The last four slots of my Power 100, the Most Powerful and Influential Filipinos, are occupied by four iconic figures – No. 97, Lino Cayetano; No. 98, Olivia Rodrigo; No. 99, Manny Pacquiao and No. 100, Carlos Yulo.
Lino Cayetano
Direk Lino, 46, has a compelling story. He donated a third of his liver to his dad, the Compan?ero and former senator Rene Cayetano, who imbued in his children a strong sense of public service.
Yet, after two months, Rene died, on June 25, 2003, at age 68. Liver transplants are often rare and delicate.
To honor his dad, he ran for mayor of Taguig and won, 2019-222, succeeding his sister-in-law, Lani, rendering to the people a service of caring, compassion and clean governance. Lani wants her old post as mayor back and Lino has to settle for a congressional slot in Taguig’s first district.
But Lino is not backed by his elder siblings, Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, 54, and Pia Cayetano, 58, nor by his sister-in-law, Mayor Lani, wife of Alan.
Olivia Rodrigo
Olivia Rodrigo, 21, is a US-born Filipino-American singer, composer, actress and music prodigy. Despite being born half-deaf in her left ear, she has mesmerized America and the world with her talent and versatility.
She first composed songs and sang at five (winning many competitions), learned the piano at seven and wrote songs, acted and played the guitar at 12. At 13, she became a Disney star in two TV shows that ran for four years.
In 2021, Olivia became world famous, with her first single, “Driver’s License” and followed it up with multiple hits, performances and awards.
She is the voice of her generation, Generation Z’s finest artist, the next Taylor Swift.
Wikipedia says Rodrigo’s voice type is soprano. Media consider her as a pop artist, with songs ranging from pop rock, teen pop and indie pop styles, as well as to 1990s alternative rock.
Music journalist Laura Snapes sees Rodrigo as a “flag-bearer” for a new wave of songwriters who incline towards power ballads “that are as emotional as ever, but project that emotion inward, trading bombast for hush” and describes her musical style “as rooted in heartache, mental health and sadness, without being melodramatic, expressing more realistic perspectives than resilient.”
Per Billboard, Rodrigo closed 2021 as the bestselling singles artist worldwide, with eight songs in the yearend Global 200 chart, including “Drivers License” at No. 4, “Good 4 U,” No. 9 and “Deja Vu,” No. 27. “Sour” and “Drivers License,” respectively, were Spotify’s most streamed album and song globally. “Sour” album debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart and spent five weeks as No. 1, becoming the longest-reigning No. 1 album by a female artist in 2021.
Her brand is playful, edgy, sweet and charismatic, with her signature lavender and purple color scheme. She is worth $16 million and growing, as her albums, merchandise, films, concerts, social media and endorsements take off breathlessly.
On Aug. 16, 2023, Rodrigo became the youngest artist to receive the BRIT Billion Award for achieving over one billion digital streams in the United Kingdom.
Manny Pacquiao
Pacman, 45, is probably the most famous Filipino today, being one of the world’s greatest boxers and the greatest Filipino boxer of all time. His record: 35-6-2.
He should be world boxing’s No. 1 greatest, and not the wily Floyd Mayweather. Experts rank PacMan only No. 2. The PacMan-Mayweather of 2015 generated $600 million and remains one of the best fights of all time.
Manny is the eight-division world champion with a fighting style that is courageous and marvelous – all-attack, high-speed, blows thrown at all angles, a strategy that vanquished boxing greats like Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Oscar dela Hoya, Miguel Cotto, men bigger, more powerful and more legendary, and taught fear in Mayweather.
If only Manny could put boxing’s discipline of hard work into his politics, he would be a cinch for higher offices.
Pacquiao entered politics in 2010 when he was elected as the representative of Sarangani. He held this post for six years until he was elected and assumed office as a senator in 2016. He ran for president in May 2022. He lost.
Caloy Yulo
Yulo, 24, could become the greatest Filipino athlete.
The Manila native sports great has brought pride, honor and glory to a nation of 116 million Filipinos who, with Carina, had just suffered in July, one of the greatest floods in the Philippines of all time and have had to endure the punishing ravages of record high inflation in 14 years and record high interest rates in four years.
Carlos bagged the gymnastics gold medal for the vault finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday evening (Aug. 4, 2024), on top of an equally historic gold medal victory in men’s floor exercise on Saturday (Aug. 3, 2024).
Yulo is the only Filipino two-time Olympic champion, a six-time world champion (two golds, two silvers and two bronzes); a ten-time Asian champion and a nine-time Southeast Asian Games champion.
BizNewsAsia anniversary party
My book, “Great Lives, Great Deeds” and the “Power100” BizNewsAsia Special Issue will be launched on Nov. 25, 2024 during a gala dinner at Fairmont Makati. My previous “Power100” issues were all sold out.
The event marks three milestones: 1) the awarding of BizNewsAsia trophies to outstanding individuals for their Visionary Strategic Management and for Management Excellence; 2) the 23rd anniversary of BizNewsAsia and 3) the launching of my book, “Great Lives, Great Deeds” and the BizNewsAsia Power100 issue.
Prominent individuals in government and business have confirmed their attendance, including a third of President Marcos’ Cabinet, a dozen of the biggest tycoons and taipans, as well as Congress members and topnotch professionals.
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Email: biznewsasia@gmail.com