In a land reform lecture for my MVP history class last month, mention was made of real estate developers and how they fit into the picture of land redistribution in the Philippines.

I got the impression that in this issue, the developers belonged to the enemy camp. Being exposed to real estate at a young age, my natural reaction was defensive: developers actually contribute a lot to growth and business in this country! My dad, on several occasions, has told me that here in the Philippines, it’s the private sector that often initiates development. Government won’t go out of its way to single out a piece of rawland, build roads and provisions for utilities, and then invite private groups to “develop” it for public consumption (ex. transform it into a business or residential district). It works the other way around. Add to that the red tape and bad business practices that are sure to turn off any lukewarm investor. Bottomline, you have to hand it to developers, or to some of them at least.

I remember when I first heard about Ayala land’s Nuvali in Canlubang, I was so floored by the (apparent) commitment the company had to responsible development. Told skeptical friends that it may be a given that not all sales pitches and plans of preselling projects are admirable (read: it’s still first and foremost a business, which I personally don’t see as necessarily a bad thing) or that most plans don’t actually pan out…but if there’s any company you can trust to stay true to their word, it’s Ayala.

Note: Parts of this post also appear on “Agrarian Reform” (April 2, 2008)