Going to the heart of disaster planning

According to Jessica “Jica” Sy, SMDC’s Assistant Vice President and the Project Director of its Business Development Group, “resiliency in property and community development is the cornerstone of SMDC’s sustainability efforts.”

With a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Jica says that her interest in disaster risk reduction (DRR) began growing up here in typhoon-battered Philippines. “None of us are spared from typhoons and natural calamities. I have friends who have lost their homes or have been stuck on the roof for days because of flooding. Also, before we were married, my husband had to swim from Antipolo to Cainta. The roads were flooded, and his Dad was stranded at home, so he swam parts of the way home along Ortigas Extension. Natural disasters affect everyone in our country, not just isolated communities.”

While working on her architecture degree in Brisbane, Australia, she realized that as a property developer, “the choices we make early on at SMDC impact the lifespan not only of our physical properties but could also dramatically enhance the quality of life of our communities.”

This is why SMDC is now integrating disaster and climate resilience right into the blueprint of every development. “We focus a lot on early concepts, value propositions, what drives a project to succeed, not just for sales, but for our communities and their welfare.”

From land acquisition and concept creation to architecture and design, Jica’s work is to discover what makes each community unique and strong and how they can tap these strengths to develop properties that elevate that community.

To some, the idea of DRR might seem removed from the shiny façade and sleek images of progress that real estate developers usually present to the public. Jica, however, explains that their work goes much deeper than that.

“Essentially, we create the backbone that will support the physical structures and the resilience of the communities that inhabit them. It’s about integrating sustainability and disaster preparedness into our core design principles,” she elaborates. This approach means considering not just the immediate impact of construction but also how buildings and spaces can adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change and the evolution and growth of the community over time. “We’re not just building condominiums and houses; we’re building precious homes that must stand the test of time and nature,” Jica adds.

According to Jica, a lot of information on disaster resilience is available globally, but having it translated to our local context to foster better solutions is still an emerging field. “There’s currently not a lot of regulations around what’s the best practice for DRR locally,” she says. “So as a large-scale developer, we must put ourselves at the forefront of figuring out how to serve our country best.”

For Jica, the approach to disaster resilience in the Philippines requires a nuanced understanding of the country’s diverse geographic challenges. “When I refer to the Philippines, I’m not speaking in broad strokes. We must consider the unique micro-climates and the possible strengths and risks faced by specific locations within the country,” she clarifies.

Jica underlines the importance of recognizing that while the Philippines, as a whole, is susceptible to increased disaster events, certain areas face heightened risks of landslides, flooding, or earthquakes. “The overarching challenge in DRR is strategically leveraging our resources to tailor resilience efforts to each locale, ensuring that the most vulnerable areas receive the focused attention and support they need to keep the impacts of disasters at the very minimum.”

Finding Strength in Numbers

Today, SMDC’s understanding of disaster resiliency extends beyond the drafting table and into the very fabric of the communities SMDC helps to build. “It’s about partnership,” Jica says. “One where our expertise in design and development meets the lived experience of our communities to create something truly resilient.”

By tapping global experts, local governments, other private companies, and community leaders in the planning, execution, and maintenance process, SMDC ensures that their developments meet the real needs of the people who will live there, incorporating global best practices with the local knowledge and practices that have helped communities survive and thrive in the face of natural disasters.

“Ever since the foundation of the SM Group, we have known we could not create great change alone. We are open to various partnerships and friendships, with the public sector, other businesses, and even with our competitors. Collaboration is key in updating our knowledge,” she says. “We rely on experts from different fields and different universities, research authorities, and companies. And see how we can adapt their own vision and goals towards our sustainability vision. Also, while I am currently assigned to SMDC, I consult with members of my family and the leaders of our other subsidiaries. For example, I ask the SM Malls for their expertise, especially their engineering groups, because they carry a wealth of knowledge from decades of experience.”

“We also keep a close relationship with our barangays,” she said. “We create events and workshops for DRR. We also try to retain some oversight or ownership of property management. This makes sure everything stays up to our standards, and we can share best practices among our properties even after the properties have been turned over. Ultimately, it is still an SMDC product, so we want to make sure the quality product you bought years ago is still the quality product you have now.”

Helping our Weakest Members

Indeed, beyond the physical resiliency of infrastructure lies the social dimension of sustainability and resiliency, a facet that requires equal, if not more, attention.

According to Jica, “The ability of a community to bounce back from adversity is not solely dependent on the robustness of its buildings but also on the strength of its social fabric. Strengthening this social fabric involves fostering connections, mutual support, and a sense of belonging among residents. It means creating spaces encouraging interaction, collaboration, and a shared sense of purpose.

By integrating community centers, green spaces, and shared amenities into their developments, SMDC aims to build not just houses but homes within a supportive and resilient community. This holistic approach ensures that resilience becomes a characteristic of the physical environment and the community ethos.

This emphasis on building stronger communities as a core aspect of disaster resilience highlights a pivotal shift in SMDC’s approach to urban development. Traditional models have often prioritized physical infrastructure, but recognizing social networks as critical components of resilience represents a more comprehensive understanding of what resilience truly means. This understanding is particularly relevant in the context of climate change and natural disasters, where a community’s recovery is significantly influenced by the strength of its social ties and the inclusivity of its economic structures.

“We are truly only as strong as the weakest members of our community, so when talking about resiliency, it is vital that we also talk about economic inclusivity and enriching the lives of our poorest communities,” she added. “There is still such a high barrier to the entry of poor communities to home ownership in our country,” said Jica.

“Our larger goal at SMDC is to have a home for every Filipino. I know we are still far from that, but we have to start now,” she said. “I think we can get there through incremental steps. In the past, we considered taking them from nothing to a million – from living on the bare minimum to suddenly acquiring properties, which is such a giant or impossible leap. So I think we have to do it step by step, doing things incrementally. Rather than from point A to Z, let’s make it easy from point A to B first, then dream a little bigger from B to D, and then D to G, and so forth.”

Thinking Ahead and Having Big Dreams

According to Jica, at the core of SMDC’s growth story is the principle of foresight — envisioning where the company aims to be a decade or two from now and charting a course to turn those visions into reality. “One of the most important things my family taught me in business is thinking ahead and having big dreams,” she said. “I was born in the 1990s. Mall of Asia was then just a dream. My family started planning MOA in the 1980s. Back then, we had one mall, SM North EDSA. It is a testament to the power of dreaming big,” she said.

But behind the idea of dreaming big lies an even bigger purpose for Jica. “In the end, what matters is dreaming big not for our own personal glory, but for God’s glory and for the betterment of others, His Creation and children,” she explained.

Like now, given our big audacious goal of ‘Having a Home for Every Filipino.’ We can’t get there if we don’t think big, or if we are already happy where we are now. So, constantly dreaming, and even if it seems impossible, go ahead and aim for it. It is a lesson that my father and family taught me, and I think this is the reason behind the success of SM Prime and the SM Group.”

“The other thing is truly understanding people and having compassion and empathy,” she said. “We are very privileged. Now we are in a beautiful room with a beautiful view. We can often forget that many people do not have the same privileges. So, being compassionate is very important. We are really the same in the end. The only difference is that I was born into a privileged position, which keeps me going to be humble, do more, work harder, and dream bigger.”