F. Karuth, F. R. G. S., (President of an English corporation interested in Philippine mining) about 1894, wrote:

“Few outside the comparatively narrow circle who are directly interested in the commerce and resources of the Philippine Islands know anything about them. The Philippine merchants are a rather close community which only in the last decade or so has expanded its diameter a little. There are a number of very old established firms amongst them, several of them being British.... Amongst them also are firms—perhaps as far as wealth and local influence go, the most important firms—whose chiefs are partly at least of native blood.