Billionaire Roberto Ongpin, 86

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 2:32 .pm.) — Billionaire Roberto "Bobby" Ongpin died Saturday night on exclusive Balesin Island off the coast of Polillo, Quezon, according to reports quoting his family.

Ongpin, 86, was chair of high-end property developer Alphaland, which built Balesin Island Club. He was also chairman and CEO of mining firm Atok-Big Wedge Co.

A Certified Public Accountant with a master's degree in business administration from Harvard, Ongpin joined Procter & Gamble before working at Sycip Gorres Velayo & Company from 1964 to 1979.

He was minister of commerce and industry from 1979 to 1986 before concentrating on his businesses after the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. during the People Power Revolution. 

"After leaving government, he built and rebuilt empires, including making the deals that brought the Shangri-La Group into the Philippines, Tagaytay Highlands, PhilWeb, and culminating in Alphaland Corporation, where he built his crown jewel, Alphaland Balesin Island Club," nephew Apa Ongpin said.

"He has been expanding to the neighboring island of Patnanungan, which he planned to formally open this year. He never retired, and remained sharp and undiminished by age, all the way to his last day," the younger Ongpin also said, adding that his uncle "has funded thousands of full scholarships to Ateneo de Manila University, in the name of his brother, Jaime, who passed away in 1987."

The former trade minister divested from gaming technology provider PhilWeb Corp. in 2016 "to save the company, its operators and all the employees from losing their jobs." He had come under fire from then President Rodrigo Duterte as among the "oligarchs" that he said had to be destroyed, a development that he described as being "struck by lightning."

Ongpin had a net worth of around $830 million in 2022, according to Forbes, which also listed him as 23rd among the 50 richest in the Philippines.