SM Prime Holdings chairman Hans Sy pays tribute to Juvenal Sanso.
Leading Filipino businessman Hans Sy paid a highly personal and touching tribute to Juvenal Sanso, the artist who helped enrich Philippine visual arts through more than half a century. Sanso passed away March 28, 2025 at 95 years old.
The reminiscing of Sy, the chairman of SM Prime Holdings, made so evident to the gathering of family and closest friends the tight kinship between the artist and the top business family in the Philippines. It has been a relationship that began shortly after World War II, when the parents of Sanso became friends with a neighbor in Sta. Ana, Manila—Henry Sy, Sr. Both families, like the rest of the country, were struggling in the aftermath of the war and looked out for each other in the neighborhood. Little did both know then that Mr. Sy would emerge the foremost businessman in the country, and Sanso, its highly acclaimed artist whose works are in the collections of museums abroad and are highly coveted by collectors.
The ties survived to this day, down to the second Sy generation.
Hans Sy recalled to the small gathering last Monday night at the Heritage Memorial Park chapel how he met Sanso 59 years ago. In the private gathering was Sanso’s only surviving kin, his niece Carmen Montes, the daughter of Sanso’s only sibling, Mina, who passed away some time ago.
Hans Sy called him “tito Jovy.” The young boy Hans was introduced by his father to this “painter” visiting their home. “My father said he was a painter,” Sy recalled. “So I gave him a paper and pencil and ask him to paint. He did.” And Sy still has that drawing on paper given to him as a precocious kid.
Hans Sy narrated how Sanso could make his father, the serious businessman, laugh. “He made my father laugh…. In one gathering one day, he told my father, ‘You now have everything….but I have one thing you don’t have.’ When my father asked what, tito Jovy said, ‘I have a street in my name.’”
The surprising thing was, Hans continued, Sanso and Mr. Sy even went to the street named after Sanso. This was in Corinthian, and the two old friends even had a photo taken of themselves before the street sign.
Hans retrieved from memory the words of wisdom imparted to him by Sanso, who was a very articulate and learned man. “He could be very serious….He told me, do not collect (art) just because (others are); you’ll see it every day, so you better like it…The work itself is the signature; it is not the signature (on the painting)….”
During one exhibit, he asked Sanso to name his favorite work, to which Sanso replied, “They’re all my masterpieces.”
Once he brought Sanso to see Hans’ collection of his works. “He cried (upon seeing it),” Hans recalled. “I asked him, are you alright? He said he cried because it’s like ‘seeing all my children.’ He could be very emotional.”
“We will miss you, tito Jovy,” Hans said, throwing his gaze at the urn bearing the remains of his adopted uncle.
Hans Sy is said to have the biggest private collection of Sansos, and this businessman, who’s also one of the country’s leading philanthropists, intends to turn over his collection for display in the BDO building to be constructed, so that the public may see and appreciate the masterpieces of Sanso.
Jack Teotico
Also paying their tribute to Sanso last Monday night were Jack Teotico, owner of the gallery chain, Sanso’s longtime friend and one of the people behind Fundacion Sanso during its early years. Teotico recalled the funny moments that revealed the warm, human side of the man, such as when he’d ask Teotico to have his simple watch repaired, instead of getting a more expensive brand, because he was so attached to the watch.
Ricky Francisco, the head of Fundacion, also spoke and cited the efforts of Sanso to help the disadvantaged youth, how Fundacion has been making a headway in giving scholarships to budding artists. Last year alone, it donated more than P1 million for this cause.
Art historian Cid Reyes gives tribute to Sanso. (Photo by Thelma San Juan)
Art historian Cid Reyes spoke of the many times he had interviewed Sanso, who spoke of his childhood in Manila, born to Spanish nationals from Catalan, and also about his art. Sanso is part of the “Lost Conversations of Cid Reyes,” an ongoing series of audio-visual recordings Reyes has made with major Filipino artists through the decades.
Sanso’s niece Carmen Montes and Thelma San Juan of TheDiarist.ph (Photo by JJ San Juan)
Sanso was easily one of the most articulate artists in the country. So warm and expressive, he shared both his art and wisdom, and the Filipino is richer for it.
The Juvenal Sanso Memorial has a public viewing on April 1 and 2 at Heritage Memorial Park, Taguig City.
