Former Senator Manuel Villar tops the list of Forbes’ richest among Filipinos, with a wealth of $7.2 billion, placing him 352nd richest globally in the “Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List” for 2021.
Among the Philippines’ richest, Villar is joined by Enrique Razon ($5 billion), Lucio Tan ($3.3 billion), Hans Sy ($3 billion) and Herbert Sy ($3 billion) for the top five.
The rest of the Sy siblings of the SM Group of companies are not far behind, occupying most of the next five together with Megaworld Corp.’s Andrew Tan ($3 billion).
Completing the top 10 for the Philippines’ richest are Harley Sy ($2.7 billion), Henry Sy Jr. ($2.7 billion), Teresita Sy-Coson ($2.7 billion) and Elizabeth Sy ($2.4 billion).
With their wealth combined, however, the Sy siblings dominate the Philippines’ richest list.
Villar is the youngest to top Forbes’ Philippines richest list in 2019 at 69, and has been so for the past three years.
Forbes’ list of the world’s most affluent for 2021, based on a snapshot of wealth with a minimum net worth of $1 billion, is led by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos ($177 billion), Elon Musk ($151 billion), Bernard Arnault and family ($150 billion), Bill Gates ($124 billion) and Mark Zuckerberg ($97 billion), as the top five richest in the world.
Bezos retains the top spot on this year’s ranking for the fourth consecutive year. Musk ranked up second from No. 31 in 2020. Arnault of French LVMH Moí«t Hennessy Louis Vuitton remained at third. Gates dropped to fourth from second last year. This is the first time for Zuckerberg to be in the top five, having ranked seventh in 2020.
Forbes also said this is the first in more than two decades that value.
