2022 ACGS Golden Arrow Awards

On the 20th of January 2023, the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) held the 2022 ACGS Golden Arrow Awards at Sheraton Manila Hotel to recognize the top-performing Publicly Listed Companies (PLCs) in the Philippines based on the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) 2021 results.

Present at the event is Dr. Carlos Jose Gatmaitan, Institute of Corporate Directors CEO who delivered welcoming remarks and reminded everyone to embed good corporate governance in our DNA. Followed by ICD Chairman Atty. Cesar Villanueva gave the opening message and congratulated the 85 awardees. To represent the SEC, Chairman Atty. Emilio B. Aquino spoke and expressed his delight at the remarkable increase in awardees. Also, present at the event to deliver his congratulatory message is PSE President and CEO Mr. Ramon Monzon.

The awards were presented to the 85 honorees by SEC Chairman Atty. Emilio B. Aquino, ICD Chairman Atty. Cesar L. Villanueva, ICD President Ms. Boots Garcia, and PSE President and CEO Ramon Monzon. Aside from recognizing the top-performing companies, the ACGS Golden Arrow Awards also recognized Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation as the Most-Improved Company which improved significantly by 36.93 points from the 2020 ACGS assessment.

The event was capped with a message and a toast from Dr. Jesus P. Estansilao, ICD Chairman Emeritus, who imparted three takeaways from the event: (1) that we have come a long way over many years; (2) Always remember that corporate governance is more than just compliance. We must go beyond where we are into a higher level of a performance-oriented corporate governance system; (3) Lastly, Mr. Estanislao reminded everyone how corporate governance is a long journey, it is about Philippine corporations and institutions becoming the ultimate development agents of the country. At the end of the day, the results that we deliver are not only for our shareholders or stakeholders but also for the country.

The regulatory practices towards better corporate governance were sparked by corporate disasters caused by poor governance in the 1980s up to the 1997 Asian financial crisis which served as a wake-up call to regulatory bodies and stock exchanges worldwide. The 1997 Asian financial crisis was arguably the single most devastating economic event in the last century where currencies across the region lost more than 50% of their value in many cases.

Factors such as high levels of debt, corrupt lending policies, non-market criteria for credit allocation, and distorted incentives for project selection and monitoring have been identified as causes of the crisis. However, the impact of the crisis would have not been severe if there was more confidence in corporate governance and financial transparency in these corporations. According to OECD, weaknesses in corporate governance were the major contributor to the 2008 global financial crisis. These events show the need to adopt good corporate governance practices. Hence, the development of the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS).

The ACGS was developed with the support of the Asian Development Bank, and the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum together with the CG experts from the 6 participating ASEAN members. It is a tool used to assess and rank the corporate governance performance of PLCs in six participating ASEAN countries; Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, and Thailand by using publicly available information such as the company’s disclosures on its website and the regulators’. It aims to raise the corporate governance standards and practices among ASEAN PLCs making it attractive to investors. Being at par with global standards, improving investor perception, more access to financing, strengthening stakeholder relationships, stimulating the private equity market, improving operational performance, enhancing sustainability, and encouraging foreign direct investments are the benefits that go along with corporate governance practices.

The categories of the ACGS are consistent with G20/OECD principles of corporate governance with a total maximum attainable point of 130. Refer to the table below for the categories and their corresponding weight.

In the regional assessment conducted the previous year, the top 100 Philippine PLCs according to market capitalization were among the companies assessed by the ICD’s ASEAN counterparts and scored 87.55 points. In the recent assessment, the performance of 260 Philippine PLCs scored an average of 73.80 points - a 7.53 points increase from the 2020 ACGS assessment. 85 companies, or 33% of the companies assessed scored at least 80 points. The financial sector comprised of banks and other financial institutions scored the highest with 85.23 points. Other sectors have also shown an increase in their average scores from the previous assessment.

It was observed that the strong points of the 260 Philippine PLCs are the following: the exercise of shareholders' right to actively participate in the ASM, financial disclosures, and the responsibilities of the board are clearly defined. However, Philippine PLCs should improve on developing and implementing policies related to other stakeholders.

During the regional assessment, it was observed that: (1) Philippine PLC’s strength is on Rights and Equitable Treatment of Shareholders. (2) The adoption of the Sustainability Report helped in the improvement of the scores of the Philippine PLCs. (3) Some Philippine PLCs got penalized for having IDs serving for more than 9 years and serving on more than 5 boards in PLCs. (4) It was also observed during the assessment that ASEAN DRBs got confused in our many documents for reporting. They found inconsistent statements. (5) Lastly, some information or documents are no longer available due to company website updates.

In as much as ICD aspires to represent itself as a governance champion, our aspirations will never be achieved without our partnerships with the SEC and other key stakeholders such as the PSE, BSP, Insurance Commission, GCG, and other key partners in this endeavor to be a key catalyst in the ASEAN region for higher standards in corporate governance. We are proud to be recipients of awards and have been recognized as Good Corporate Governance Champions by the SEC for consecutive years.

5 Golden Arrow

1. Ayala Land, Inc.

2. China Banking Corporation

3. Globe Telecom, Inc.

4 Golden Arrow

1. Aboitiz Power Corporation

2. Ayala Corporation

3. Bank of the Philippine Islands

4. BDO Unibank, Inc.

5. Belle Corporation

6. First Gen Corporation

7. Manila Water Company, Inc.

8. Philippine National Bank

9. Rizal Commercial Bank Corporation

10. SM Investments Corporation

11. SM Prime Holdings, Inc.

12. Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc.

3 Golden Arrow

1. 2GO Group, Inc.

2. Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc.

3. AC Energy Corporation

4. APC Group, Inc.

5. AyalaLand Logistics Holdings Corp.

6. Cebu Holdings, Inc.

7. First Philippine Holdings Corporation

8. GT Capital Holdings, Inc.

9. Integrated Micro-Electronics, Inc.

10. LT Group, Inc.

11. Manila Electric Company

12. Metro Pacific Investments Corporation

13. Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company

14. Philex Mining Corporation

15. PLDT Inc.

16. San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc.

17. Security Bank Corporation

18. Semirara Mining and Power Corporation

2 Golden Arrow

1. AREIT, Inc.

2. Cebu Air, Inc.

3. DMCI Holdings, Inc.

4. Eagle Cement Corporation

5. Far Eastern University, Incorporated

6. Megawide Construction Corporation

7. Nickel Asia Corporation

8. Petron Corporation

9. Philippine Seven Corporation

10. Phinma Corporation

11. Premium Leisure Corp.

12. PXP Energy Corporation

13. Roxas Holdings, Inc.

14. Union Bank of the Philippines

15. Universal Robina Corporation

16. Wilcon Depot, Inc.

1 Golden Arrow

1. A Brown Company, Inc.

2. ABS-CBN Corporation

3. AllHome Corp.

4. Alliance Select Foods International, Inc.

5. Asia United Bank Corporation

6. Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation

7. Axelum Resources Corp.

8. Benguet Corporation

9. Cemex Holdings Philippines, Inc.

10. Century Pacific Food, Inc.

11. Concepcion Industrial Corporation

12. Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions, Inc.

13. Cosco Capital, Inc.

14. Crown Asia Chemicals Corporation

15. D&L Industries, Inc.

16. Discovery World Corporation

17. Euro-Med Laboratories Phil., Inc.

18. Filinvest Development Corporation

19. Filinvest Land, Inc.

20. House of Investments, Inc.

21. International Container Terminal Services, Inc.

22. Jollibee Foods Corporation

23. Lopez Holdings Corporation

24. Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation

25. Megaworld Corporation

26. MerryMart Consumer Corp.

27. Philippine Bank of Communications

28. Philippine Business Bank

29. RFM Corporation

30. Robinsons Land Corporation

31. Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc.

32. SBS Philippines Corporation

33. STI Education Systems Holdings, Inc.

34. Vista Land & Lifescapes, Inc.

35. Vivant Corporation

36. Xurpas, Inc.

Most-Improved Company

● Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation

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