Economist and IBON Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa sounded the alarm on Saturday after Elon Musk became the world’s first US$ trillionaire and Enrique Razon Jr the Philippines’ first peso trillionaire, calling the milestone “a psychological marker of oligarchic rule.”
“The scale of concentration of wealth and political power is the worst it has ever been in the country’s history,” Africa said, warning that while the public is diverted by Senate leadership squabbles and the looming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, ruling-class domination remains entrenched.
Africa stressed that Razon’s fortune, pegged at ₱1.1 trillion, is equivalent to the combined net worth of over 10 million of the poorest families, covering more than 50 million Filipinos.
“The average minimum wage earner today needs to work 7,679 years, without spending or paying taxes, to accumulate that much,” he noted, adding that such wealth concentration perpetuates exclusion and poverty.
He underscored that billionaire and trillionaire fortunes are not merely the result of “sipag at tiyaga” but are built on the labor of hundreds of thousands of workers, the purchasing power of millions of consumers, and state-backed infrastructure, contracts, and regulatory concessions.
“Concentrated wealth begets concentrated power begets even more concentrated wealth,” Africa said.
Africa also pointed out that three of the country’s five richest oligarchs are behind NUP, NPC, and NP, the three biggest political parties, underscoring the nexus of wealth and political control.
“No one should really think that any change in presidency in the 2028 elections from choosing among traditional political ranks will change ruling class domination,” he warned.
Despite the grim picture, Africa argued that the existence of trillionaires proves that decent jobs, living wages, universal education and health, and social protection are possible for all.
“The ‘scarcity’ that mainstream economics textbooks always start off with should look sillier than ever,” he said. “The real obstacle is ruling class control of the wealth produced by society, and the relentless suppression of people struggling for really progressive politics and a really democratic economy.”# (ZIA LUNA)
