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MANILA, Philippines – Most of the richest people in the Philippines disappeared this year as the pandemic left some businesses in distress, while others benefited from a shift in consumer behavior brought on by the health crisis.
In the latest Forbes ranking of the 50 richest Filipinos, the Sy brothers who control the country’s largest shopping mall chain, SM Supermalls, held the top spot with $ 13.9 billion in net worth, but the closing of stores due to the health crisis also meant suffering the greatest decline in wealth. .
A total of 32 personalities, from business moguls to politicians, suffered a cumulative fall from $ 17.4 billion in wealth to $ 60.6 billion in September this year, Forbes said. Another nine saw some increases, two maintained their net worth from last year, four were new entries to the list, while two were heirs to the deceased.
Following the Sy brothers in second place was Manny Villar, a former senator and real estate mogul, with a net worth of $ 5 billion, down from $ 6.6 billion.
Villar was followed by Enrique Razón Jr., who recently took control of Manila Water Co. from Ayala Corp. at the height of President Rodrigo Duterte’s attacks on the water company. Reason, seen better off with Duterte, was worth $ 4.3 billion, down from $ 5.1 billion.
Meanwhile, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala remained in fifth place with a wealth that barely changed at $ 3.6 billion, the Forbes list showed.
Lance Gokongwei and his brothers took over the fortune of their father, John Gokongwei, who died in November 2019 to take fourth place. The family that owns Cebu Air Inc., a low-cost airline, saw its net worth plunge to $ 4.1 billion as travel restrictions hit its airline business.
Megaworld Corp.’s Andrew Tan jumped to sixth from 10th in this year’s rankings with $ 2.3 billion, down from $ 2.55 billion a year earlier. He removed Lucio Tan, chief executive of Philippine Airlines, which is now worth $ 2.2 billion, up from $ 3.6 billion last year.
San Miguel Corp.’s Ramon Ang remained in eighth place with $ 2 billion, followed by Tony Tan Caktiong of food brand Jollibee, who saw his wealth nearly halved to $ 1.9 billion after he the homegrown fast food outlet closed stores due to the health crisis.
At the bottom of the list, Davao mogul Dennis Uy stayed at No. 22 with wealth that just dipped to $ 650 million from $ 660 million last year.
Winners
While the pandemic is generally bad news for businesses, abrupt changes in consumption due to the coronavirus benefited some businesses. Lucio and his wife Susan Co, owners of Puregold Price Club Inc., a supermarket chain, jumped to 10th place from 14th place even as their wealth decreased slightly to $ 1.7 billion.
Vivian Que Azcona and her brothers who operate Mercury Drug Corp., one of the largest pharmacy chains, increased their fortunes to $ 1.34 billion from $ 1.15 billion, enough to climb to 13th this year.
Edgar Sia II, whose MerryMart Consumer Corp. debuted on the stock market last June, nearly doubled his net worth to $ 700 million to rank 21st this year. He was ranked 28th and at $ 400 million last year.
Another winner this year was PJ Lhuillier, who runs the Cebuana Lhuillier pawn shops. It is now worth $ 230 million, up from $ 208 million last year, which ranked it 33rd.
Erramon Aboitiz, Chairman and CEO of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, dropped one notch to 44th even as his fortune rose to $ 160 million.
William Belo, founder and president emeritus of Wilcon Depot, an appliance retailer, rose to No. 19 after making between $ 30 and $ 900 million. Betty Ang, president of Monde Nissin, one of the nation’s largest food manufacturers, climbed nine spots to 38th with $ 185 million.
Different destinations
However, in addition to the pandemic, some wealthy people on the list also suffered losses for different reasons. The shutdown of ABS-CBN Corp., for example, dealt a severe blow to Oscar López, president emeritus of Lopez Holdings, which controls the network. His wealth fell to $ 240 million from $ 460 million last year, dropping to 32nd place.
On the other hand, Felipe Gozón of GMA Network Inc. climbed four notches to rank 42nd with his net worth increasing to $ 170 million from $ 145 million.
New on the list
In addition to the people who replaced their deceased family members, there were four new entrants to the Forbes list. In 46th place was Michael Romero with $ 135 million. Romero is currently serving as the 1-Pacman Party List Representative in Congress.
Coming in at position 48 was Luis Virata, who gets most of his wealth from his shares in Nickel Asia Corp. His net worth was pegged at $ 115 million. He was closely followed by Mikel Aboitiz, also from the Aboitiz Group, with $ 110 million.
At the bottom of the list was Lourdes Montinola, who sits as president of the University of the Far East, with $ 100 million. She is the mother of Aurelio Montinola, former executive director of the Bank of the Philippine Islands, led by Ayala.
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