Henry Sy, Sr.

(born December 25, 1924) is a Chinese-Filipino business magnate, investor, and

philanthropist. He is involved in the industries of real estate, hospitality, banking, mining, education,
and health care, resulting in him being recognized as the wealthiest person in the Philippines, with an
estimated personal wealth of 13 billion dollars. He is also dubbed as the Father of Philippine
Retailing due to owning the largest group of malls in the country. He is responsible for the
establishment of SM Malls, anchored by Shoemart Department Store and Supermarket. He is the
chairman of SM Prime in, Inc., the holding corporation for all his business interests in his vast
business empire. In 2011, Forbes Magazine listed him as the richest man in the Philippines. Henry Sy
was born to a poor family in Jinjiang, China on December 25, 1924. He is the son of Henry H. Sy and
Tan O Sia. He completed his secondary education in a school now known as Chiang Kai Shek
College

[3]

and earned his Associate of Arts degree in Commercial Studies at Far Eastern University in

1950. The SM shopping malls changed the Philippine lifestyle. As the SM group tracks the high road
to success, it remains grounded and eager to give back and make a positive contribution to Philippine
society. In 1983, Henry Sy, Sr. established SM Foundation, Inc. to help the underprivileged, to help
build and improve the lives of those with scarce resources. Guided by the principle, People helping
people, SM Foundation has undertaken various projects in partnership with civic organizations,
government agencies, and the media. Its areas of advocacies include education, mall-based outreach
programs, health and medical missions, livelihood and community projects. Established as SMs main
arm for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs, SM Foundation goes beyond mere CSR
programs. It is the heart and soul of SM. It brings more meaning and fulfillment to what we do in
business. It creates a foundation of hope, of life and of love, said Mr. Sy.

Jos Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda or popularly known as Jos Rizal (19 June 1861
30 December 1898)was a Filipino nationalist during the tail end of the Spanish colonial period of the
Philippines. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the
Filipino Propaganda Movement which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain. He was
executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion after an anti-colonial
revolution, inspired in part by his writings, broke out. Though he was not actively involved in its
planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its goals which eventually led to Philippine
independence. He is widely considered one of the greatest heroes of the Philippines, and is implied
by Philippine law to be one of the national heroes. He was the author of the novels Nolime
Tngere, and El Filibusterismo, and a number of poems and essays. Jos Rizal was born in 1861 to
Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso in the town of Calamba in Laguna province. He had nine
sisters and one brother. His parents were leaseholders of a hacienda and an accompanying rice farm
by the Dominicans. Both their families had adopted the additional surnames of Rizal and Realonda in
1849, after Governor General Narciso Clavera y Zalda decreed the adoption of Spanish
surnames among the Filipinos for census purposes (though they already had Spanish names). From
an early age, Jos showed a precocious intellect. He learned the alphabet from his mother at 3, and
could read and write at age 5. Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, he dropped the last
three names that make up his full name, on the advice of his brother, Paciano and the Mercado
family, thus rendering his name as "Jos Protasio Rizal". Of this, he later wrote: "My family never paid
much attention [to our second surname Rizal], but now I had to use it, thus giving me the
appearance of an illegitimate child! This was to enable him to travel freely and disassociate him from
his brother, who had gained notoriety with his earlier links to Filipino priestsMariano Gomez, Jose
Burgos and Jacinto Zamora (popularly known as Gomburza) who had been accused and executed for
treason. The greatest contribution of Dr. Jose Rizal in our country is the two novel he written; the Noli
Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, by this many Filipinos awaken by the slavery of Spaniards to the
Filipinos. He used these two writings instead of holding a sword against the Spaniards. He proved to
everybody that pen is mightier than a sword.