Push Admin

Ongpin shrugs off 'oligarch' tag with rags-to-riches story

Article (news)

ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/news-special1/business/7/22/roberto-ongpin-072216.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Tycoon Roberto Ongpin</div></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA – Tycoon Roberto Ongpin shrugged off being tagged as an “oligarch” by President Rodrigo Duterte as he recounted his rise from a poor, unshod school boy to one of the country’s richest and most resilient businessmen.</p><p>Ongpin on Wednesday <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/10/16/struck-by-lightning-ongpin-to-sell-philweb-stake" target="_blank">offered to sell</a> his 53.76-percent stake in gaming café operator PhilWeb Corp. to give the company a better shot at securing a new operating license from regulators.</p><p>“Define an oligarch for me. If it means I have money, I do have money but I made it all honestly. I worked hard for it,” Ongpin told shareholders after the company announced it was suspending operations before midnight.</p><p>“But if the definition is something else, maybe I have a different answer,” he said.</p><div><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/08/04/16/throwback-who-is-roberto-ongpin-dutertes-oligarch-target" target="_blank">THROWBACK: Who is Roberto Ongpin? Duterte’s oligarch target</a></div><p>Ongpin said one of his “proudest possessions” was a third grade class picture, which showed how he was born poor, with his office clerk father struggling to feed seven children.</p><p>“I was barefoot. My family simply couldn’t afford to buy shoes,” Ongpin said. “I was born poor. I worked hard. I graduated from public school, I graduated valedictorian.”</p><p>Ongpin is the country&#x27;s 20th richest man with a net worth of $900 million according to Forbes Magazine with interests in mining and real estate.</p><p>He also served as trade minister under former president Ferdinand Marcos.</p><div><strong>STRUCK BY LIGHTNING</strong></div><p>Ongpin likened <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/03/16/duterte-singles-out-ongpin-in-anti-oligarchy-pitch" target="_blank">Duterte’s attack</a> to being struck by lightning. The 71-year-old leader, who portrays himself as an anti-establishment hero, said oligarchs must be “destroyed” because they make money off the sufferings of the poor.</p><p>“I don’t know what the intention was. I have no clue why it happened. I don’t know who fed him with all of the falsehoods, but he did make the statement and he is the President of the country,” he said.</p><p>On the night of August 3, when Duterte singled him out as an oligarch, Ongpin he had just come out of a meeting with the PhilWeb board, wherein they agreed to build a rehabilitation center to support the President’s war on drugs.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://www.balesin.com/fileadmin/user_upload/balesin/RVO_Updates/February_2015/5.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Sponsors Roberto Ongpin (left) and Sen. Grace Poe at the wedding of Sen. Francis Escudero and Heart Evangelista in Alphaland&#x27;s Balesin Island in February 15, 2015. <em>Photo courtesy of www.balesin.com</em></div></figcaption></figure></div><p>The facility will be built in Quezon province, near Balesin Island where Ongpin owns an exclusive beach club. The PhilWeb Board agreed to allocate P100 million a year for rehabilitation centers, he said.</p><p>“I have been very supportive of the president&#x27;s very serious drive against drug pushers, durg lords,” he said.</p><p>“I hope the PhilWeb board, if PhilWeb continues to exist, will continue this program,” he added.</p>

<p>Tycoon Roberto Ongpin shrugged off being tagged as an “oligarch” by President Rodrigo Duterte as he recounted his rise from a poor, unshod school boy to one of the country’s richest and most resilient businessmen.</p>

Tycoon Roberto Ongpin shrugged off being tagged as an “oligarch” by President Rodrigo Duterte as he recounted his rise from a poor, unshod school boy to one of the country’s richest and most resilient businessmen.