Family Background

Bim was born to Bernardita “Ditas” Aquino and Rolleo “Bong” Ignacio, who served as an Assemblyman of Oriental Mindoro, and went on to serve various stints as Undersecretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Ignacio has deep roots in Oriental Mindoro and grew up splitting his time between Calapan City and Metro Manila. An avid and competitive Jetski racer, he would practice in the beaches along Barangay Pachoca, which has since been converted and developed into Playa Ignacio Beach Resort.

Education

Bim graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Management at the De La Salle University in 1994. He also obtained a Diploma in Business Administration at the prestigious Georgetown University in Washington DC, United States of America in 2000. He was also certified as a Project Management Professional after completing a course at the Ateneo School for Continuing Education in 2009.

Success as an Entrepreneur

Bim founded RAICON Development Corporation in 1996, which grew at an impressive rate and has since completed over P4 billion worth of projects. Under Bim’s leadership, RAICON has successfully executed the following projects in a variety of sectors and provided jobs and income to thousands of employees:

Retail - built over 19,000 sqm of retail floor space for Puregold, a leading grocery and supermarket chain in the Philippines
Public Markets - designed and constructed modern public markets with a combined floor area of almost 23,000 sqm
Education - built 240 classrooms as part of the Department of Education's efforts to close the significant backlog in classroom demand
Disaster Risk Management & Mitigation - completed flood control and mitigation projects worth over Php 500 million
Road Infrastructure - constructed, repaired, and rehabilitated roads and bridges worth over Php 1 billion
Healthcare - constructed world-class private and public hospitals providing additional 1,250 beds and over 20,000 sqm in out-patient department facilities
Local Government - implemented over Php 800 million in social structures, including the Maritime Centers in Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo, and IT Center and a Legislative Building in Tarlac, and Multi-Purpose Buildings in Calapan City
Covid-19 Pandemic Response - built testing Centers and isolation facilities in Tarlac and Laguna, including the 25,000 sqm Mega Covid Isolation Facility Laguna for Region 4A

Previous Government Service

From 1998-2001, Bim served in the Provincial Legislative Board of Oriental Mindoro as an elected Provincial Board Member. He served as Chairman of the Urban Development Committee and Vice Chairman of the Public Works & Highways Committee.

From 2011-2016, he served as chief of staff of the Road Board Executive Director at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), leveraging his years of construction expertise to support the national government’s infrastructure investment objectives.

Awards

Bim has shown that through hard work, perseverance, and faith in God, he can excel in any field he chooses to pursue. As captain of the Philippine rowing team, they bagged the 1991 National Rowing Championship held at the Manila Boat Club. When he decided to pursue Jetski racing in 1996, he quickly rose to the top of the Philippine rankings and in just a year, became the National Champion.

In 1997, he was awarded the International Jet Sports Boating Association’s (IJSBA) Jetski Rider of the Year and was also the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s (PSA) Awardee for Jetski. This earned him the right to represent the Philippines in the Jetski World Finals held in Lake Havasu, Arizona, USA.

In 1998, Bim was awarded by the Province of Oriental Mindoro as one of the Ten Outstanding Oriental Mindoreños.

Personal Life

Bim is married to Ma. Angela “Angel” Escalona Ignacio, a finance and corporate governance expert who was appointed by the President Benigno Aquino III to serve in the National Government as a Commissioner with the rank of Undersecretary at the Governance Commission for Government-owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG), from 2011-2016. She was also appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 2023 as Director of PNOC Exploration Corporation under the Department of Energy.

Angel is currently Managing Director for Polestrom Consulting Inc., an infrastructure advisory firm specializing in Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and of Avisez Asia Inc., a corporate advisory firm. She also currently serves as Independent Director for Ayala REIT Fund Management Co., PH Resorts Group Holdings, Rizal Microbank, RCBC Leasing & Finance Corporation, RCBC Rental Corp., Glacier Megafridge and SureServe.

Together, they have two children - Javi and Kimi.