Globe Telecom tops anew in corporate governance in ASEAN

Globe Telecom showed once again why it is one of the top organizations in the Philippines after it was named among the 6 top-performing publicly-listed companies (PLCs) in the country under the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) 2018. 

Marisalve Ciocson-Co, Globe Senior Vice-President for Law and Compliance, Chief Compliance Officer, and Assistant Corporate Secretary, received the award for the company at the recent ACGS recognition ceremony, which celebrates PLCs that have put in significant effort to promote and sustain good governance within their respective organizations.

“We have done several corporate policy and practical improvements to uphold high standards of corporate governance, particularly in promoting accountability, transparency, and integrity in all aspects of the business. This recognition serves as a testament to our commitment to go beyond mere compliance when it comes to protecting the rights of all stakeholders, from our customers to our investors,” said Ciocson-Co.

ACGS is an instrument for assessing and ranking publicly-listed companies in six participating ASEAN countries, namely: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) is the appointed domestic ranking body for the Philippines. ICD assessed 247 publicly-listed Philippines companies. Of these, the average score was 62.3 points, and only 48 companies scored at least 80 points. 

For ACGS 2018, eight Ayala companies were recognized by the ICD to be among the top performing PLCs overall in the domestic assessment. Two of which ranked among the six top-performing PLCs. Alongside Globe was Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) in the top 6. Ayala Corporation (AC), Manila Water Company, Inc. (MWC), Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Cebu Holdings, Incorporated (CHI), Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corporation (CPV), and Integrated Micro-Electronics, Inc. (IMI) were also recognized

Starting this year, the trophy indicates the level of the PLC’s compliance with the ASEAN Corporate Governance principles by arrows. Globe received a trophy with four arrows as part of the top 6 Philippine PLCs at the recognition ceremony. ICD said the top six PLCs obtained a score ranging from 110 points to 119 points. The possible maximum score in the ACGS is 130 points.

As a top performer, Globe was also among the top five Philippine PLCs by sector in the ACGS 2018 domestic assessment, bagging the top score among PLCs in the Services sector. Other Ayala companies were also recognized among the top five Philippine PLCs by sector. These were Ayala Corporation (holding firm), BPI (financial), Manila Water (industrial), as well as ALI, CHI and CPV (property).

ACGS was developed in 2011 by the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF), in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The inaugural awarding ceremony was in 2015. ACGS is aligned with the corporate governance principles by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Companies are assessed on the scorecard’s key parts: rights of shareholders, equitable treatment of shareholders, role of stakeholders, disclosure and transparency, as well as board responsibilities.

Globe has been consistently recognized as one of the top PLCs in the Philippines in terms of corporate governance since the 2015 ACGS run. ACGS compliance is spearheaded by Ciocson-Co, the Globe Corporate and Legal Services Group in collaboration with the Sustainability, Audit, Risk Management, Investor Relations, and other teams. 

Components of the ACGS is annually published in the Integrated Report of Globe Telecom, which includes the company’s financial, environmental, social, and governance performance during that year. This is in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative, International Integrated Reporting Council’s Integrated Framework, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, ACGS principles, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Integrated Annual Corporate Governance Report (i-ACGR).