Armed with the simple, guiding principle: “Whatever decision we make, we should be able to eat and sleep well,” Hans T. Sy found the moral certainty to endure public fury over a construction project.

For decades, the SM Group, founded by his late father, retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr., has been defined by its scale, cementing its place as one of Asia’s largest conglomerates.

But for Sy, SM Prime Holdings Inc. chairman of the executive committee, the true measure of leadership lies not in the size of the profit, but in defending an unpopular, high-stakes decision that severely tested the company’s public image.

Speaking as the honoree at the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) Person of the Year awarding ceremony, Hans Sy was candid. He opened his acceptance speech not with a celebration of his firm’s success, but with the recollection of a crisis that tested the Sy family’s core values.

“SM was once condemned for cutting down trees in Baguio City,” he told an audience composed largely of the country’s top industry leaders. “Today, I want to tell you why that was the right decision, and what it taught me about leadership.”

The incident in question is the infamous 2012 controversy surrounding SM City Baguio, the mall perched atop the country’s mountain city. The company had begun a project that required the removal and relocation of several trees on its property.

The backlash was immediate and fierce. Environmental groups accused the retail giant of betrayal, prioritizing concrete and profit over ecological stewardship in a city defined by its pine forests. The condemnation was so widespread that even a foreign artist canceled a planned concert at an SM venue in protest.

But what the public largely missed, Sy explained, was the intent behind the chain saws. The mall stands on a slope directly above the University of the Cordilleras. Sy had observed clear signs of potential soil erosion on the hillside, a danger amplified by the Philippines’ position in the typhoon belt.

“Each rainfall risked sending soil toward the classrooms below. I could not sleep knowing the danger it posed to the school,” Sy stated. The only solution, he explained, was a geotechnical engineering fix: building a massive retaining wall and reinforcing the ground—a process that required removing the trees.

It was a business dilemma between managing severe, short-term reputational risk or mitigating a low-probability, high-impact physical catastrophe. For the Sy family, the choice was guided by a core, almost Spartan, value system: integrity.

“Whatever decision we make, we should be able to eat and sleep well,” he said, which enabled them to withstand the onslaught of public criticism. The company finished the work, the hillside was stabilized, and the school remains safe.

“That choice—of doing what is right, even when unpopular—sharpened my understanding of leadership,” Sy said.

This conviction, ironically, was the starting point for his engagement in global disaster risk reduction. The highly scrutinized Baguio incident led to discussion with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, earning Sy the role of the first Filipino private sector representative to the organization.

The Baguio incident is just one instance of the challenges that test the Philippine business environment. Like any major enterprise, the SM Group has, for decades, navigated turbulence of political unrest, economic volatility, and natural disasters.

These persistent hurdles often compel even successful entrepreneurs to seek security and opportunity abroad. Yet Sy revealed that, for his family, the decision to remain and reinvest in the Philippines was a philosophical one.

“Our nation is not perfect. Our people are not perfect. Yet many of us remain here and keep going, because we believe that hope is stronger than hardship,” Sy affirmed.

Despite the luxury of acquiring a second citizenship, Sy—at age 70—holds only one passport: the Philippine passport.

“That is both a fact and a declaration of faith,” he said. “Despite the risks, the noise, and the persistent uncertainties, I have never doubted our country’s promise or the strength of the Filipino spirit.”

The scale of the SM group today—which includes the property giant SM Prime, managing the family’s flagship SM Supermalls chain, residential projects, office towers, hotels, and convention centers—belies its humble beginnings.

The group traces its origins to the retail sector, starting with a single shoe store in downtown Manila in 1958.

“It is hard to imagine now, but SM was built on hardship and hope,” Sy remarked. He shared how his grandfather urged his father, Henry Sy Sr., to dream big, not just to escape poverty, but to build enough to help others.

“So from a single shoe store... SM now has an ecosystem that includes real estate, banks, retail, schools, and more,” he said.

Their sheer scale enables the SM Group to translate growth into service, creating jobs, building infrastructure, and supporting scholars and livelihoods nationwide.

However, Sy admitted that the SM journey has been far from linear. In addition to battling political unrest, economic downturns, and natural disasters, the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic forced the unprecedented temporary closure of their malls.

In the face of the global health crisis, while many companies aggressively protected their bottom lines, SM Prime committed to ethical capitalism. The company voluntarily forwent a staggering ₱23 billion in potential revenue by waiving rent for its partners.

“Three days after the lockdown was announced, we decided to waive rent for our mall tenants nationwide. We did not wait for a government directive. We just knew that it was the right thing to do,” Sy explained.

“By the end of 2020, we had extended over ₱23 billion in rental concessions. Our income fell, but thousands of small businesses survived, and jobs were protected.”

Sy said every major test made the group stronger. “Not because we were spared, but because we learned, adapted, and dreamt bigger. We were able to navigate those moments because two constants guided our choices: our values and our sustainability framework.

The operational resilience of the SM group is built on culture of discipline. The family’s famous six-day workweek and policy of hands-on site engagement are not mere traditions—they are tools for maintaining efficiency across their portfolio.

“My siblings and I still follow that rule today. We are in the office or on-site six days a week,” Sy said, referring to the family’s belief that there is “dignity in every kind of work.”

The routine, he added, is not viewed as burden, but passion. The practice of frequent site visits and direct engagement with operations—listening to customers and learning from employees—drives the continuous improvement cycle essential to managing an integrated property portfolio that includes 87 malls in the Philippines and eight in China.

“Each visit reminds us that there is always something to improve and be grateful for.”

This operational intensity is matched by financial discipline and humility, which Sy cited as a guiding force for the family across three generations.

To ensure the next generation understands the foundational value of money and effort, Sy imposed strict rules on his children.

“When they were young, my children brought packed lunches to school. They had no allowance until they were old enough to understand the value of money,” Sy shared.

He then recounted an interaction with his eldest son, Hans “Chico” Sy Jr., who complained that his weekly allowance of ₱5 in Grade 5 was insufficient to buy a soft drink.

“I told him, you can, if you save your allowance for two weeks,” Sy recalled. “It was a brief conversation, but the lesson stayed with him to this day.”