When people abroad ask what "the Filipino community in Singapore" actually looks like, the easy answer is the one-line Lucky Plaza on a Sunday. The deeper answer is the list of names that have shaped how Filipinos work, perform, broadcast, pray, eat, and organise here over the last three decades.
Some are household names back home, doing big things from Singapore. Some are quieter, doing essential things you only notice when they stop. All of them, in their own way, are why the Filipino footprint in Singapore is bigger than the Lucky Plaza headline suggests.
Here are 12 names worth knowing in 2026.
1. Lea Salonga: the international star who keeps coming back
If Singapore had a soft-power chart for Filipino artists, Lea Salonga would sit at the top. The original Kim from Miss Saigon, the singing voice of Disney's Mulan and Jasmine, a Tony winner in her early 20s. She returned to the Esplanade in March 2026 with "Stage, Screen & Everything in Between," four sold-out shows running 20 to 22 March that pulled in everyone from balikbayan tourists to Singaporean musical-theatre fans. Her base is Manila. The Esplanade run is now an Easter habit. The accompanying string ensemble came from the Singapore Lyric Opera Chamber Orchestra, a small detail that says a lot about how local theatre has come to embrace her.
2. Rico Hizon: the Filipino voice of BBC Asia for 17 years
Federico "Rico" Hizon was the BBC World News anchor based out of the Singapore studio from 2002 to 2020. He hosted Newsday, Asia Business Report, and Asia Today during the channel's peak global-audience years. He was the first Filipino anchor at both CNBC and BBC, a quiet but real piece of representation that opened doors for Filipino journalists across the region. He returned to Manila in 2020 to anchor CNN Philippines and now serves as Senior Vice President for Corporate Relations at SM Investment Corp. His Singapore legacy stands. Every Filipino journalist in the region has a Rico Hizon story.
3. Lorraine Wong: Filipina-Chinese on Mediacorp Channel 8
Wong grew up in Manila in a Filipino-Chinese family. She earned a Most Popular Rising Star nomination at the 31st Star Awards in April 2026 for her role as Yada in the Channel 8 drama "Another Wok of Life." She is one of a small number of Filipina actresses in a leading role on Singapore mainstream Chinese-language television. Her arc on the show is the closest thing to a Filipina lead on Mediacorp in recent memory. For Filipino-Chinese kids in Singapore growing up between two language worlds, her presence on Channel 8 is the closest thing to seeing themselves on screen.
4. Ambassador Medardo G. Macaraig: at the centre of the SG-PH relationship
Macaraig has served as the Philippine Ambassador to Singapore through the 57-year diplomatic milestone in 2026. He led the inauguration of the new Chancery at 20 Nassim Road in 2024. He chairs the Philippines' ASEAN preparations for 2026 from a Singapore base. He hosts the embassy's Independence Day flag-raising every June. For the working Filipino in Singapore, the embassy he runs is the lifeline for passport renewals, OWWA membership, contract verification, and assistance when things go wrong. He has been one of the most visible Philippine ambassadors in the region since taking post.
5. Jose Isidro "Lito" Camacho: the highest-profile Filipino in Singapore finance
Camacho was Philippine Secretary of Finance under President Gloria Arroyo before joining Credit Suisse, where he became Vice Chairman and Managing Director for Asia Pacific from a Singapore base. After Credit Suisse, he moved into board and advisory roles across the region. He is one of the rare Filipino names recognised by Singapore's banking elite without needing a translator. His path is the template most Filipino bankers in Raffles Place have studied at some point. He sits on multiple corporate boards in both countries.
6. Rudi Ramin: Filipino tech founder in Singapore
Ramin moved from Manila to Singapore in 2009. He worked through Unilever, Mondelez, and Google before founding Grow, a Singapore-based tech startup. He is among the more visible Filipino tech founders in the SG ecosystem and was profiled by the Singapore Global Network for the country's expat founders series. His track shows what a Filipino tech career in Singapore looks like when it sticks: a corporate ladder, then a founder bet. For the wave of Filipinos arriving in Singapore on EPs to work in tech, Ramin is the proof point that the founder route is open.
7. Miel Prudencio Ma: senior executive artist at The Straits Times
If you read The Straits Times during a major political season, the visual storytelling on the front page was very often shaped by Miel. He has been the senior executive artist at The Straits Times for years, producing the editorial illustrations and infographics that anchor Singapore's national paper. He is a Filipino name credited daily inside one of the country's most important news institutions. His work sits in newsstands across the island every morning. He is also a working illustrator outside the paper and exhibits in regional shows.
8. Father Angel Luciano: chaplain of the Filipino Catholic community
For more than 20 years, Father Angel Luciano has served as the Filipino chaplain at the Church of St Michael in Singapore. He is also Spiritual Director of the Archdiocesan Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (ACMI). For thousands of Filipino Catholics who attend Tagalog mass, baptise their kids, marry, and grieve in Singapore, Father Angel is the steady presence. He is one of the most important Filipinos in the SG community, in a quiet way that does not show up in newspapers but holds families together in the moments that matter.
9. Cristy Vicentina: finance and community pillar
Vicentina worked at the Philippine National Bank for over 12 years and now manages PNB-Singapore. She also serves on the board of the Bayanihan Centre in Singapore, the community hub that the embassy partners with on welfare programmes and OFW events. She speaks at financial-literacy seminars in the Filipino community in Singapore and runs financial market analysis briefings for the diaspora. She bridges Philippine banking and Filipino civic life here. If you have attended a Filipino-community money talk in Singapore in the past decade, you have probably seen her on stage.
10. Babes Conde: Filipino theatre in Singapore
Conde holds double degrees in Piano and Music Education and founded Entablado Theatre Company in Singapore in 2012. Entablado puts up Tagalog and English plays for the Filipino community in Singapore, often performing at the Bayanihan Centre and at community festivals. For Filipino kids growing up here who want a stage in their own language, Entablado is the entry point. She is also a working musician and educator on the Singapore arts scene.
11. Ronald Celestial: the man behind PinoySG.com
Celestial built PinoySG.com in 2004, when the Singapore Filipino community needed a place to ask questions before Facebook groups existed. The forum and information hub now counts about 90,000 members. He is the original internet uncle for Filipinos arriving in Singapore, the founder who answered "where do I get a Singapore SIM card" before the WhatsApp era turned that question into a thousand chat groups. Newer Filipino-SG Facebook groups owe him a quiet thank-you for the early heavy lifting.
12. Ernesto "Jun" Flores: Mang Kiko's Lechon, the first Pinoy inihaw stall in Singapore
Flores opened Mang Kiko's Lechon in Singapore as the first dedicated Filipino inihaw food stall on the island. Lechon, inasal, sisig, all roasted over coals for the SG-Filipino lunch crowd. Mang Kiko's is the kind of small business that punches above its size: it gave thousands of Filipinos in Singapore their first taste of properly-roasted lechon outside Manila. The stall has rotated through locations over the years; the Facebook page is the place to check before you make the trip.
