MEDIUM RARE

The rich, said F. Scott Fitzgerald, are different from you and me. Which brought this riposte from Ernest Hemingway, “Yes, they have more money.”
There must be something wrong with the annual Forbes list of the world’s wealthiest, otherwise I would’ve seen my name included, if not once, at least twice though only in my imagination. What’s so different with the rich-richer-richest if they each have one brain, two arms, and 24 hours a day, just like the rest of us? If you ask them how they got to be on that list, they would in all likelihood say something like they manage their time, skills, resources, with the added help of the best teacher of all, experience.

But don’t you believe a word of what I’m saying – not until you see my name on that list.

Two members of the wealthiest families on the list I can describe to you as looking not in the least ostentatious because they dress simply, enjoy simple hobbies, and are not in the least interested in being labeled as celebrities loaded with the paraphernalia of the affluent class. Tessie Sy-Coson, no. 1 on the list with her Sy siblings, wears no jewelry except a watch. Her working clothes look like, in her own words, a uniform, the usual corporate look of a straight skirt in black or another dark color topped by a lightly colored blouse worn under a jacket. If she had her way, Robina Gokongwei Pe, at no. 7 with brother Lance Gokongwei, would prefer to show up in her office in shorts, topped by a tee. Once, when I saw her wearing a cocktail dress – on Robina, an unusual garment! -- she explained, “Cocktails later, got this in a hurry from our department store.”

Enrique Razon, whose container terminals like ICTSI’s are on every continent, landed on no. 3 of Forbes’ name-droppables. For the longest time, EKR avoided cameras, crowds, and press people (though he once owned Manila Standard). “I don’t even attend family events like weddings,” he boasted (or apologized) once upon a time. When he built a swanky café for ICTSI employees, he never once allowed it to be used for press conferences. “Because you’re going to write about it,” he explained.