Roberto Benedicto

Roberto Salas Benedicto (April 17, 1917 – May 15, 2000) was a Filipino lawyer, ambassador, diplomat, and banker historically most remembered as a crony of President Ferdinand Marcos. Benedicto owned Philippine Exchange Company, the Philippines Daily Express, Radio Philippines Network (RPN), Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC). Benedicto was the Philippines' ambassador to Japan from 1972 to 1978, and served as a member of the Cabinet Executive Committee from 1982 to 1986 to represent the political sector and Visayas.

At the prime of his career, Benedicto's business empire consisted of 85 corporations, 106 sugar farms, 14 haciendas, other agricultural lands, 17 radio stations, 16 television stations, two telecommunications networks, seven buildings, 10 vessels and five aircraft. He also owned 14 hectares of real estate in Bacolod City, 13.5 billion shares in Oriental Petroleum, and membership shares in golf and country clubs estimated at almost half a million US dollars. Overseas, he owned a sugar mill in Venezuela, a trading company in Madrid, bank deposits, mansions, and limousines in California. Marcos's executive secretary estimated that in 1983, Benedicto's net worth was $800 million.