Top conglomerates bag awards for governance

SM, Ayala, Filinvest

MANILA, Philippines — Some of the country’s biggest conglomerates received recognition for their respective corporate governance programs and initiatives from the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD).

Ten companies of the Sy Group received ICD’s Golden Arrow Awards, with China Banking Corp., the banking arm of SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), leading the roster. China Bank bagged the highest five-arrow recognition for two years in a row.

SM Prime Holdings Inc., SMIC’s property business, also attained its second five-arrow award. Similarly, SMIC, BDO Unibank Inc. and Belle Corp. notched four-arrow awards.

Recipients of three-arrow recognition were 2GO Group Inc., and Belle’s subsidiaries, Pacific Online Systems Corp. (POSC) and Premium Leisure Corp.

The other awardees from the Sy Group were Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. and the APC Group Inc.

SMIC chairman of the board Amando Tetangco Jr. received the awards.

“This honor inspires us to continue advocating best practices in corporate governance in serving our stakeholders and communities,” Tetangco said.

The Golden Arrow Awards recognizes exemplary corporate governance performance based on the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) for publicly listed companies and Corporate Governance Scorecard (CGS) for insurance companies. A company may get one golden arrow up to five golden arrows depending on ACGS and CGS scores.

Ayala Corp.’s business units also received Golden Arrow awards.

Ayala Land and Globe received five-arrow recognition; ACEN and IMI received four golden arrows; Ayala Corp., Ayala Land Logistics Holdings Corp., and BPI received three-golden arrows; AREIT and ENEX received two golden arrows and one golden arrow, respectively.

In addition, BPI’s insurance companies were also recognized under the insurance companies category. BPI–AIA Life Assurance Corp. received three golden arrows and BPI/MS Insurance Corp. received one golden arrow.

“We thank the Institute of Corporate Directors for recognizing Ayala’s efforts in promoting a culture of good governance across the group,” said Solomon Hermosura, corporate governance group head.

Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) and its subsidiaries also received Golden Arrow Awards.

FDC received two-arrow awards, while property developer Filinvest Land Inc.; Filinvest REIT Corp. (FILRT), the real estate investment trust (REIT) of the Filinvest Group; and East West Banking Corp., the banking arm of the Filinvest Group, were honored with Golden Arrow awards each.

“The recognition earned by various units of the Filinvest Group at the ACGS Golden Arrow Awards is a testament to our unwavering and collective commitment to corporate governance excellence. We believe that transparency, accountability, and ethical conduct are fundamental to building trust with our stakeholders as we gear up for sustainable growth in the years to come,” said Chiqui Huang, FDC president and CEO.

ICD’s Golden Arrow recognition is awarded to publicly listed companies in the Philippines based on the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) assessment results.

Established in 1999, ICD has been a staunch advocate to establishing and promoting international standards of good corporate governance in the country alongside its regional counterparts.