The wealthiest women in the Philippines

In the recent list of the Philippines’ 12 wealthiest dollar billionaires by Forbes magazine, I noticed that there was not a single woman on that roster. Since March is the month when the world honors women, allow me to cite the following, who I found in my research to be the country’s wealthiest women. Here they are, in no particular order:

Mercedes Tan Gotianun — The matriarch and cofounder of the Filinvest real estate group and East West Bank is the brilliant and tough-minded “secret weapon” of the late visionary business leader Andrew Gotianun. She is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of the Philippines and has been going to Mass daily ever since her youth. Filinvest is now a partner with two groups bidding to modernize the NAIA and Clark airports.

Because her side of the family did not inherit wealth, Mercedes grew up disciplined and learned to excel based on her own efforts. Her paternal grandfather was the respected surgeon and Christian philanthropist Dr. Chen Tianun of Fujian province, south China, who used to own Tatung Drugstore in Xiamen City and was a supporter of his classmate, Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s 1911 revolution against the Qing Dynasty.

Her maternal grandfather was Manila’s pre-war lumber tycoon and Chinese community philanthropist Vicente Gotamco, who in 1928 donated land in Pasay City where a public school named in his memory now stands.

Teresita “Tessie” Sy-Coson — The astute, humble and hardworking leader of BDO Unibank and the SM Group is the eldest child of “Shopping Mall King” Henry Sy Sr. and the religious philanthropist Felicidad Tan Sy. She is the Philippines’ preeminent businesswoman and the 2016 “Management Man of the Year” awardee from the Management Association of the Philippines. She studied management at Assumption College and earned her MBA degree from New York University.

Helen Yuchengco Dee — Educated with a commerce degree at Assumption College and an MBA from De La Salle University, she is the capable leader of the Yuchengco Group with 90 firms and has been chairperson of the Philippines’ 10th largest Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation since 2005.

Her family’s other businesses include Sun Life Grepa Financial, Inc., top non-life insurer Malayan Insurance, run by her younger sister Yvonne Yuchengco, and others. Her father was the late business leader, philanthropist and former Philippine envoy to China and to the United Nations, Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco. Vivian Yuchengco, the former chairman of the Philippine Stock Exchange, is her cousin.

Her husband, former China Bank president Peter S. Dee, is the grandson of pre-war “Lumber King” Dee C. Chuan and great-great-grandnephew of 19th-century lumber entrepreneur and philanthropist Dy Han Kia. Coincidentally, Dy Han Kia’s Spanish-era lumberyard on Manila’s Arranque Street (now called T. Alonzo Street) was the back-to-back neighbor — divided only by an estero — of the 19th-century lumberyard of Helen Yuchengco Dee’s great-grandfather Yu Tiaoqui in Gandara Street (now renamed Sabino Padilla Street). Her parents’ wedding godfather, lumber tycoon Dy Pac, was the paternal grandfather of Ayala Land, Inc. president Bobby Dy and also the great-granduncle of husband Peter Dee.

Mercedes Urquijo Zobel — She is a businesswoman whose father was the late Ayala Group and BPI boss Enrique Zobel. Her brother is San Miguel Corp. director Iñigo Zobel and her cousin is Ayala Corp. and Globe Telecom chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala. 

Susan P. Co — The wife and business partner of Puregold retail group founder Lucio Co, she is vice chairman and treasurer of the company, and also director of the venerable 79-year-old Philippine Bank of Communications, which used to be run by the late Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) president and philanthropist Ralph Nubla.

Beatrice Dee Campos — She initiated her family’s strategic investments in thousands of hectares of land from Bataan province to Laguna province, now part of Greenfield, which was incorporated in 1961 and is one of the Philippines’ top realty firms.

The widow of the late immigrant self-made “Pharmaceuticals King,” United Laboratories (Unilab) founder Jose Yao Campos, her father was the late lumber tycoon, philanthropist and FFCCCII founding executive vice president Dee Hong Lue. Her respected younger brother, Ambassador Howard Q. Dee, is past president of Unilab, an idealistic Catholic philanthropist and former Philippine envoy to the Vatican.

Her great-granduncle was the 19th-century pioneer lumber entrepreneur and philanthropist Dy Han Kia, while her paternal grandfather was lumber tycoon Calixto Dyyco, after whom a street in Paco, Manila, was named. However, the city has for decades misspelled the street name as “Calixto Dyco Street”; paging Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and councilors to rectify this error. 

Her successful children are Boston College MBA graduate Jocelyn “Joy” Campos Hess of Unilab; “condiments king” Joselito “Butch” Dee Campos, Jr. of NutriAsia and Del Monte Pacific Limited; and Jeffrey Dee Campos of Greenfield Development Corporation.

Cynthia Aguilar Villar — The daughter of former longtime Las Piñas Mayor Filemon Aguilar and business graduate of UP Diliman and MBA alumna of New York University, she excelled as senator and as active business partner of self-made realty billionaire former Senate President Manny Villar. She had worked as a financial analyst and also as a college professor before marriage. Her son, Mark Villar, is now Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary.

UP Law wins DivinaLaw Jessup Cup

Congrats to the University of the Philippines College of Law team and coach Prof. Rommel Casis for winning the DivinaLaw Philippine Jessup Cup over the other top law schools. They will represent the country to compete internationally from April 1 to 7 in Washington, DC.

The Philippine elimination was sponsored by the high-powered Divina Law led by Atty. Nilo Divina, a favorite of tycoons. Its floor of offices in a Makati tower boasts its own huge chapel.

Jessup is the world’s largest international moot court competition, with over 645 law schools competing from 95 countries. Good luck UP Law!

Can the government help local film businesses?

Can our leaders copy more incentives and policies from South Korea and China that have helped make their homegrown movie industries successful and world-class? South Korean cinema has had domestic box-office success exceeding that of Hollywood films since the late 1990s, largely due to laws limiting the number of foreign films per theater per year. South Korean filmmakers improved the quality of their movies and exceeded Hollywood.

Here is some good news for local film entrepreneurs. The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, led by chairman Davao City Congressman Karlo Nograles, has approved the proposed funding provision of the Film Industry Incentives Act, which will give incentives to Filipino filmmakers who have been receiving honors in international film festivals.

Nograles, who’s chairman of the 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival board of judges, and graduated with degrees in management engineering and a doctorate in law from Ateneo, shared his analysis of the No. 1 box-office success of Vice Ganda’s MMFF movie Gandarrapiddo: The Revenger Squad. He said that movie was “all in one,” with all the elements local audiences want to see: comedy, action, a superhero and being kid-friendly.

Karlo’s wife Marga Montemayor Nograles is the distributor of Havaianas in Southern Mindanao and one of Davao’s accomplished young female entrepreneurs.

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