Kris Aquino: No. 1, P49.9 million
Show-business personality Kris Aquino, the youngest sister of President Aquino, has earned another distinction—being No. 1 on the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) list of Top 500 individual taxpayers.
Kris, 42, who has numerous product endorsements and three TV shows, paid P49.87 million in taxes for 2011, according to the list the BIR posted on its website.
Businessmen, other celebrities and politicians also made it to the BIR’s roster of top individual taxpayers. (See complete list.)
Kris was followed by Sunpower Philippines vice president Gregory Deane Reichow (P38.2 million) and former Philippine Ambassador to the UN Lauro Liboon Baja Jr. (P34.26 million). [The BIR, however, believes that Baja is the head of the Philippine unit of the Swiss bank UBS, which is engaged mainly in debt and equity underwriting.]
Lucio Tan: No. 35, P10.8 million
PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan was the fourth-largest taxpayer (P25.99 million) while Aurelio Montinola III, president and CEO of Bank of the Philippine Islands, came in fifth (P24.47 million).
Gerardo Ablaza, Manila Water president, paid P22.65 million and was ranked sixth, while Philippine Ambassador to Portugal Philippe Lhuillier was seventh (P21.65 million). They were followed by Victor M. Angeles, who paid P21.2 million.
Completing the Top 10 individual taxpayers for 2011 were Roberto L. Panlilio of JP Morgan Chase & Co. (ninth, P19.61 million) and GMA Network chairman and CEO Felipe L. Gozon (10th, P19.59 million).
Tycoons
None of the Filipino tycoons Forbes cited as among the richest people were among the Top 10 taxpayers.
Henry Sy: No. 15, P16.6 million
Henry Sy Sr., 15th on the BIR list, paid P16.58 million in taxes.
Lucio Tan, the country’s second-wealthiest man, paid P10.79 million and was ranked 35th, while David Consunji, who was included in the Forbes list for the first time this year, was 176th on the BIR roster after paying P5.91 million in taxes.
Other businessmen on the list were Orlando Vea of Smart Communications (16th, P16.25 million) and TV5 CEO Ray Espinosa (20th, P14.48 million).
Vic, Joey, Willie et al.
A number of celebrities made it to the list: TV host Vic Sotto (19th, P14.73 million), Joey de Leon (28th, P12.48 million), Charo Santos-Concio (33rd, P11.61 million), Solenn Heussaff (99th, P7.79 million), Derek Ramsay (120th, P7.08 million), Piolo Pascual (123rd, P6.98 million), Kim Chiu (133rd, P6.71 million), Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao (158th, P6.11 million);
Willie Revillame (181st, P5.85 million), Ogie Alcasid (184th, P5.81 million), Sharon Cuneta (191st, P5.74 million), Ryan Agoncillo (194th, P5.6 million) and John Lloyd Cruz (205th, P5.41 million).
Erap Estrada, Mike Enriquez
Further down the list were Manuel Paolo Villar, son of Sen. Manny Villar (403rd, P3.88 million); broadcaster Mike Enriquez (411st, P3.85 million) and former President Joseph Estrada (490th, P3.51 million).
Other personalities on the top 500 list were Jaime Jose Aboitiz (225th, P5.18 million), Manuel Zamora Jr. of Nickel Asia (240th, P4.97 million), Joel Jimenez (272nd, P4.76 million), Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos (300th, P4.5 million), IPVG Corp. CEO Enrique Gonzalez (312th, P4.37 million), Punongbayan & Araullo founder Benjamin Punongbayan (319th, P4.33 million), ING Bank economist Jose Cuyegkeng (328th, P4.26 million);
Jon Ramon Aboitiz of Aboitiz & Co. (381st, P3.97 million), Philippine Airlines president Jaime Bautista (382nd, P3.96 million), SGV Group founder Washington Sycip (433rd, P3.74 million), and Pampanga’s Best owner Angelo Hizon (479th, P3.57 million).—With reports from Almi Ilagan-Atienza, Ana Roa and Kate Pedroso, Inquirer Research