SharePHIL Summit 2014: A no-holds-barred summit?

On Tuesday, June 18, 2014, at the Dusit Hotel in Makati City, the Shareholders’ Association of the Philippines (SharePHIL) will hold the SharePHIL Summit 2014 with  the theme “The Philippines: Your Investment Destination.”

The summit will feature, as main speakers, Ambassador Asif Ahman of the United Kingdom, Christopher Cheong of the Securities Investors Association of Singapore (SIAS), Dr. Lilia de Lima of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and Manuel V. Pangilinan of PLDT.

The panelists who will react to the presentations and give their own views on the investment climate of the country include Cora de la Paz-Bernardo, who serves as in independent director of several listed companies, Messrs. Ed Chua of Shell Philippines, Ed Francisco of BDO Capital and Investment Corp., Joey Lim of Metro Pacific Investment Corp., Tony Lopez of BizNews Asia, and Bill Luz of the National Competitiveness Council.

The moderator for the panel session will be Peter Wallace of the Foreign Chambers of Commerce.

Mr. Pangilinan, more popularly known as MVP, will speak on how adopting minority shareholders’ protection as a corporate value can reap good rewards for listed companies.

Ambassador Ahman will speak on strategies to attract foreign direct investments to the Philippines and give his observations on the Philippines as an investment destination.

Mr. Cheong, a founding and senior member of SIAS, will speak on the success story of SIAS, particularly in terms of advocating investor-friendly reforms as a means of improving the investment environment of an economy.

Peza Director General De Lima will talk on the initiatives the government has been undertaking to encourage foreign and local investors and on how the operating model of Peza can work outside of Peza.

SharePHIL Summit 2014 is the first summit of SharePHIL.

SharePHIL’s co-presentor is the Management Association of the Philippines.

For those who do not yet know, SharePHIL was founded in 2012. Its mission is to be a major player in promoting domestic capital market development through advocacy, education and enlightenment of shareholders. Its vision is to be the leading institution and catalyst in the protection and promotion of shareholder rights, duties and responsibilities.

SharePHIL carefully chose the speakers, panelists and moderator. The one thing they have in common is that many of them, if not all, have something to say about how our investment climate is affecting investors, either local or foreign, on the ground. They are highly respected individuals and reputed to be frank in their views.

Significantly, when representatives of SharePHIL talked to the speakers, some of them asked if they could be frank in their views. We responded affirmatively as we have to truly confront the issues. Let’s stop sweeping things under the rug, so to speak. Despite the gains the country has been making, there are still issues being raised by investors, both local and foreign, about the investment climate of the country.  This, in fact, is supported by recently released international surveys that still rank the Philippines well below several of its Asean counterparts.

One of the speakers even said that he would not say anything during the summit that he would not say face-to-face to President Aquino in private.

So the question is: will the SharePHIL Summit 2014 truly be a no-holds-barred investment summit?

Well, you have to attend to find out the answer for yourself.

For those who are interested to attend the summit, you may want to check the details by accessing the SharePHIL website at www.sharephil.org.

(The author is a senior partner of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (Accralaw). The views expressed in this column are strictly his and should not be attributed in any way to Accralaw.)