PLDT, Ayala Group lead in corporate governance

MANILA, Philippines - Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and the Ayala Group led in the latest survey of the top listed companies implementing international standards of corporate governance, the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) revealed yesterday.

The survey, which covered a total of 169 publicly-listed firms, is a joint undertaking among the ICD,  the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange.

In the 2008 Corporate Governance Scorecard, the top 15 corporations had an average score of 94 percent while the next 15 had an average score of 90 percent.

Aside from PLDT, four out of the top five companies with the highest corporate governance scores among listed companies comprised the Ayala Group — holding firm Ayala Corp. and its subsidiaries Ayala Land, Bank of the Philippine Islands and Globe Telecom.

ICD chairman and former Finance Secretary Jesus Estanislao said the average score for listed companies covered by the survey was 72 percent, or seven

points higher than the 65 percent recorded in 2007 and a mere 54 percent in 2006.  The highest score achieved by an individual firm was 99 percent while the lowest was 33 percent.

Rounding out the top 15 companies that secured honors for corporate governance are (in alphabetical order) Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corp., Centro Escolar University, Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp., First Philippine Holdings Corp., Manila Water Co., Petron Corp. and Semirara Mining Corp.

The survey is based on five internationally recognized corporate governance principles namely, shareholder rights, shareholder equity, roles of stakeholders, disclosure and transparency and board responsibilities. 

Estanislao said the  survey is  consistent with best practices in East Asia and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), composed of 30 highly-industrialized countries committed to democracy and market economy.

He said the foundations for globally-competitive corporations are laid in the boardroom because governance policies help ensure that companies place the interests of their shareholders at the heart of their deliberations and decisions.

 “Through corporate governance policies, the owners of a corporation ensure that it pursues the mandate to protect the interests of the investing public.  Corporate boards are held accountable for successfully governing and providing direction to the corporation,” Estanislao said.

The first Corporate Governance scorecard was conducted in 2005, with only 49 firms participating.