I FIRST heard that term 'Lucky Sperm Club' uttered by First Pacific top executive Manuel V. Pangilinan in the early 1990s in pejorative reference to the Ayalas and other Spanish-descended business tycoons against whom his consortium was bidding for the purchase of what is now the Bonifacio Global City.

The term was popularized by the American billionaire investor Warren Buffett in a self-deprecating way to refer to individuals who like himself inherited wealth, power or social status by virtue of birth rather than their own effort or merit. The phrase is a criticism of inherited privilege, that certain people are born into advantageous situations simply because of their family background.