SANA ALL | Villar, 16 other Filipinos included in 2021 Forbes World’s Billionaires List

April 7, 2021 , 03:58 PM

(April 7, 2021) – The rich stay rich.

Despite the country struggling to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, 17 Filipino tycoons still made it to the latest Forbes World’s Billionaires List, combining for a tremendous total of $45.6 billion in net worth.

Real estate magnate Manny Villar remained as the richest person in the Philippines with a net worth of $7.2 billion or over P350 billion, ranking 352nd worldwide. Even during the crippling COVID-19 pandemic, he managed to increase his annual earnings by $1.6 billion, although his global ranking slipped from 286th place last year.

Following Villar was Enrique Razon Jr., ranking 561st in the world with a net worth of $5 billion. He is the head of International Container Terminal Services and Bloomberry Resorts.

Third among the country’s billionaires is Lucio Tan, who has a net worth of $3.3 billion. At 86 years old, he remains one of the biggest tycoons in the Philippines as the founder and chairman of the LT Group, with interests in banking, airline, liquor, tobacco, real estate industries, beverages, and property development.

Hans Sy, director of SM Prime Holdings Inc., Herbert Sy, adviser of conglomerate SM Investments, and Andrew Tan, chairman of Alliance Global Inc., rounded out the upper half of the country’s list with a net worth of $3 billion each.

Several members of the Sy family were also included: Harley Sy, executive director of SM Investments, Henry Sy Jr., co-vice chairman of SM Investments, and Teresita Sy-Coson, co-chairman of SM Investments and chairperson of BDO Unibank Inc., all with a $2.7 billion net worth apiece, while Elizabeth Sy, adviser of SM Investments, had $2.4 billion.

Two widely known businessmen Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee Foods Corp. and Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corp., meanwhile, garnered net worth of $2.4 and $2.2, respectively.

Iñigo Zobel, the cousin of Ayala Corporation chairman emeritus Jaime Zobel de Ayala, made his debut on the Forbes World’s Billionaires after recording a net worth of $1.4 billion.

Other Filipinos who made the cut were Lance Gokongwei of JG Summit, Roberto Ongpin of Alphaland Corp., Ricardo Po Sr. of Century Pacific, and Edgar Sia II of DoubleDragon Properties.

Except for Ongpin, all of the Filipinos in the prestigious list saw their wealth grow in 2020, this despite the Philippines suffering its worst recession since World War II.

Amid the global economic struggle brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2,755 still made it to the Forbes World’s Billionaire List, 660 more compared to last year. The combined net worth of the world’s billionaires is around $13.1 trillion.

Jeff Bezos, the outgoing Amazon chief executive officer, remained the wealthiest man in the world with a mind-blowing net worth of $177 billion.

“It’s been a year like no other, and we aren’t talking about the pandemic. There were rapid-fire public offerings, surging cryptocurrencies, and skyrocketing stock prices,” said Forbes. “A staggering 86% are richer than a year ago.”

Elon Musk of Tesla ($151 billion), Bernard Arnault of Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton ($150 billion), Bill Gates of Microsoft ($124 billion), and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook ($97 billion) completed the top five of the world’s richest people.

(Kiko Demigillo/PM)

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