The Philippines' 50 richest lost 22% of their net worth this year, dropping to $60.6 billion (nearly P3 trillion) from $78 billion last year due to the coronavirus pandemic that's eaten up most of 2020, according to much-awaited annual rankings from Forbes Magazine.
How big is their combined net worth? It's just P500 million short of the P3.5 trillion national budget for 2021. Many of us can't imagine what P3 trillion pesos looks like, however we can decode it by converting it into relatable currency -- Samgyupsal.
Samgyupsal is happy food. It's a celebration. It's for birthdays, for long catch-ups with friends, and for days when you need a pick-me-up after a stressful day. How many times have you added something to your Lazada cart and said to yourself, how many samgyups can I buy with this?
The heirs of the late SM Shopping mall tycoon Henry Sy remain on top with a net worth of $13.9 billion. They also took the biggest hit, $3.3 billion. At P674 billion in peso terms, and at P500 per eat-all-you-can serving of samgyupsal, the net worth of the Sy Siblings can treat 1.3 billion people to samgyupsal servings.
To illustrate further, 1.3 billion Samgyupsal servings can treat the entire Philippine population of 100 million people 10 times over. The Sys can treat 16% of the world’s population to any of the premium-priced KBBQ places in the Philippines (more, if cheaper).
Former senator and real estate tycoon Manny Villar placed second with $5 billion (P242.4 billion), enough for 484.8 million servings at P500 each.
- Sy Siblings - $13.9 billion - 1,347,340,900 meals
- Manuel Villar - $5 billion - 484,655,000 meals
- Enrique Razon, Jr. - $4.3 billion - 417,104,300 meals
- Lance Gokongwei & Siblings - $4.1 billion - 397,577,000 meals
- Jaime Zobel de Ayala - $3.6 billion - 349,074,000 meals
- Andrew Tan - $2.3 billion - 223,010,300 meals
- Lucio Tan - $2.2 billion - 213,314,200 meals
- Ramon Ang - $2 billion - 193,922,000 meals
- Tony Tan Caktiong - $1.9 billion - 184,168,900 meals
- Lucio and Susan Co - $1.7 billion - 164,782,700 meals
