Never get between family members

SGV & Co. co-founder Washington SyCip hosted a dinner last Thursday for San Miguel Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.

The guest list – all friends and all as equally successful in making money as Wash SyCip – was short enough for one table of good food and equally good liquor, naturally.

The menu was easier to get than what was discussed.

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Being so well known, SM Group founder Henry Sy is understandably a little paranoid about people dropping his name or that of his children in business ventures.

These days, that happens a lot to the man who still looks a man or woman from his/her shoes upward.

Among the taipans, Mr. Sy is said to be the most liquid – the daily cash coming from all those busy registers in his department stores as well as tenants in his malls that are devoted in the branches of his commercial bank.

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So, Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. secretary-general John Ngaw seems to spend as much time at the Century Park Hotel as he does in the federation office in Binondo.

You see, Mr. Ngaw agreed to return to the federation – after retiring as corporate secretary – upon the invitation of president Robin Sy. The previous secretary-general Joaquin Sy, who served during the two-year term of president John K.C. Ng decided to return to his work with Teresita Ang-See.

Fact is, Robin Sy had to ask permission from former federation president Lucio Tan, who had given Mr. Ngaw a job after his retirement.

Under the agreement between the two gentlemen, Mr. Ngaw will not receive a salary for taking on the job as secretary-general. In exchange, Mr. Ngaw will be given time off everyday to do whatever assignments he is asked to do (and is paid for) by Mr. Tan.

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Bank notes 1: Any newcomer here is given this standard advice – do what you have been hired to do but never get between family members.

Family members, of course, refers to the children of the majority stockholder, whose internal alliances shift every now and then.

At the very least, a promising career can end up in the freezer – all because the employee has not kept abreast on which family member now has the upper hand.

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Bank notes 2: This bank is a favorite hunting ground – for clients, that is for other banks.

The bank has a good credit investigation system in place, no doubt about it. Said another, it has a healthy client base.

The bank’s problem lies after the individual or corporation has agreed to do business, in terms of deposits or loans. Then, the individual or corporation is treated shabbily. (Think long queues even in the head office branch.)

Such customers are easy pickings for other banks, particularly those which can offer the same kind of psychological stability as the original bank.