Hybrid disaster

Which well-known paper-and-stationery-to-agri conglomerate, long helmed by a late Tsinoy tycoon celebrated as a self-made success story and hybrid rice pioneer, is quietly whispered about in certain financial circles for leaving behind a trail of massive unpaid obligations to government coffers?

Insiders told Nosy Tarsee that the group defaulted on roughly P300 million owed to the pension fund that millions of Filipino workers rely on, while the far larger shadow of a state development bank looms, with allegedly close to P15 billion in exposure that went sour.

Whispers suggest that at least a portion of the bank financing carried the telltale signs of a classic behest loan: extended with unusual speed and leniency during a period when connections mattered more than rigorous due diligence or repayment capacity.

The empire produced notebooks, books, rice seeds — and built properties — that fed the ambition of national self-sufficiency.

Yet when the bills from the people’s institutions came due, the well-connected group reportedly faltered, leaving taxpayers and pensioners to shoulder the losses while the family’s diversified interests continued on under new stewardship.

In Manila’s tight-knit business community, some ask: Was it an aggressive expansion gone wrong, or the familiar pattern of favored access to state funds despite little skin in the game? The ledgers remain murky, and recovery efforts, if any, have been characteristically discreet.