Anna Ma. Margarita Dy, President and CEO of Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), pointed out that the company's residential and office space business has "very limited" dependence on POGOs.
She stated: "Our direct reliance on POGOs is quite low. In our office space portfolio, only 1% is occupied by POGOs. We have never positioned ourselves as serving large POGOs. In fact, this percentage has been decreasing over the years and has now been reduced to 1%. In terms of sales, our sales to Chinese buyers have always been low, whether or not they are involved with POGOs."
After the ban, Dy also revealed that ALI had reviewed its residential projects and found that less than 5% of the residential buildings were inhabited by POGO or suspected POGO employees. She emphasized: "Our products are not directly targeting the POGO market, neither as direct users of office space nor as indirect tenants of residential buildings."
Meanwhile, SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), led by the Sy family, also stated that the POGO ban has no impact on its real estate business. Frederic C. DyBuncio, President and CEO of SMIC, said: "Fortunately, this ban has not had any impact on us."
Another real estate company led by the Gotianun, Filinvest REIT Corp. (FILRT), also declared in a recent announcement that its business was not affected by the POGO ban.
The company stated: "FILRT has no POGO-related risks, and we have not had any POGO-related tenants since the second quarter of 2022. We have been actively diversifying our tenant mix, increasing the proportion of traditional tenants and co-working space tenants."
Maria Rochelle S. Diaz, Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations at luxury real estate developer Shang Properties, Inc., also recently pointed out that the POGO ban would not pose a threat to the company's residential business.
Diaz remarked: "Our main buyer group is Filipinos. Although we also have foreign buyers, they are not from China, therefore we are not affected by this ban."
