaya opening ceremony at the Shangri-La Plaza on Friday, Oct. 3, deputy festival director Tess Rances and president Laurice Guillen took the time to echo the public’s fury toward the corruption of public funds and why the country’s film industry needs proper funding.

‘While billions of taxpayers’ money are skimmed in ghost projects right under the noses of our lawmakers, who were supposed to safeguard them, artists scrape the bottom of the pot to bring their stories to life,’ Rances said.

‘Corruption stumps and kills creativity. We urge our government to prioritize the allocation of funds to support the arts, specifically institutions like Cinemalaya and the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and the FDCP that nurture the growth of Philippine independent filmmaking,’ she continued.

Staying on the topic, Rances called on government officials to practice ‘urgency in responding against corruption,’ as it also plays a role in ‘stifling creativity and artistic excellence.’

‘We demand accountability and transparency of public funds meant for cultural and artistic development. The Cinemalaya festival, now in its 21st edition, has proven time and again its significance in shaping the narrative of Philippine cinema, promoting innovation, and giving a voice to the people,’ she said.

‘We call on our lawmakers to act with urgency in [responding] against corruption. It stifles creativity and artistic excellence. The future of Philippine cinema and the art demand it. The voices of our artists demand it. Labanan natin ang korapsyon at suportahan ang sining (Let’s fight against corruption and support the arts),’ she further added.

Meanwhile, Guillen revealed that the festival currently has 197 films in its arsenal, while acknowledging how the current political climate has an impact on filmmakers and local cinema.

‘Cinemalaya is not just a festival, it is a journey. The filmmaker who joins the competition with a story close to his heart sets out on a personal journey to a process that emphasizes craft and creativity, he learns to refine his vision and finds his voice,’ she said.

‘Unless our filmmakers acknowledge the hard truth and the upheavals today. Climate change, migration and refugee flows, war and conflict, political instability, economic disparity, we can’t even begin to take up the challenge,’ she continued.

With the theme ‘Layag sa Alon, Hangin, at Unos,’ this year’s Cinemalaya will be held from Oct. 3 to 12 at the Mandaluyong-based mall and partner cinemas.

The full-length film entries include ‘Bloom Where You are Planted,’ ‘Child No. 82,’ ‘Cinemartyrs,’ ‘Habang Nilalamon ng Hydra ang Kasaysayan,’ ‘Open Endings,’ ‘Padamlagan,’ ‘Paglilitis,’ ‘Raging,’ ‘Republika ng Pipolipinas,’ and ‘Warla.’

Meanwhile, the short-film entries are the following: ‘Ascension from the Office Cubicle,’ ‘Figat (Tomorrow),’ ‘Hasang (Gills),’ ‘I’m Left Inside My Head,’ ‘Kay Basta Angkarabo Yay Bagay Ibat ha Langit (Objects Do Not Randomly Fall from the Sky),’ ‘Kung Tugnaw ang Kaidalman Sang Lawod (Cold as the Oceans Run Deep),’ ‘Please Keep this Copy,’ ‘Radikals,’ ‘The Next 24 Hours,’ and ‘Water Sports.’

A rainy Monday is expected over parts of Mindanao, while generally fair weather is forecast for the rest of the country, the state weather bureau said.

In its 5 a.m. weather update, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ)-where winds from the northern and southern hemispheres meet-is expected to bring cloudy skies and thunderstorms to southern Mindanao.

Pagasa weather specialist Daniel Villamil said Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon and Visayas will experience fair weather.

‘Partly cloudy to cloudy skies don’t necessarily mean there won’t be any rain. The usual late afternoon to evening rain showers or thunderstorms may still occur,’ he said in Filipino.

He also said Palawan and Visayas will experience similar fair weather conditions.

Meanwhile, Villamil said thunderstorms and overcast skies are expected in Mindanao as the day progresses due to the ITCZ.

‘Because of the ITCZ, areas like the Zamboanga Peninsula and BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao)-technically the southern part of Mindanao-can expect a high chance of cloudiness today,’ he said in Filipino.

‘So we’re looking at cloudy weather with scattered [showers] and thunderstorms,’ he added.

Villamil also said that no gale warnings have been issued for any of the country’s seaboards.

Meanwhile, the following temperatures are forecasted:

Laoag, Ilocos Norte: 24°C to 31°C

Baguio: 16°C to 24°C

Metro Manila: 23°C to 32°C

Tagaytay: 22°C to 28°C

Tuguegarao: 24°C to 34°C

Legazpi: 24°C to 33°C

Kalayaan Islands: 27°C to 31°C

Puerto Princesa: 24°C to 33°C

Iloilo: 24°C to 32°C

Cebu: 26°C to 32°°C

Tacloban: 25°C to 33°C

Zamboanga: 24°C to 33°C

Cagayan de Oro: 24°C to 31°C

Davao: 24°C to 33°C

Weather disturbances

Villamil also reported that Severe Tropical Storm Halong and the cloud clusters monitored outside the Philippine area of responsibility will not directly affect the country.

He said Halong was located 2,105 kilometers east-northeast of Extreme Northern Luzon, moving slowly northwestward, with maximum winds of 100 kilometers per hour (kph) and gusts reaching 125 kph.

Meanwhile, the cloud clusters may develop into a low-pressure area either later today or in the coming days.

Four-day weather outlook

Pagasa also provided a four-day weather outlook to guide the public on expected conditions across the country.

Tuesday until Wednesday: Cloudy skies with scattered rain and thunderstorms over Palawan, Zamboanga Peninsula, BARMM, Western Visayas, and Negros Island Region due to the ITCZ.

Thursday to Friday: Generally fair weather to persist throughout the whole country apart from localized showers/localized thunderstorms.

Toyota Financial Services Philippines Corp. (TFSPH), the automotive financing and leasing arm of GT Capital Holdings Inc., began its maiden bond offer on Monday, aiming to raise P2 billion from the debt market.

In a regulatory filing on Monday, GT Capital said TFSPH’s issuance would involve two-year bonds and three-year bonds, with fixed rates of 5.7725 percent and 5.9418 percent, respectively.

‘TFSPH will use the proceeds to further diversify its funding sources and support its anticipated asset growth,’ the Ty-led conglomerate noted in its disclosure.

The bond offer period will run from Oct. 6 to Oct. 13. First Metro Investment Corp. and ING bank NV Manila Branch were tapped as joint lead arrangers and bookrunners. They are also the selling agents, along with Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. and BPI Capital Corp.

Philippine Rating Services Corp. earlier issued a PRS Aaa (corp.) with a stable outlook rating for TFSPH.

This is its highest issuer credit rating, indicating that TFSPH has a ‘very strong’ capacity to meet its financial commitments.

In giving this rating, PhilRatings said it had considered TFSPH’s ‘strong and highly supportive’ shareholders, the Toyota franchise, its ‘good’ asset quality and sustained revenue growth due to the expansion of its loan portfolio./tad

A team of geologists tasked with identifying areas prone to flooding and sinkhole formation was deployed to Cebu following a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck off the province on Sept. 30, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Monday.

In a statement, the DENR-Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said it dispatched an eight-member team from its Central Office and Central Visayas Regional Office ‘to conduct a comprehensive post-disaster geohazards assessment across several areas in Cebu province.’

‘The assessment aims to identify zones susceptible to flooding, rain-induced landslides, ground subsidence, and sinkhole formation,’ the agency explained.

‘The initiative aims to enhance public safety and guide local government units in land-use planning and disaster risk reduction, particularly in communities situated on karst terrains characterized by limestone formations that are prone to dissolution and collapse,’ it added.

DENR Assistant Secretary Michael Cabalda said the assessment covers ground validation and geohazards data analysis.

‘This study will enable us to pinpoint areas susceptible to flooding, rain-induced landslides, and those areas with high potential for ground subsidence and provide technical recommendations to LGUs for proper zoning, building regulation, and emergency preparedness,’ said Cabalda, who also serves as the MGB director.

He said the results of the assessment will be disseminated to local officials, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, and other concerned partners.

To date, the DENR said preliminary surveys have already been conducted in the proposed Tent City, Barangay Cogon, and Bogo City. /mcm

Another wave of fuel price hikes will hit motorists this Tuesday, with diesel and kerosene increasing for the seventh straight week.

In an advisory, Seaoil said diesel and kerosene would be more costly by 80 centavos and 20 centavos per liter, respectively.

Gasoline will also inch up by 20 centavos a liter.

Industry sources said last week that the expected increases could be attributed to the market’s fears of supply shortfalls, especially amid Russia’s partial diesel export ban.

Another major factor affecting prices was the new US sanctions against Iran over allegedly failing to comply with its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal./tad

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada will file perjury charges against former Department of Public Works and Highways – Bulacan Assistant District Engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez after the latter linked the senator to the anomalous infrastructure projects.

Estrada’s office made the announcement in an advisory released Monday, saying that the senator would lodge the charges against Hernandez before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office on Oct. 7.

Last month, Hernandez linked Estrada to the questionable infrastructure projects.

Contrary to the statements of Senator Rodante Marcoleta during the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on September 8, Hernandez said that Estrada is ‘not safe’ from allegations linked to the projects.

‘Senator [Rodante] Marcoleta said yesterday, ‘You are safe.’ This is not true. Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, Sen. Joel Villanueva, [DPWH] Undersecretary Robert Bernardo, and DE [district engineer] Alcantara. Senator Jinggoy laid out P355 million in 2025 for some projects in Bulacan,’ Hernandez said in Filipino.

In response, Estrada said he would file charges against Hernandez as he denied the allegations and described them as ‘kathang-isip at gawa-gawa’ (imaginary and made-up).

Estrada likewise reiterated his call for a lie-detector test with Hernandez to determine who among the two of them is telling the truth.

Estrada said the allegation that he secured P355 million in infrastructure deals in Bulacan was unfounded, as any line item from the General Appropriations Act could be linked to any senator.