The Bitanga Family

The Bitanga family, led by businessman Benjamin and his wife Marilyn, are the ultimate owners of news website Rappler.com through their holding company Menlo Capital Corporation, which owns a conglomerate of companies mainly involved in mining, renewable energy, telecommunications and security solutions,

Menlo Capital Corporation owns 99.95% of Dolphin Fire Group Inc., the majority shareholder with a 31.20% stake in Rappler Holdings Corporation. Rappler Holdings Corporation is the parent company of Rappler, Inc. which operates the news website.

Although Benjamin’s name does not appear among the officers and shareholders of Menlo Capital Corporation, his wife Marilyn is part of the board of directors and holds the biggest share with 51%. Their son Miguel Marco serves as executive vice president. Meanwhile, 49.02% of the company is being held by their six children -- Miguel Marco, James Christian, Mary, Kristine, Paulo Benjamin and Nicole Katrina, who each have 8.17% shares.

The current list of owners of Menlo Capital Corporation is far different compared to 2016 when its shareholders were Lucio K. Tan Jr. (died in November 2019) with 49.99% stake, its chairman and president Bernard B. Rabanzo with 34.98%, the company treasurer Melanie Villanueva with 9.96%, and the Spaniard Javier Carlos Montes with 5.06%.

Based on available documents, Benjamin was named in 2015 and 2016 as the beneficial owner of 51.54% of shares being held by Menlo Capital Corporation in its subsidiary holdings MRC Allied, Inc., which handles the conglomerate’s mining, renewable energy and property development interests. In September 2010, he resigned as chairman and president of MRC Allied, Inc .

As of 2023, Rabanzo, a director in MRC Allied, Inc., is named as the beneficial owner of the MRC shares being held by Menlo Capital Corporation as its chairman/president.

In January 2018, Benjamin, with then-Rappler, Inc. chief executive officer (CEO)/president Maria Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr., was subpoenaed by the National Bureau of Investigation as “chairman/owner/publisher” of Rappler.com in relation to the cyber libel complaint filed by businessman Wilfredo Keng due to an article falsely linking him to illegal activities. However, Rappler denied that Benjamin was its owner, and clarified he was only an incorporator of the Dolphin Fire Group.

In 1994, Benjamin founded MRC Allied, Inc. and helped it grow from a rubber processing company into a major player in the real estate industry. He also served as chairman/president of Asian Appraisal Company Inc. from 1990 to 2005, and founder/president of Macroasia Corporation from 1993 until 1995, when he sold it to the group of businessman Lucio C. Tan Sr.

Among the latest ventures of the Bitanga family, in partnership with Lucio Jr. and mining executive Salvador “Buddy” Zamora II, is the acquisition by Menlo Capital Corporation in August 2017 of 37.33% of the telecommunications company Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (PT&T). Benjamin briefly served as president and CEO of PT&T from August 2017 to March 2018.

PT&T was one of the country’s leading landline providers until its rapid decline in the early 2000s due to various factors including mounting debts. It is now trying to recover by expanding its portfolio to get a slice of the “fast-growing” information and communication technology industry.