On June 15, Forbes magazine reported Enrique Razon Jr.’s net worth at $18.8 billion—ranking him as the 143rd richest person in the world and the richest Filipino. His wealth is equivalent to ₱1.27 trillion, earning him the title of the Philippines’ first “trillionaire.”

Razon’s biggest businesses include International Container Terminal Services, Inc (with total revenue of ₱177.3 billion), Manila Water Co. (₱66.6 billion), and Bloomberry Resorts Corp (₱53.9 billion). He also has businesses in mining, renewable energy, power, real estate, oil, and investment. He also owns about 60% of four gas-fired power plants that were formerly controlled by the Lopez family.

In March, he bought SierraCol Energy Limited, the largest independent oil and gas company in Colombia, from The Carlyle Group.

Razon’s cronyism

The Razon family were known cronies during the time of Marcos Sr, serving as instruments for the dictator’s accumulation of assets worth billions of dollars. Razon continued being a crony under each administration that took office, especially from the 2000s onward.

The ICTSI’s rapidly expanded during the term of former President Gloria Arroyo, whose husband Mike had close ties to Razon. He became an important figure in Arroyo’s controversial deals, including the State Grid Corporation of China’s purchase of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and the failed NBN-ZTE deal. In exchange, he funded Arroyo’s candidacy and those of her allies. In 2007, he served as treasurer of Team Unity under Lakas-Kampi and later helped found the National Unity Party.

Under the Duterte administration, Razon successively took control of Manila Water and power companies, Apex Mining, Dennis Uy’s casinos, and others. His wealth nearly doubled during the pandemic.

Under the US-Marcos regime, his income grew by ₱909.3 billion, the largest among the big bourgeois compradors.

Anti-people projects

Razon is notorious for exploitative businesses, anti-people projects, and the use of the military and hired goons to suppress people’s resistance.

These include dams to be built on ancestral lands that displace indigenous peoples and farmers. These projects include the Wawa-Violago Dam in Rizal, the Jalaur Megadam Project in Iloilo, the Chico Hydropower Project in Kalinga, and the Ahunan Dam in Laguna.

On February 6, 2024, 101 people, mostly miners, were reported killed in a landslide in Barangay Masara, Maco, Davao de Oro, inside Apex Mining operations. Widespread mining had also caused deadly landslides in the area in 2008 and 2012.

On January 8, 36 people died following the collapse of a landfill operated by Prime Integrated Waste Solutions Inc., a Razon company. Residents of Barangay Binaliw in Cebu City have long complained about the landfill due to foul odors and its effects to the surrounding mountains and rivers.

In Manila, more than 7,000 residents are at risk of losing their homes in Parola Compound, Delpan, Binondo due to the North–South Harbor Bridge Project. After the project was announced on May 22, the entire community burned down the next day.

Wealth taken from the people

The continued enrichment of big comprador bourgeoisie, landlords, and bureaucrat capitalists contributes nothing to advance national industrialization or build an independent economy. Instead, it becomes a heavy burden on the entire people, because it is tied to a system of land grabbing for business interests and US imperialism.

Amid worsening injustice and inequality, the need to push forward the national-democratic revolution becomes even clearer in order to overthrow imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. Under a people’s democratic government, land monopoly would be broken, national industry would be promoted, an independent foreign policy would be established, and the welfare of the masses would be ensured.