The combined fortunes of the 50 richest Filipinos suffered a 22-percent decline this year to $60.6 billion from $78 billion last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Forbes Asia.
More than half, or 32 of the country’s 50 richest, saw a decline in their net worth amid the strict lockdown implemented by the government to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The six children of retail and banking tycoon Henry Sy remained at No. 1 in the list with a net worth of $13.9 billion, but they took the biggest hit in dollar terms as their fortunes went down by $3.3 billion from the previous year as the country entered recession in the second quarter this year.
Former senator and real estate tycoon Manuel Villar was second in the list, but was the leader in individual ranking with a net worth of $5 billion, down by $1.6 billion from 2019.
Port and casino tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. moved up to No. 3 this year with a net worth of $4.3 billion, down from $5.1 billion previously.
Lance Gokongwei and his siblings debuted at No. 4 with a net worth of $4.1 billion. They replaced their father John Gokongwei Jr. who passed away in November 2019.
Jaime Zobel de Ayala was fifth with a net worth of $3.6 billion. Rounding up the top 10 were Andrew Tan of Alliance Global Group Inc. ($2.3 billion), Lucio Tan of LT Group Inc.($2.2 billion), Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corp. ($2 billion), Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee Foods Corp. ($1.9 billion) and Lucio and Susan Co of Puregold ($1. billion).
Six names dropped off the list, including Edgar Saavedra of Megawide Construction Corp. Megawide’s shares fell by more than 65 percent after reporting a first-half net loss of P398 million.
Four tycoons returned to the list because of this year’s lower cutoff, which fell 23 percent from last year’s list to $100 million.
They are Michael Romero (No. 46, $135 million) of Globalport 900; Luis Virata (No. 48, $115 million) of Nickel Asia, Mikel Aboitiz (No. 49, $110 million) of Aboitiz Equity Ventures and Lourdes Montinola (No. 50, $100 million) of Far Eastern University.
The list was compiled using information from the individuals, stock exchanges, analysts, private databases, government agencies and other sources.
Net worths were based on stock prices and exchange rates as of the close of markets on Aug. 28, 2020. Private companies were valued using financial ratios and other comparisons with similar publicly-traded companies.
