THE revelation two days ago by Forbes of the richest individuals in our country gives us the opportunity to greet and acknowledge these great individuals, and also to improve and strengthen our statistical system. Making a success of a small-scale enterprise of 100 employees is already an achievement. Succeeding in the management of vast, varied and diversified business and commercial empires of thousands of workers has to be a feat of genius. The contribution of these industrial leaders to the attainment of the national goal of prosperity for all Filipinos is difficult to measure.
The Forbes List for the Philippines contained the country’s 50 richest persons on the basis of their net worth. The estimates of net worth were based on the stock prices and the exchange rate on August 14, 2015.
To have a flavor of this phenomenon, we mention here the top three and bottom three persons on the list and their net worth. The richest Filipinos are 1) Henry Sy Sr. (retail, banking and property development), $14.4 billion; 2) John L. Gokongwei Jr. (food, airlines and property development), $5.5 billion; 3) Andrew L. Tan (property development, leisure and quick-service restaurants), $4.5 billion; 48) Felipe L. Gozon (television), $155 million; 49) Walter Brown (retail), $140 million; and 50) Alfredo Ramos (publishing), $120 million.
These riches, as already said, no doubt have contributed to the growth and development of the national economy, the country’s gross domestic product, specifically to the attainment of prosperity for our people. But to what extent has this tremendous wealth contributed to the generation of employment and the attainment of social equity in our society? To what extent have the great enterprises followed their own guiding light of corporate social responsibility (CSR)?
Here we come face to face with a deficiency of our national statistical system. We do not have the statistics to answer the above questions.
For one, net-worth figures are difficult to put in perspective because National Balance Sheets, the accounting statements in which net worth appears, are not compiled and published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (nor by any other country for that matter), despite the United Nations Statistical Department’s advice that these statements be collected and published.
Nor do we have figures on employment—in particular, the number of people employed directly and indirectly in wealthy enterprises. Neither do we have the statistics on the amount of remuneration paid to workers. On the corporate responsibility side, though it is known that big businesses have socially-oriented programs, statistical information on CSR is sparse.
We use this as an occasion to urge our National Statistics Office to begin compiling and publishing the National Balance Sheet, enlarging and strengthening facts and figures on employment, compensation paid to workers and CSR programs.
Statistics on these dimensions of national life will give concreteness to the notion of connectivity between private-sector initiatives in production and the welfare of our countrymen and countrywomen involved in those initiatives, including the elimination or reduction of income inequalities in our society.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano