Largest weekly BizNewsAsia celebrates 15 years of business journalism leadership, cites tycoons and leaders for excellence

Despite the proliferation of such awards, those of BizNewsAsia remain much sought after.

Why? "Because I know the awardees at heart," explains Lopez. "I have covered business and politics for 46 years, I have known many of today's tycoons, taipans, and politicians and monitored their rise to the top."

Also, Lopez is a political writer. Very few senior journalists today straddle both business journalism and political journalism.

Lopez trained formally for journalism and business writing -- four years journalism at UST where he graduated magna cum laude, three semesters of MBA at Ateneo, and global journalism at the University of Stockholm.

He also has extensive magazine experience--25 years at Asiaweek (now defunct), which he helped make the No. 1 weekly newsmagazine in the Philippines during its prime, one year as group publisher of Graphic, and 15 years as publisher and editor of BizNewsAsia.

BizNewsAsia honored Ramos for 1) for saving Corazon Cojuangco Aquino from no less than seven coup attempts during her presidency, from February 1986 to June 30, 1992; 2) quickly restoring power to a nation besieged by 12 to 18-hour blackouts at the peak of the power crisis during his predecessor's time; and 3) for trying to unify the country by reaching out to all kinds of rebels -the military, the Muslim rebels, and the guerillas of the New People's Army of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Duterte credits him for jumpstarting his presidential candidacy.

Estrada was cited for making the government closer to the people and showing the best agriculture performance during his presidency, and for making Manila the most competitive city and the best for doing business in the Philippines in 2015.

As for Arroyo, BizNewsAsia honored her because, "by the end of her nine-year presidency, the second longest for a president, she had tripled per capita income, saved the economy from recession twice, and made it one of the world's most resilient and dynamic."

"Her dream was for the Philippines to march in cadence with the emerged and emerging nations of the world in terms of greater economic prosperity and better well-being for its people. She laid the foundation for that despite surmounting incredible unpopularity and intrigue from her political enemies.

"Bucking the most hostile constituency ever faced by a president, she increased tax revenue, almost wiped out the budget deficit (no other president before her could do that), and poured money into infrastructure to modernize the economy, stimulate business, and make the people upwardly mobile. She built three nautical highways connecting the archipelago from north to south."