ACCORDING TO Forbes Magazine, the richest Pinoy is Henry Sy Sr. With $5 billion, followed by Lucio Tan at $2.1 billion, John Gokongwei with $1.5 billion, Jaime Zobel de Ayala and Andrew Tan with $1.2 billion each. But in Biz News Asia, they’re not indicated as the top taxpayers of 2008 based on the BIR list. Four of the country’s 10 top taxpayers are on TV: Willie Revillame is no. 2 with P58.6 million. Piolo Pascual is no. 3 wigh P55.8 milion. Kris Aquino is no. 8 with P25.44 million and Michael Vi is no. 10 with P22.26 million. The no. 1 taxpayer is Manny Pacquiao, with P125 million in tax payments. Forbes Mag says he earned $40 million or P1.778 billion in 2008, a crisis year in business when the world went into recession. Among broadcast journalists, the two top taxpayers are the anchors of GMA-7’s “24 Oras”, Mike Enriquez (who paid P11.94 million) and Mel Tiangco (paid P8.9 million), making them the highest paid media people.
