The Top 10 Lists

Time Magazine just released their most influential people of the world list. Only one Filipino made in through that list and it was the “pambansang kamao” Manny Pacquiao. With that in mind, I decided to create my own list; a list of Filipinos who influences the society because of what they do. So I present to you, the top 10 most influential people in the Philippines.

 

10. Kris Aquino

Actress/TV Host 

Kristina Bernadette Aquino-Yap (born Kristina Bernadette Cojuangco Aquino on February 14, 1971 in Quezon City), better known simply as Kris Aquino or Misses OA, is a Chinese Filipino television and movie personality in the Philippines. Aquino has been labeled as the Philippines' "Queen of All Media" because of numerous endorsements (number one endorser in the Philippines), successful shows, particularly talk shows and game shows and currently being the 2nd most Powerful Celebrity in the Philippines according to the April 2009 issue of Summit Media's Yes! Magazine. She is also known as Philippines' "Queen of Talk", due to her success in hosting talk shows and the "Queen of Game Shows" having also successful top-rating game shows. In the movies, she is also known as the "massacre queen" for her true-to-life blockbuster films, and the 'horror queen" for her record-breaking box office hits.

 

She was crowned as the 1990 Box Office Queen for her first movie, Pido Dida, Sabay Tayo, 2004 Box Office Queen for her hit movies such as Feng Shui and So... Happy Together. In 2006, she regained the same Box Office title for her movie Sukob, which is the highest-grossing Filipino film of all time. She is also the Executive Editor of her own magazine called K! The Kris Aquino Magazine, which is similar to Oprah Winfrey's O Magazine. The magazine is published monthly by ABS-CBN Publishing.

 

9. Jaime Zobel de Ayala

Business Man

Jaime Zobel y Pfitz (born 1934), also known as Jaime Zobel de Ayala, is a prominent Filipino businessman and photographer of German and Spanish descent. He was the last managing partner of Ayala y Compañía in 1967 when the company changed to a corporation. He served as both president and chairman of Ayala Corporation from 1983 to 2005 (succeeding his first cousin, Enrique Zobel, when he retired as president). In 2006, he retired as chairman; he is current chairman emeritus of the corporation. His eldest son, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, is chairman and chief executive officer of Ayala while his younger son, Fernando Zobel de Ayala, is president of the corporation. Honors include: Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France, 1980; Comendador al Mérito Civil, Spain, 1968; Doctor of Laws (honoris causa), University of the Philippines, 1991; “Management Man of the Year”, Management Association of the Philippines, 1987; Senator Award, highest honor bestowed by the Jaycees, 1986; Doctor of Business Management (honoris causa) De La Salle University, Manila, 1985

Zobel Graduated from Harvard College in 1957 with a Bachelor of Arts in architectural sciences and attended the Advanced Management Program in the Far East conducted by the Faculty from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in Baguio City, Philippines in 1963. He was Philippine ambassador to the Court of St. James's in London and the Scandinavian countries from 1970 to 1974. He is married to Beatriz Miranda Barcon Zobel de Ayala. Together they have 7 children: Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, 1959, married, Elizabeth Eder;Fernando Zobel de Ayala, 1960, married, Catherine Marie Silverio; Beatriz Susana Zobel de Ayala, 1961, widow, Juan Fernandez de Araoz Urquijo (deceased);Patricia Zobel de Ayala, 1962, married, Walter Caro H. Anderson;Cristina Zobel de Ayala, 1964, married, Ignacio Fontes Suarez de Puga;Mónica Zobel de Ayala, 1967, married, Guillermo Otañez Pla; Sofía Zobel de Ayala, 1968, married, Francisco José Roxas Elizalde.

 

In 2007, Jaime Zobel de Ayala tied with Henry Sy as the richest person in the Philippines with a net worth of $2.6 Billion according to Forbes magazine. Zobel de Ayala and family, however, slipped to 3rd in Forbes magazine's 2008 list of 40 wealthiest Filipinos due to 46% drop in their conglomerate Ayala Corp. shares, which were worth $800 million.

 

The February 2008 Forbes Asia magazine’s first Heroes of Philanthropy list included four Filipinos - Jaime Zobel de Ayala, John Gokongwei, Ramon del Rosario Jr., and Oscar Lopez. The list is composed of four philanthropists each from 13 selected countries and territories in Asia.

 

8. Henry Sy

Business Man 

He is the Philippines' richest man, gaining 1.4 billion dollars in 2007, amid the global financial crisis. The huge gain was due to his holding company, SM Investments Corp., which has interests in Banco de Oro Universal Bank, inter alia. Forbes magazine's 2008 list of 40 wealthiest Filipinos, revealed the Sy family's net worth was 3.1 billion dollars. Earlier, he was the 2nd wealthiest individual in the Philippines, next to Lucio Tan and (as of 2008) 843rd in the world. Sy is considered a Tai-Pan or tycoon of Asia. The Sy group is the operator of Banco de Oro Universal Bank and owner of China Banking Corporation. In 2006, he bought the remaining 66% of Equitable PCI Bank, the Philippines 3rd largest lender, in which he already had a 34% stake, and merged it with Banco de Oro Universal Bank in 2007. The merger created the Philippines's second largest financial institution with resources of close to $17billion dollars. A conspiracy tell that the Sy family has a personal stake of $4 billion in these 3 banks, although there are still no sufficient evidences that strongly substantiate such matter. Mr. Sy has recently sold his 11% stake in San Miguel Corporation, Southeast Asia's largest food and beverage conglomerate for $680 million.

 

Henry Sy, Sr., was named "Management Man of the Year" by the Makati Business Club and was conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Business Management by De La Salle University-Manila in January 1999. He organized the SM Foundation Inc., which helps underprivileged but promising young Filipinos.

Sy's retail chain is SM Prime Holdings, known as "Shoe Mart" or simply "SM". Several of his children now hold senior management positions in his companies, although he has groomed daughter Teresita Sy-Coson and his grandchildren Hailey Sy-Coson, Darcie Sy and Josiah Sy as his successors.

 

Sy's holding company, SM Investments Corp., has consistently been cited as one of the Philippines best-managed companies.[citation needed] On May 20, 2006, The SM Mall of Asia, built in the reclamation area of Pasay City, was opened to the public. It is the sixth-largest mall in the world.

 

7. Mirian Defensor-Santiago

Politician

Santiago was born in Iloilo City, Iloilo to District Judge Benjamin A. Defensor and Dimpna Palma Defensor. In her youth, she graduated as class valedictorian in both elementary and high school levels.

Despite a three-month bout with illness, Santiago graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1965. She finished in three and a half years. Upon graduation, she was elected to the Pi Gamma Mu and Phi Kappa Phi international honor societies.

 

She was the first female editor-in-chief of the university's student newspaper, The Philippine Collegian, in its fifty-year history. She was twice made Corps Sponsor of the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Santiago has participated in numerous oratorical, public speaking, and debate contests in high school, college, and law school.

 

She earned a Bachelor of Laws, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines College of Law in Diliman in 1969. Her classmates include former Senate President Franklin Drilon, San Juan Representative Ronaldo Zamora, and Eli Pamatong. Miriam took the 1969 Bar Exams and passed with a 78% Bar rating. Santiago decided to teach Political Science to undergraduates at Trinity College of Quezon City.

 

She then attended the University of Michigan Law School from 1974 to 1976, earning the degrees of Master of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science.

 

Santiago continued enrolling in short courses, attending seminars and participating in conferences locally and abroad. In 1995, at the age of fifty, she completed the academic requirements for a Master of Arts in Religious Studies at the Maryhill School of Theology with an average grade of 1.25. In 1996, at the age of fifty-one, she attended the Summer Program of Instruction for Lawyers at Harvard Law School. In 1997, at age fifty-two, she attended the Summer Program in Law at Oxford University.

When she lost in the Senate race of 2001, she worked on updating her law and political science textbooks, which were last released 2002.

 

In 1986, Santiago was recognized as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Professionals of the Philippine Junior Chamber of Commerce. In 1988, she was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, the local equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

 

In 1996, The Australian Magazine ranked Santiago 69th among "The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World", sharing the honor with former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos who ranked 58th.

 

6. Juan Ponce Enrile

Politician

Ponce Enrile was born as Juanito Furuganan in Gonzaga, Cagayan to Petra Furuganan, the daughter of a poor fisherman. He was born out of wedlock--his father was the already married powerful regional politician and renowned lawyer Alfonso Ponce Enrile. He was reunited with his father by the time he reached his high school years.

 

He graduated cum laude in 1949 with an Associate of Arts degree at the Ateneo de Manila University. He then attained a Bachelor of Laws degree and graduated cum laude at the University of the Philippines College of Law. Upon graduation, he was elected to the prestigious Pi Gamma Mu and Phi Kappa Phi international honor societies. He achieved the 11th highest score with a 91.72% rating and a perfect score in Taxation Law in the 1953 bar examinations. As a scholar at the Harvard Law School he earned a Master of Laws degree with specialized training in International Tax.

 

He taught law at the Far Eastern University and practiced as a partner in his father’s law firm before taking responsibility for then-senator Marcos’s personal legal affairs in 1964. After Marcos was elected president in 1965, Ponce Enrile became part of his inner circle.

 

5. Jessica Soho

News Anchor/Documentarian

Jessica Soho (born March 27, 1964) is an award-winning Filipino television celebrity and reporter of Chinese and Ilocano descent.

 

A Ka Doroy Valencia awardee, Soho was also one of the 100 Filipino Women of Distinction chosen during the centennial celebration of the Philippines.

 

Her story of a hostage crisis in Cagayan Valley made her the first Filipino to win in the New York Film Festival for Coverage of a Breaking Story.

 

Her documentaries on the Kidneys for Sale business and Kamao death sport made her the first Filipino reporter, with GMA Network as the first Filipino network, to win the coveted George Foster Peabody Award on 1999.

 

Soho hosts Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho and was honored on October 14, 2008, by Quezon City with the Outstanding Citizen Award.

 

Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho (KMJS) was recognized as the Most Development-Oriented Magazine Program. Program host Jessica Soho got two awards – the Best Public Affairs Program Host and the Best Magazine Program Host in the Gandingan 2009: UPLB Isko’t Iska’s Broadcast Choice Awards. Gandingan 2009 is the first award-giving ceremony in the field of broadcasting instituted by Community Broadcasters’ Society (UPCBS) of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). It pays tribute to the best broadcast programs that air over TV and radio.

 

At present, Soho is a reporter, host, producer and currently the acting news director and Vice President of GMA 7's News and Public Affairs.

 

4. Francis Escudero

Politician/Activist

Escudero was born on October 10, 1969 in Manila , Philippines , the middle child of the three children of former Agriculture Secretary Salvador "Sonny" H. Escudero III and educator Evelina B. Guevara. His father was elected in 2007 to the House seat vacated by his son.

 

Escudero is married to the former Christine Elizabeth R. Flores who is a singer and stage actress. They have two children, fraternal twins, born September 7, 2007. 

 

Escudero attended the University of the Philippines Integrated School for both his Elementary and Secondary Education, and graduated in 1981 and 1985 respectively. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City in 1988 and Bachelors of Laws at the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1993. He received his Masters in International and Comparative Law at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington D. C. in 1996.

 

At the University of the Philippines , Escudero was Secretary General of the Association of Law Students of the Philippines from 1992–1993. He also joined the Alpha Phi Beta Fraternity and was a member of the Alpha Phi Beta Debating Team which was the 1991 U.P. Open Debate Champion. A consistent honor student, he was a member of the Order of the Purple Feather or the U.P. Law Honor Society from 1989–1993.

 

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Escudero was a teaching assistant at the Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines in 1988–1989. In 1989, he became Junior Political Analyst of the Batangas Development Planning office.

 

From 1993–1994, he was Junior Associate at the Bautista, Picazo, Buyco, Tan and Fider Law Office. After this, he was Legal Consultant for the UNLAD Ship Management and Manning Corp. and Legal Counsel for the Crusade Against Violence (CAV), both in 1994 to 1995. Since 1995 until the present, he is a partner of the Escudero, Marasigan, Sta. Ana, Vallente and Villareal Law Office (EMSAVIL Law).

From 1996 to 1998, he was a Senior Lecturer at the College of Law at the University of the Philippines . He was also lecturer at the Graduate School of the Ateneo de Manila University in 2000.

 

From May to August 2000, he hosted Ngayon na Pinoy, a television program that aired on RPN 9. He anchored the radio programs "Magandang Umaga, Bayan," at the Angel Radio, DZAR 1026 AM, Usapang de Campanilla and Usapang Legal, both at DZMM. He penned a column, "Usapang Legal ni Chiz Escudero" (later renamed "Say Chiz") in the newspapers Abante and Abante Tonite.

 

On July 3, 2000, Escudero was named a Commander of the Philippine Navy Reserve Command.

 

3. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

Politician

Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (April 5, 1947) is the fourteenth and current president of the Philippines. Arroyo is the country's second female president, and the daughter of late former Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal.

 

A professor of economics, Arroyo entered government in 1987, serving as assistant secretary and undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry upon the invitation of President Corazon Aquino. After serving as a senator from 1992 to 1998, she was elected to the vice presidency under President Joseph Estrada, despite having run on an opposing ticket. After Estrada was accused of corruption, she resigned her cabinet position as Secretary of Social Welfare and Development and joined the growing opposition to the president, who faced impeachment. Estrada was soon forced from office by what its advocates would ascribe to peaceful street demonstrations of the EDSA Revolution of 2001, but which critics credit to a conspiracy among political and business elites, military top brass and Catholic Church bishop Jaime Cardinal Sin. Arroyo was sworn into the presidency by then-Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. at around noon on January 20, 2001 amidst the EDSA II crowd, hours before Estrada left Malacanang. She was elected to a full six-year presidential term in the controversial May 2004 Philippine elections, and was sworn in on June 30, 2004.

 

Arroyo entered politics in the 1992 election, running for senator. At the first general election under the 1987 Constitution, the top twelve vote-getting senatorial candidates would win a six-year term, and the next twelve candidates would win a three-year term.[6] Arroyo ranked 13th in the elections, earning a three-year term. She was re-elected in 1995, topping the senatorial elections with nearly 16 million votes.

As a legislator, Arroyo filed over 400 bills and authored or sponsored 55 laws during her tenure as senator, including the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law, the Indigenous People's Rights Law, and the Export Development Act.

 

The 1995 Mining Act, which allows 100% foreign ownership of Philippine mines, has come under fire from left-wing political groups.

 

Arroyo considered a run for the presidency in the 1998 election, but was persuaded by President Fidel V. Ramos and leaders of the administration party Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats to instead seek the vice-presidency as the running mate of its presidential candidate, House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. Though the latter lost to popular former actor Joseph Ejercito Estrada, Arroyo won the vice presidency by a large margin, garnering more than twice the votes of her closest opponent, Estrada's running mate Senator Edgardo Angara.

 

Arroyo began her term as Vice President on June 30, 1998. Historically, she was the first and only to date female Vice President of the Philippines. She was appointed by Estrada to a concurrent position in the cabinet as Secretary of Social Welfare and Development.

 

Arroyo resigned from the cabinet in October 2000, distancing herself from President Estrada, who was accused of corruption by a former political supporter, Chavit Singson, Governor from Ilocos Sur. She had initially resisted pressure from allies to speak out against Estrada, but eventually joined calls for Estrada's resignation.

 

2. Jun Lozada

Activist

Rodolfo Noel Imperial Lozada, Jr., popularly known as Jun Lozada, is the former president of the Philippine Forest Corporation, under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. In February 2008, he accused First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos of involvement in the awarding of an anomalous contract to Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE.

 

1. Manny Pacquiao

Athlete/Boxer

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao (pronounced /ˈpækjaʊ/; born December 17, 1978), known as Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao is a Filipino professional boxer, part-time actor and recording artist. He is the former WBC Lightweight world champion, WBC Super Featherweight world champion, IBF Super Bantamweight world champion, and WBC Flyweight world champion. He has also held the Ring Magazine titles for Featherweight, Super Featherweight, and Light Welterweight divisions. For his achievements, he became the first Filipino and Asian boxer to win five world titles in five different weight divisions. He is currently the IBO and Ring Magazine Light Welterweight champion and is rated by the Ring Magazine as the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world. He is also the first boxer to win the lineal championship ("the man who beat the man") in four different weight classes.

 

Pacquiao started his professional boxing career at the age of 16 at 106 lbs (Light Flyweight). His early fights took place in small local venues and were shown on Vintage Sports' Blow by Blow, an evening boxing show. His professional debut was a 4-round bout against Edmund "Enting" Ignacio on January 22, 1995, which Pacquiao won via decision, becoming an instant star of the program. Close friend Mark Penaflorida's death in 1994 spurred the young Pacquiao to pursue a professional boxing career.

His weight increased from 106 to 113 lbs before losing in his 12th bout against Rustico Torrecampo via a third-round knockout (KO). Pacquiao had not made the weight. So he was forced to use heavier gloves than Torrecampo, thereby putting Pacquiao at a disadvantage.

 

Shortly after the Torrecampo fight, Pacquiao settled at 112 lbs, winning the WBC Flyweight title over Chatchai Sasakul in the eighth round only to lose it in his second defense against Medgoen Singsurat or Medgoen 3K Battery, via a third-round knockout on a bout held at Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. Technically, Pacquiao lost the belt at the scales as he surpassed the weight limit of 112 lbs (51 kg).

Following his loss to Singsurat, Pacquiao gained weight anew. This time, Pacquiao went to the Super Bantamweight division of 122 lbs (55 kg), where he picked up the WBC International Super Bantamweight title. He defended the title five times before his chance for a world title fight came.

Pacquiao's big break came on June 23, 2001, against IBF Super Bantamweight champion Lehlohonolo Ledwaba. Pacquiao stepped into the fight as a late replacement and won the fight by technical knockout to become the IBF Super Bantamweight champion on a bout held at MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada. He defended this title five times and fought to a sixth-round draw against Agapito Sánchez in a bout that was stopped early after Pacquiao received 2 headbutts.

Sources: Wiki