this story appears in the august 2023 issue of forbes asia subscribe to forbes asia this story is part of forbes’ coverage of philippines’ richest 2023 see the full list here the philippine economy logged 64 growth in the first quarter of 2023 marking two years of continuous expansion since its recovery from the pandemic although the economy must now deal with inflation and higher interest rates the country’s benchmark stock index rose 6 from a year ago when fortunes were last measured as a result the combined wealth of the country’s 50 richest increased to 80 billion from 72 billion last year more than half of those on the list are wealthier this year led by the top three the sy siblings heirs to the group built by the late henry sy sr retained the no 1 spot adding 18 billion to their net worth which now stands at 144 billion shares of their flagship sm investments a conglomerate with interests in banking property and retail jumped 19 from a year ago amid a postpandemic rebound in consumer spending property tycoon manuel villar continued to hold second place with a fortune of 97 billion up 19 billion on the back of a resilient housing market villar also listed his power business premiere island power reit in december 2022 enrique razon jr was the biggest dollar gainer thanks to sustained improvement in supply chains that led international container terminal services’ shares to jump 24 from a year ago the ports magnate remained at no 3 and boosted his fortune by 25 billion to 81 billion another notable gainer is ramon ang president and ceo of listed conglomerate san miguel corp who moved up five spots to no 4 his wealth was up nearly 40 to 34 billion following the acquisition of his majority owned eagle cement one of the archipelago’s largest cement makers by san miguel the company said he was not involved in the decision the country’s richest were not immune to market headwinds the sy family’s sm prime postponed a 1 billion initial public offering of its shopping mall reit originally scheduled for last year the ipo of prime infrastructure capital controlled by razon was also delayed with investors showing a preference for fixed income securities amid interest rate hikes the wealth of husband and wife dennis anthony and maria grace uy cofounders of converge ict solutions dropped the most in both dollar and percentage terms their net worth almost halved to 930 million as shares in the broadband services provider continued to slide following the exit of private equity firm warburg pincus last year the three new entrants are all inheritors the gotianun family at no 22 with 850 million inherited stakes in conglomerate filinvest development from matriarch mercedes gotianun who died last december the yuchengco family heirs to alfonso yuchengco and the biggest shareholder of rizal commercial banking corp one of the country’s largest lenders also joins the ranks with 420 million federico lopez debuts on the list with 300 million shared with his family after taking over the media property and power empire from his father oscar who died in april at age 93 roberto ongpin who was chairman of upscale property developer alphaland and had a net worth of 830 million last year died in february at age 86 that fortune doesn’t appear on the list due to insufficient information about the division of his estate the cutoff this year was 180 million down from 185 million in 2022   the yuchengco family enters the ranks of philippines’ 50 richest the list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals stock exchanges analysts and other sources unlike our billionaire rankings this list includes family fortunes including those shared among extended families net worths are based on stock prices and exchange rates as of the close of markets on july 21 2023 private companies were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded the list can also include foreign citizens with business residential or other ties to the country or citizens who don’t reside in the country but have significant business or other ties to the country the editors reserve the right to amend any information or remove any listees in light of new information special thanks to leechiu property consultants and the other experts who helped us with our reporting and valuations including eduardo francisco bdo unibank govinda singh colliers daphne ashley sze maybank securities