Page 26 - Forbes - Asia (December 2019 - January 2020)

Angel Locsin (middle) during a visit to Marawi
ANGEL LOCSIN, 34
Actress
PHILIPPINES
After earthquakes hit Mindanao
island in October, Locsin donated
1 million pesos ($19,000) and
distributed truckloads of relief
supplies to affected residents.
Locsin, whose mother was
adopted by a family from the
island, has long helped the
region, which has been riven
by sectarian strife for decades.
During the 2017 battle between
the Philippine army and Islamist
rebels in Marawi, she joined the
Rural Missionaries of the Philip- in 2009, Typhoon Habagat in
pines, donating and distributing
food packets and school supplies
to tens of thousands of displaced
victims. “These are urgent times
when we have to act as fast as
we can to save lives and rebuild
communities, and we don’t even
have to think why,” she says.
Locsin is best known for
playing superhero Darna in a
2005 TV series and for her role
in 2012’s One More Try, which
24 | FORBES ASIA DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2020
earned her “best actress” in Wu Yuangang
the 2013 Film Academy of the
Philippines Awards. In 2017,
she once blogged: “You don’t
need to wear a costume to be
a superhero.”
Over the past decade, Locsin
has donated as much as 15
million pesos to causes such as
educational scholarships for stu-
dents, supporting the economic
and political rights of indigenous
people, and ending violence
against women and children.
Her donations have also
helped roughly 500 families hit
by some of the country’s largest
disasters: Tropical Storm Ondoy
in their hometown of Shanwei,
2012 and Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, in Guangdong province. One of
one of the deadliest storms on WU YUANXI, 61 the schools, which opened in
record, leaving 6,300 dead. Chairman, Green City Group September, dates back to a
Locsin has also inspired many
of her millions of social media fol- WU YUANGANG Chinese classics academy from
the 18th century. Elder brother
lowers to give back. “It’s like tak- Chairman, Hanking Group Yuanxi previously helped build
ing little steps towards substan- CHINA seven other schools in the city,
tive, holistic change for the future and in 2008 established the
of the next generations,” she The Wu brothers, both property Wu Yuanxi Charity Foundation, JEFF CANOY/ABS-CBN NEWS
says. “The only motivation we tycoons, gave $49 million in which has supported over 1,000
need is being part of humanity.” June 2018 to build new campus- poor students pursuing college
—Sunshine Lichauco de Leon es for two existing high schools education. —Jane Ho