Claim: SM Mall of Asia was formerly owned by the government.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The claim was posted on YouTube and has over 6,100 reactions, 863 comments, and 218,752 views as of writing.

Only owner: The SM Mall of Asia was built and is owned by SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH), the property arm of the business conglomerate SM Investments Corporation (SMIC) owned by the Sy family. (Read: FAST FACTS: SM Investments Corporation)

Not sold by Cory: After saying the government once owned the SM Mall of Asia, the narrator in the video says, “Noong naupo na si Cory Aquino, binenta.” (It was sold when Cory Aquino became president.) 

But the SM Mall of Asia could not have been sold during the administration of former president Corazon Aquino because the mall was built in 2002, 10 years after Aquino’s term. The Cory Aquino administration started in 1986 and ended in 1992.

According to steel supplier Acersteel, SM started the construction of SM Mall of Asia in 2002. Acersteel is a steel supplier company that supplied steel bars, malleable iron fittings, steel shafting, and I-beam used in the construction of the SM Mall of Asia.

A PhilStar article published on May 20, 2006, said that SM formally opened on May 21, 2006. 

SM’s corporate structure: Jose T. Sio, former chief financial officer of SMIC for almost three decades, is the current chairman of the board of SMIC while Henry T. Sy Jr.,  son of the Sy family patriarch Henry Sy, is the current chairman of the board of SMPH. 

The Sy Family has managed and held key positions at SMIC since 1958. The current members of SMIC’s board of directors are here.

Previously fact-checked: A related claim about the ownership of SM malls was previously fact-checked by Rappler. – Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com

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