It’s become interesting the reactions I’ve gotten for deciding to talk about George Ty’s estate controversy. Some have come in the form of links and screencaps from anonymous sources; some are asking questions about who his real wife is. But my favorite is a long-ish comment on this page telling me basically that I’m making a mountain out of molehill, that it’s all much ado about nothing, my questions about why George Ty’s declared estate is but a fraction of his P700-billion-peso net worth before he died. According to this comment, it’s all very simple: George Ty had time to transfer his estate to his different children and business interests, and therefore the declaration of but P3 billion is all possible, and legal, and above ground.

But see, here’s the thing: I’m not even asking about possibility or legality. I’m asking about why it’s even allowed. I’m asking about why it’s even being done. After all, just because something can be done, doesn’t make it right.

Here’s the other thing: telling me not to look into something just makes me want to dig deeper into exactly the same thing. And in the case of George Ty, it’s a wonder what simple Google searches yield, given what is a seeming news blackout from around February 2019 to the present. Layer this with being told this is a non-story, and so many sources sending questions and screencaps, and one cannot help but think that there really is more to this than meets the eye.

Which is to say that now I’ve done a basic Google search on the keywords “George Ty Estate” and realize that on Page 2, what comes out is an ABS-CBN Tweet from February 2019. A part of a series of tweets from when the lawyer of George Ty’s first wife Lourdes De Lara Ty had a press conference about the George Ty estate, what is interesting is this tiny bit of news: that when the announcement of the value of George Ty’s estate was published, what was used was the name of Ty Siao Kian — Ty’s Chinese name.

But no one knows Ty Siao Kian in the Philippines. In fact a search for George Ty yields no Ty Siao Kian. What does appear though is “George SK Ty” and yes, “George Siao Kian Ty,” which are of course totally different from his Chinese name. So why would George Ty’s estate use his Chinese name? Isn’t it that these announcements are supposed to be about transparency? How transparent are the handlers of George Ty’s estate when they aren’t even using the name he is known as? After all, his conglomerate is GT Capital, not TSK Capital.  

Now we’re also being told that George Ty’s estate is only P3 billion pesos because his net worth of P700-billion-plus would’ve already been distributed to this business interests and children. Which then begs the question: who are these children and how much did each of them get?

Here, we get a Pandora’s Box (as forewarned by those anonymous emails). A basic Google keyword search of “George Ty children” yields five children: Arthur, Alfred, Alesandra, Margaret, and Anjanette. Name-wise, it is clear who is different: the four As remain involved in the business interests of their father. Margaret is the sore thumb, the odd woman out. She is the daughter of Lourdes De Lara Ty, first wife; the other four are children of second wife Mary Vy Ty.

Now here’s where we can’t help but wonder where Mother Lily is when you need her to do another Mano Po film.

Because the controversy over George Ty’s estate in fact is about the complete exclusion of the first family from his last will and testament — this is why it was in the news in the early part of 2019. Of course it can only be a battle of marriage certificates for the wives. But for the children? Don’t all children have a right to an inheritance? And certainly, given George Ty’s net worth, there is enough to go around?

Ah, but Margaret is apparently not getting anything. According to this Bilyonaryo.com report, as per George Ty’s last will and testament, she had lived a “disgraceful life.” The same report mentions that this daughter had been “disowned” by Ty in 2017, but a search on the site itself reveals that it wasn’t quite a “disowning.” Instead, on August 23 2017, a public announcement was made about there being no “business relationship” between Margaret and the GT Group of Companies; it also mentions the “severely estranged” relationship between father and daughter.

Now it’s been interesting how I’ve been getting the screencaps of tabloid headlines and links to tabloid articles that find their way online — because it looks like Margaret is not only being excluded from inheriting anything from her father, she is also being shamed like anything, her legal battles becoming tabloid fodder.

So on the one hand, there is radio silence on the dispute over Ty’s multi-billion peso estate; on the other, there is so much noise over one daughter’s legal battles. Coincidentally, this is the daughter whose mother is fighting for their right as first family to get their share of George Ty’s multi-billion-peso estate.

Coincidentally, this is the daughter whose life has been called “disgraceful” in a will dated September 23 2015, as per this Philippine Daily Inquirer report. But it would only be in 2017 that a public announcement would be made against her. And it’s only in 2019, when she and her mother have been disenfranchised from their patriarch’s estate that tabloid and mainstream writers are making a big deal out of this daughter’s legal cases.

So yeah, there is absolutely nothing suspicious here at all. No story to tell. No questions to ask. Much ado about nothing.***