Philippines’ 10 richest in 2019

Iris Palma in News and Updates

Sep 28, 2019 • 2 min Read

In 2018, Forbes named the Philippines’ richest and the list went:

1. Henry Sy at US$18.3 billion
2. Manuel Villar at $5 billion
3. John Gokongwei Jr. at $4.4 billion
4. Jaime Zobel de Ayala at $4 billion
5. Enrique Razon Jr. at $3.9 billion
6. Tony Tan Caktiong at $3.85 billion
7. Lucio Tan at $3.8 billion
8. Ramon Ang at $2.85 billion
9. George Ty at $2.75 billion
10. Andrew Tan at $2.6 billion

This year’s list parades the same names:

1. Sy siblings at US$17.2 billion
2. Manuel Villar at US$6.6 billion
3. John Gokongwei at US$5.3 billion
4. Enrique Razon, Jr. at US$5.1 billion
5. Jaime Zobel de Ayala at US$3.7 billion
6. Lucio Tan at US$3.6 billion
7. Tony Tan Caktiong at US$3 billion
8. Ramon Ang at US$2.8 billion
9. Ty siblings at US$2.6 billion
10. Andrew Tan at US$2.55 billion

Henry Sy of SM, the country’s biggest conglomerate, dominated the list for 11 years and his passing in 2019 distributed his wealth to his six children. Still, the Sy siblings made it to the 2019 list because their individual inherited wealth was above the cutoff and were thus combined.

Villar is a former Philippine senator and his wife is a current Philippine senator who heads the agriculture committee. He is into real estate.

Gokongwei has diversified sources of wealth but he is known for the Robinsons chain of malls and CebuPacific, the first budget airline in the Philippines.

Razon is the Chairman of the Philippine port-handling giant, International Container Terminal Services, Inc.

Ayala has diversified businesses and his family’s name is synonymous to the prominent commercial and business district in Makati. Ayala Malls have recently sprouted in Manila, Cebu, Davao, Bacolod, and other parts of the Philippines.

Lucio Tan has interests in tobacco, banking, property development, airline, liquor, tobacco, and education.

Caktiong owns Jollibee—the Philippines’ response to McDonald’s. The corporation has also purchased Greenwich, Chowking, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Smashburger, Tortas Frontera, Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan, Dunkin’ Donuts in China, Highlands Coffee, and Tim Ho Wan of Singapore.

Ramon Ang’s Top Frontier Investment Holdings, Inc. is the largest shareholder of San Miguel Corporation.

Just like the Sy siblings, the Ty siblings’ combined net worth of $2.6 billion made it to the cutoff. Their father George Ty’s conglomerate has interests in autos, banking, insurance, power generation and real estate. He passed away in 2018.

Andrew Tan has interests in real estate, liquor and fast food.