Top 10 Richest People in The Philippines 2016

Written by Marc Adrian Illustration by Michelle Leong

Forbes Magazine has rounded up the richest people in the Philippines, with old names moving up and moving down a few notches and net worth decreasing by a few million dollars. This year, most of the Philippines’ richest people have seen a decrease in their net worth due to changing stock markets, oil prices, and dollar performance.

The richest man in the Philippines is still Henry Sy. He has been in the top spot for seven years running. Last year, he was the world’s 73rd richest man and has now climbed to the 71st spot despite the drop in his net worth of $13.3 Billion. Sy owns SM Investments Corp, the largest Philippine retailer with over 200 outlets nationwide and holds other interests in banking, shopping malls, as well as real estate development.

Still holding the same spot from last year is John Gokongwei, Jr., the second richest man in the Philippines, despite a slight decrease in his net worth from $5.5 to $5.1 Billion. Gokongwei’s business interest ranges from food and beverage, telecoms, property development, banking, hotels, airlines, to power generation.

On the other hand, Lucio Tan climbed one spot higher in this year’s list. He was at the fourth spot last year, improving his rank even with a decrease in his net worth down to $4 Billion. His business interests lie in banking, beverages, spirits and tobacco, and property development. In 2014, Tan maintained full control of Philippine Airlines.

Fourth on the list is George Ty, who climbed up from last year’s sixth spot. His net worth is at $3.8 Billion which decreased from $4 Billion last year. Aside from Metrobank, which is still the largest bank in the country in terms of assets, he also has non-financial businesses under GT Capital and is looking to go into retail, infrastructure, and business process outsourcing.

Coming from ninth place last year, David Consunji made it to the fifth spot while maintaining his net worth at $3.2 Billion. He’s the founder of construction giant DMCI, and generates income from infrastructure, real estate, and power generation.

Consunji is closely tied with both Andrew Tan of the McDonald’s fast food franchise and Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee Foods, who was at the tenth spot last year. Closing this year’s top ten richest is Enrique Razon, Jr., Lucio and Susan Co, and Robert Coyiuto, Jr. with their net worth of $2.5 Billion, $1.79 Billion, and $1.65 Billion respectively.

These billionaires did not reach this level of wealth just by sitting around and waiting for things to happen. They sought a way and found a working formula to earn their first million. From the ground up, they have risked to venture into the unknown, refusing to back down from each failure until finally achieving success.