How's the Economy?: The Philippines' 15 Richest

     Despite European woes and the general economic slow-down, the Philippine economy outperformed most of its neighbors. It grew 6.4% in the 1st quarter of 2012 improving on the 4.9% in the first quarter of 2011. It registered an 8.4% growth in 2010.

     The stock ­market index gained 17% from the previous year. The stock exchange composite index was also up 27% in 2011.

     The 40 richest in the Philippines saw their collective wealth grew over $13 billion to $47.4 billion, up from last year’s total of $34 billion, (where a minimum of $85 million was needed to make the list) and $22.8 billion in 2010 (where a minimum of $50 million is the cut-off). This year’s List of 40 richest in the Philippines has a cutoff of $140 million

     There are now 15 billionaires (their net worth is in USD), up from 11 billionaires in 2011.

     The top 15 of the 40 richest in the Philippines are billionaires whose individual net worth is in USD. 

They are:

(1) Henry Sy; 

(2) Lucio Tan; 

(3) Enrique Razon Jr. (International Container Terminal Services); 

(4) John Gokongwei, Jr.; 

(5) David Consunji (construction firm DMCI, Semirara Mining); 

(6) Andrew Tan (Emperador Distillers); 

(7) Jaime Zobel de Ayala; 

(8) George Ty (Metrobank); 

(9) Roberto Ongpin (Atok-Big Wedge, plans to shift from mining to oil and gas exploration);
(10) Eduardo Cojuangco; 

(11) Robert Coyiuto, Jr. (power transmission firm National Grid); 

(12) Tony Tan Caktiong (Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich Pizza); 

(13) Lucio and Susan Co (Puregold, country's second-largest retailer); 

(14) Inigo & Mercedes Zobel (Shares of Ayala Corp. Other assets include 25% stake in San Miguel. Inigo was appointed to board of PAL in April after San Miguel took controlling stake in the carrier); 

(15) Emilio Yap (Manila Bulletin. Philtrust Bank);

(Perry's note: My source is Suzy Nam, who writes for Forbes. She is a former corporate lawyer who now follows the richest of the rich in Southeast Asia. She covers tycoons in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines and produces rich lists for each of these countries. As part of the Global Wealth team at Forbes, she also works on their World Billionaires List.)