AYALA GROUP EARNS TOP HONORS FOR CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Ayala Corporation and its listed companies, Ayala Land, Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands, and Globe Telecom, earned four of the five highest rankings of the 2007 Corporate Governance Scorecard Project conducted by the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD).

A total of 138 companies, or more than half of the 249 companies listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange, participated in the ICD study, which was for the first time undertaken jointly with the PSE, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Ateneo Law School, and supported by the Center for International Private Enterprise. The top five rankings, which also included PLDT, were announced at the PSE Awards Night held on January 8 at the InterContinental Manila.

ICD is a professional, non-government organization that conducts training and advocacy for corporate governance and citizenship. It has been at the forefront of promoting corporate governance reforms in the country and has developed a corporate governance scorecard, a tool that public corporations can use to rate and benchmark their corporate governance practices relative to global and regional standards.

The CG Scorecard Project is envisioned to provide empirical data on the state of corporate governance among Philippine companies, help publicly listed companies strengthen their governance structures, and assist the SEC in reviewing principles for possible adoption by publicly listed companies. The scorecard is used to evaluate practices in the areas of shareholder rights, equitable treatment of shareholders, role of stakeholders in governance, disclosure and transparency, and board responsibilities key governance principles established by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and used as basis for corporate governance practices globally.

Led by the parent company, Ayala group companies assessed their own governance practices using ICD's scorecard and submitted supporting documents including the latest annual report, manual of corporate governance, code of conduct, amended articles and by-laws, as well as information on stockholders' meeting, public ownership, board attendance, and ethical standards. Accomplished scorecards from all companies were validated and analyzed within or outside the SEC in coordination with ICD. Students from the Ateneo Law School also helped verify the survey results against publicly disclosed information.