For this Sunday, I’m writing about two first cousins. I’ve bumped into them getting burgers for lunch at BGC, and have admired how the two bond; but today, it’ll be about their separate exploits, and how they’re living their respective dreams.

For an episode of the Manila Bulletin’s podcast The Sit Down, our guests were Jessica Sy, SM Prime Vice President and Head of Design, Innovation, and Strategy; along with Jose Juan Jugo, the SM Signature Series Group Head. During the taping, I introduced SM Prime as one of the healthy disruptors that I’ve admired through the decades, and noted that they’ve achieved this in different sectors of our economic landscape.

Why do I refer to them as disruptors? Because they dared to dream, and made those dreams reality. I consider Jica’s lolo, Henry Sy, Sr., as the one who single-handedly democratized the Mall business here in the Philippines. Before the SM Malls, most of the malls that existed were the enclaves of the rich and powerful, where the drivers and chauffeurs would drop off their “amos.” Thanks to the SM Malls, those barriers would break down; and these malls would be as big and grand as their predecessors, but be a mall where a broad cross-section of Filipinos could now congregate. A mall where the driver would bring his family on his day-off.

With Henry Sy, Jr., Jica’s father, and SM Development Corporation (SMDC), there was the dream of democratizing homeownership; while building sustainable, climate-resilient, and inclusive communities for the everyday Filipino. He filled a gap in the real estate market; making urban living in resort-style condominium complexes, something that was accessible and affordable for a great number of Filipino families.

With that kind of legacy resting on her shoulders, Jica is prepared, and holds a Double Major in Architecture and Marketing, and a Master of Architecture from the Queensland University of Technology. Along with Gigs Jugo, the two would utilize the Sit Down as an opportunity to talk about the Signature Series by SM Residences. Targeting affluent individuals and the legacy families, the vision is to offer both horizontal and vertical developments that are premium, low-density, planned and designed to be highly resilient, and sustainable.

Joking about the principle of “Nature abhors a vacuum,” I made the observation that with the more than considerable footprint that SM Prime makes in the real estate industry, it was funny that in this stratospheric high-end market, they were relatively absent — until the birth of this Signature Series.

Their flagship project is the new Susana Heights, at Muntinlupa. Its a sprawling 284-hectare estate offering low-density residential lots that start at 500 square meters. An 8,000 sqm neighborhood retail hub will be servicing this gated community. A premium Makati enclave is also in the works, and there’s already a lot of speculating being done on the details.

Head to YouTube and Spotify to catch this The Sit Down episode, and discover why Captain Planet and the Planeteers made such a strong impression on Jica as a young girl. It’s a charming anecdote that brings home how diverse the triggers for value formation can be.

Exploding Galaxies, a local independent publishing house, was set up Mara Sy-Coson in 2023. Its quixotic mission-vision was to find lost Filipino classics of literary fiction, and reprint them in special editions that would make them accessible to the readers of today. And I say “quixotic” because I’ve frankly commented to Mara and her mother, Tessie; that while I’m so happy that Exploding Galaxies exists, even on the best of days, literary fiction would be a hard sell here in the Philippines.

They’ve reprinted novels of Wilfrido D. Nolledo, Linda Ty-Casper, and Erwin E. Castillo; and the publishing house actually diverged from Fiction last year. In October of 2025, they reprinted two of Doreen Fernandez’ books on Filipino cuisine, Sarap and Palayok. Both are classics of Philippine food literature, and they were warmly received when launched. Doreen passed away in 2002, but these books have been wonderfully “rebooted,” with so much care taken to ensure that the original spirit and essence are preserved.

And just the other week, the sixth Exploding Galaxies book was unveiled. Wilfrido D. Nolledo’s Canticles for Dark Lovers is a heady compilation of Nolledo’s short stories, dating from 1955 to 1971. At times dreamlike and surreal, then suddenly grisly and violent — read Maria Concepcion — there’s so much to discover, than admire in Nolledo’s mastery of this short form. Of Things Guadalupe reads like an early draft of what eventually expanded into his novel, but for the lovers - a stream of consciousness fever dream, set during the waning days of World War II.

Preserving cultural legacy and building a literary ecosystem is the bigger picture of what Exploding Galaxies is doing, so Doña Mara Quixote gets my standing ovation and full support. There is a very good reason for chasing windmills!