The Sy siblings, heirs to the businesses built by Henry Sy Sr., and property tycoon Manuel B. Villar remained as the country’s richest persons, according to the 2021 edition of the Forbes’ list of the Philippines’s 50 richest.
Forbes noted that Villar is still the country’s richest in terms of individual wealth.
Despite the pandemic, the collective wealth of the 50 richest Filipinos was up by 30 percent to $79 billion. The wealth of more than half the list members went up, with four listees adding over $1 billion each, according to Forbes.
“The top three were the biggest dollar gainers by far, collectively richer by nearly $6 billion,” the magazine said.
The Sy siblings of the SM Group added $2.7 billion to remain at number one with $16.6 billion. Villar, 71, was ranked second with a total net worth of $6.7 billion,
Port magnate Enrique K. Razon Jr. leapt to third place with his $5.8-billion wealth. Razon expanded his portfolio by taking control of East Zone concessionaire Manila Water Co. Inc.
Unlike the Forbes’ billionaire rankings, this list includes family fortunes, including those shared among extended families. Net worths are based on stock prices and exchange rates as of the close of markets on August 20.
The list can also include foreign citizens with business, residential or other ties to the country, or citizens who don’t reside in the country but have significant business or other ties to the country. Monde Nissin Chairman Hartono Kweefanus, an Indonesian; the company’s CEO Henry Soesanto and brothers Keng Sun and Peter Mar, heirs to a biscuit business that was sold by their family to Monde Nissin, are newcomers to the ranks.
Kweefanus became the country’s 11th richest with a wealth of $1.4 billion following the initial public offering (IPO) of Monde Nissin. He topped his sister-in-law Betty Ang, president of Monde Nissin, who as at 18th with $1.4 billion.
Keng Sun and Peter Mar were ranked 35th with $410 million, while Soesanto was ranked 25th with $795 million.
Dennis Anthony and Maria Grace Uy, co-founders of broadband service provider Converge ICT Solutions, which made its Philippine Stock Exchange debut at the height of the pandemic in October last year, were considered as this year’s richest newcomers.
The 2021 of the Philippines’s richest list edition has a total of eight new entrants, including mass housing developers Luis Yu Jr. and Mariano Martinez Jr., owners of 8990 Holdings Inc.; husband and wife Benedicto and Teresita Yujuico, who both made significant wealth following the listing of DDMP REIT Inc., the real estate investment trust of DoubleDragon Properties Corp.
DoubleDragon Chairman Edgar J. Sia II was also on the list and was ranked 28th with $675 million.
Lance Gokongwei and siblings were ranked fourth ($4 billion); Jaime Zobel de Ayala, fifth ($3.3 billion); Jollibee Foods Corp. founder Tony Tan Caktiong, seventh ($2.7 billion); realtor Andrew Tan, eighth ($2.6 billion); San Miguel Corp. COO Ramon S. Ang, ninth ($2.3 billion); and Ty siblings, 10th ($2.2 billion).
The youngest tycoons on the list are Sia and Davao businessman Dennis Uy while the oldest are Filinvest Group matriarch Mercedes Gotianun and Lopez Group’s Oscar Lopez.
Lucio Tan’s fortunes declined to about $1.9 billion and was ranked 12th, down from last year’s third, as the pandemic crippled Philippine Airlines which recently filed for bankruptcy in the United States.