CHI earns global recognition prior to company dissolution

CEBU, Philippines —  Cebu Holdings Inc., (CHI) was named winner of a Gold Stevie® Award in the Company History Publication (Up to 50 Years) category in the 18th Annual International Business Awards® for its coffee table book, “Cebu Rising: 30 Years of Cebu Holdings, Inc.”

This global recognition came before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) still has to approve in its application to dissolve the company through a merger with its mother company Ayala Land Inc. (ALI).

“Cebu Rising: 30 Years of Cebu Holdings, Inc.” chronicles the 30-year history of CHI as it changed an old golf course and a disused airport into dynamic and sustainable centers of growth in the Philippines’ second largest metropolis.

CHI’s vision in creating Cebu Business Park and Cebu IT Park was to help realize the potential of Cebu as an economic powerhouse and global investment hub. The company was a catalyst in setting up Cebu as an investment gateway south of Metro Manila.

Today, its developments and host some of the biggest global business and IT brands, generates billions in investments, provides over 100,000 jobs and fuels thousands of ancillary services.

The book traces the company’s three decades – gathering pieces of history from various archives, interviews from stakeholders, and anecdotes of how the city has evolved, yet maintained its character of being uniquely Cebuano. 

CHI is a subsidiary of Ayala Land, the Philippines’ leading developer of sustainable estates, offering a diverse mix of properties such as residential, retail, office, hotels, and leisure developments, that support local economic growth and nation-building.

The International Business Awards are the world’s premier business awards program. All individuals and organizations worldwide – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small - are eligible to submit nominations. The 2021 IBAs received entries from organizations in 63 nations and territories.

As the ongoing COVID-19 crisis will prevent winners from receiving their awards on stage during a traditional gala IBA banquet, winners will be celebrated instead during a virtual ceremony on Wednesday, 8 December.

More than 3,700 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories, including Company of the Year, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Startup of the Year, Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year, and Executive of the Year, among others.  This year’s competition also featured a number of categories to recognize organizations’ and individuals’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ayala Land companies dominated this year’s IBAs with a total of 36 wins, including those for parent Ayala Land, CHI, Ayala Malls, Makati Development Corporation, AREIT Inc., Ayala Land Offices, Ayala Land Estates, Amaia, Ten Knots and Seda Hotels. Ayala Land was also announced as the winner of a Grand Stevie Award for Organization Of The Year.

Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 260 executives worldwide who participated in the judging process from June through early August.

“What we’ve seen in this year’s IBA nominations is that organizations around the world, in every sector, have continued to innovate and succeed, despite the setbacks, obstacles and tragedies of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said Stevie Awards president Maggie Gallagher.