Category: News

The Cabinet Committee of the Investment Coordinating Council granted first-pass approval to the Carmen Water Supply Project in its meeting on April 29.

The P1.9-billion Carmen Water Supply Project proposes to supply an average of 50,000 cubic meters per day to the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) from Luyang River in Carmen, Cebu. A consortium of Ayala and Stateland, Inc. submitted the unsolicited Build-Own-Operate (BOO) proposal.

The Carmen project is expected to boost Cebu’s supply level by as much as 35 percent. Cebu currently receives about 275,000 cubic meters of water per day from MWCD and private deepwells.

Said MCWD chairman Ruben Almendras, “The Carmen project will increase MCWD’s water supply by 26 percent and address the underserved demand for water connections, which we receive at the rate of 1000 applications per month.”

Metro Cebu is expected to benefit most from the project. Experts familiar with Metro Cebu’s water situation observe that the Carmen project can stem the demand on Cebu’s battered aquifer, which provides 90 percent of the total water supply. The aquifer is overmined by an estimated 95,000 cubic meters per day, or more than a third of its current production, resulting in increased water salinity. At this rate, Cebu may experience dry taps in 10 years and irreversible ecological damage by 2025.

Almendras noted that after studying available options, the Carmen project was identified to have the shortest timetable in terms of delivery and most cost-effective means in developing sources of surface water. The project, if approved, is expected to be operational in 2007.

Analysts see the project as part of Ayala’s expansion in the water business. Ayala is the biggest shareholder of Manila Water Company (MWC) which is the current the concessionaire of the East Zone in Metro Manila. Since it won the concession a privatization bid in 1997, MWC has decreased systems loss from 68 percent prior to privatization to 51 percent in 2003. It also increased connections to 515,000 households. From only 26 percent in 1997, about 83 percent of its households now enjoy uninterrupted water flow 24 hours a day. In 2003, MWC’s net income rose to P1.2 billion due to improved billed volumes and cost efficiencies.

Ayala managing director Antonino T. Aquino said, “The additional supply addresses a very frequent complaint of Cebu’s business sector which is lack of water. It will enhance development of Cebu’s economy as the project reduces overmining by 50 percent and buys Metro Cebu time to develop other sources of water. In addition, having connections to MCWD will allow the less fortunate sector to save on water expenditure as they cut off dependence from ambulant vendors.”

Following the ICC’s first approval, the consortium of Ayala and Stateland, Inc will finalize its agreement with MCWD through a draft contract. MCWD will then conduct a public hearing and will subject the contract to a review by the ICC and the Presidential Legal Team. Once approved, the agreement will be subjected to a price challenge before the final award.

It’s a way of thinking encouraged throughout the Ayala Group: to be a truly successful business house, one must give back to the community that sustains it.

Guests at the recently concluded annual stockholders’ meetings were given a glimpse of this corporate citizenship. Globe Telecom Inc., the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) and Ayala Corporation held exhibits describing their various social development projects to enlighten the public about the social commitment of Ayala companies.

Building the nation for the future
This commitment is chiefly expressed through the Ayala Foundation, Inc. (AFI). Now on its 40th year, AFI continues to look for innovative ways to develop communities, the arts and culture, and the youth. AFI’s flagship programs such as the Center of Excellence in Elementary Education (Centex), the Solid Waste Management Campaign, Project Youth Tech, and neighborhood alliances in Cebu, Mindoro, and Laguindingan in Northern Mindanao have been making positive differences where needed. Moreover, the Ayala Museum and the Filipinas Heritage Library have both been cited for their role in preserving and nurturing pride in the country’s cultural heritage.

Ayala Corporation itself spearheads programs aimed at creating a lasting impact on Philippine society. The Ayala Young Leaders Congress this year held its fourth assembly of student leaders from all over the country with the purpose of encouraging them to be citizen leaders in their own communities. Ayala Corporation also led the group in supporting and sending thousands of volunteers to activities such as Habitat for Humanity’s World Leaders Build and the La Mesa Watershed Reforestation.

Company strengths
Ayala companies draw on their particular strengths to express their corporate social responsibility. Globe’s exhibit highlighted the Globe Telecom Academic Achievement Awards (GTAAA), now on its seventh year of recognizing excellence in electronics and communication engineering, electrical engineering, and high school math and science. Globe supports similar projects that harness the potential of the youth such as Centex, the book reading program Sa Aklat Sisikat, the Globe-Isla-CITE Technical Scholarship Program, and ConnectEd.ph, an initiative of the government and private sector to provide Internet laboratories for public high schools. Apart from these education and youth-oriented programs, Globe also provides medical assistance and relief operations in the Bicol region through its Disaster and Emergency Response Program.

BPI Foundation’s booth emphasized its role in encouraging the youth to pursue careers in science and engineering through the BPI Science Awards. More than 300 students from the country’s top universities have been recognized for various achievements in their field. BPI Foundation also provides scholarships to deserving students of science and engineering.

BPI Foundation is particularly proud of mobilizing employees to volunteer for its programs. In the past year, BPI employees have participated in Habitat for Humanity builds, medical missions in Pasay, Marikina, Quezon City, Cagayan de Oro, and Tanauan, Batangas, and relief assistance to victims of calamities. Employees themselves even organized exposure trips on solid waste management and environmental conservation for public school children.

Meanwhile, Ayala Land’s exhibit focused on programs that enrich its host communities. The country’s largest property developer is actively involved in river rehabilitation and water resources conservation in Calamba, Laguna, anti-flood measures in Makati, Pasay, and Paranaque, traffic management in Muntinlupa, Las Pinas, and Laguna, and dental and medical missions Metro Manila and Southern Luzon. It is also a benefactor of schools such as Putatan Elementary School in Muntinlupa and the Centex campuses in Tondo and Bauan, Batangas, as well as organizations for the differently abled like the Elsie Gaches Village and the Earthsavers’ Dream Ensemble.

Stockholders get involved
The corporate citizenship exhibits seemed successful in encouraging stockholders to get involved in the Ayala companies’ projects. While some had knowledge of these projects through brochures and features in the newspapers, others were pleasantly surprised to discover that the company they invested in are giving back something to society.

Observed Teresita Basilio, an ALI stockholder, “I’m glad you have projects such as day care centers, schools, reforestation, and the like. It’s good to know that Ayala Land is a very good corporate citizen.”

Some stockholders expressed interest in participating in the projects. Said retired captain Rogelio Rodillas, a Globe stockholder: “Maganda yung La Mesa Reforestation kasi grabe na ang pollution sa Maynila. Yung sa Habitat for Humanity okay din kasi kulang tayo sa mass housing. Kailangan mabigyan din ang mga mamamayan ng mga bahay. I’m willing to volunteer for these projects para makatulong ako sa mamamayan at para may legacy din ako ng pagtulong.”

They even suggested other projects that the companies could be involved in. Basilio says she would like to see ALI teach farmers to grow herbs and provide them seedlings for fruit trees and other alternative crops. BPI stockholder Engr. Alma Manalili, wanted to see more values-oriented programs for the youth and programs for street children.

As the Ayala Group embarks on another year of fulfilling its role as good corporate citizens, it may just find a supportive partner in the stockholders who put their trust on its companies.

Grosvenor Place, a joint development of Grosvenor, Asia Standard International and Ayala International, was awarded the 2004 MIPIM (The International Property Market) Award for Residential Developments at the 14th MIPIM Awards Ceremony on March 11 in Cannes, France.

The 29-storey Grosvenor Place in Repulse Bay, Hong Kong, was the first residential development in Asia to receive the MIPIM Award, often referred to as the “Oscar” of the international property industry. The MIPIM Awards recognizes the world’s most remarkable property developments in five categories: business centres, shopping centres, residential developments, refurbished office buildings, and hotel and tourism resorts.

An independent, international jury selected Grosvenor Place and 14 other finalists from among a hundred projects, a record number since the awards were created in 1990. Around 15,000 participants in the MIPIM fair then cast their votes and chose five winners and a special jury awardee.

Managing director of Ayala International Pte Ltd, Charles Cosgrove noted, “Grosvenor Place is the first Asian residential development ever to be awarded such recognition. The whole project speaks of the leadership and the commitment of the venture–Asia Standard, Grosvenor Group and Ayala International–to conceiving and completing a real estate product representing value and timeless quality.”

Lau Cheng Soon, Ayala International’s executive director overseeing Asia, further added, “The recognition affirms Ayala’s commitment to excellence and to quality performance benchmarked against international standards.”

Grosvenor Place bested Armada Housing in the Netherlands and the Arkadien Asperg in Germany in the category, Residential Developments. Designed by Paul Davis and Partners of London, Grosvenor Place is a development of Weststar Enterprises Limited, a joint venture of Grosvenor, Asia Standard International, and Ayala International.

Grosvenor is an international property group with operating companies in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Americas, Europe, the Australia Asia Pacific region. Asia Standard is involved in properties, hotel operations and restaurant chains in both Hong Kong and China. Ayala International is the regional investment arm of Ayala Corporation, a Philippine-based business house whose core industries are real estate, banking, and telecommunications.

Another Ayala development, Ayala Center’s Greenbelt 3, was also a finalist in the shopping centres category. It was the only Philippine entry to make it to the final round this year.

“The MIPIM Awards are the most prestigious distinctions in the property world. It is the ‘Oscars’ the property industry,” noted Werner Welter, former managing director of DB Real Estate Investment GmBH (Germany) and president of the jury of this year’s awards.

Globe Telecom and other members of the Ayala group of companies received a total of 11 Gold Quill and Anvil Awards in separate awarding ceremonies hosted by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC)/Philippines and the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP).

IABC/Philippines’ Gold Quill Awards and the PRSP’s Anvil Awards are two of the highest distinctions given to excellent business communication and public relations programs in the country.

IABC/Philippines bestowed five Gold Quill Awards of Excellence and three Gold Quill Awards of Merit to Ayala companies in recognition of communication initiatives in community relations, publication and publication design, audio-visual presentation, marketing communication, and electronic and interactive communication. These projects were recognized by their respective management teams as adjunct tools of successful businesses and were judged at par with international standards of quality.

Collaborative effort

Given the Gold Quill Awards of Excellence were Globe Telecom’s Globe Spectrum Magazine(Publication Design); the Ayala group of companies 2002 Unified Annual Reports (Publication and Publication Design); Ayala Foundation’s Text2Teach: A Bridgeit Project (Community Relations); and Ayala’s corporate video What Makes a Company Great? (Audio-Visual).

Globe Spectrum Magazine communicates industry issues and corporate news and developments to Globe’s external publics. It is a collaborative effort of Globe’s public relations division and lead design agency ArtOne Design, Inc. headed by Dopy Doplon.

The Ayala group of companies 2002 Unified Annual Reports focused on the concept of stakeholder trust. Using a single design template, the reports highlighted the conglomerate’s diverse business interests and shared business principles and values.

Ayala’s five-minute corporate video, developed together with K2interactive, Inc., reiterated the concept of responsible stakeholder relations with the tagline: “What makes a good company great? What makes a country great? The people who stand by it.”

Also given Gold Quill Awards of Merit were AFI’s Text2Teach (Marketing Communication, in tandem with EON, Inc.); Globe Telecom’s Icon: The Globe Employee Portal (Electronic and Interactive Communication); and BPI Foundation’s Steering Infanta Onto the Road to Progress (Community Relations).

Text2Teach is part of a global program designed to improve community life by using text messaging to download educational videos via satellite into classrooms.

Globe Telecom’s web-based employee portal Icon facilitates fast and effective communication among the company’s more than 4,000 employees in 80 corporate offices, business centers and technical offices in over 20 cities nationwide.

Meanwhile, BPI Foundation was awarded for its project, Steering Infanta Onto the Road to Progress.

Tradition of excellence

Ayala companies were also recognized at the PRSP’s 39th Anvil Awards for their tools of publications and institutional and corporate programs. The Zobel & Zen Calendar 2003, which featured select artworks of Jaime Zobel and released for Globe Telecom’s 75th anniversary, garnered the Anvil Award of Merit in Tools of Publication. Ayala’s 2002 Unified Annual Reports also received the Anvil Award of Excellence in the same category.

Meanwhile, Manila Water Company received an Anvil Award of Merit for Institutional and Corporate Programs for its entry, The Randy Diaz Incident: Crisis Communications at Work.

The 11 Gold Quill and Anvil Awards received by Globe Telecom and other members of the Ayala group of companies reflect the conglomerate’s high standards of quality in communications and public relations as in its business operations. This tradition of excellence helped make Ayala, over the course of its 170-year history, one of the largest and most respected business houses in the Philippines today.

For Reference:

Cynthia H. Evidente / Jones T. Campos
Globe Telecom
Tel 730 2629 / 730 2624

Ayala Triangle lit up with a vibrant fusion of art and music on March 23 for “Hindi Kita Malimot: The Filipino as Romantic,” a concert celebrating Ayala Foundation’s Funders’ Night and Ayala Corporation’s 170th anniversary.

Donors and supporters of Ayala Foundation as well as the public enjoyed an evening of Filipino and classical music interpreted by Cecile Licad, conductors Eugene Castillo, Ryan Cayabyab, and Arnel Feliciano, and the San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra.

During the performance, photographs of Ayala chairman Jaime Zobel were projected on the canopy of Tower One and Exchange Plaza, dramatically transforming its fountain area into a concert hall.

The concert was the highlight of AFI’s Funders’ Day, an annual celebration which recognizes those who have supported or partnered with the foundation’s various social development projects in the past year. The event was open to the public and was attended by an estimated number of 2,000 people.

Hosted by Ayala Corporation, Ayala Land, and the Bank of the Philippine Islands, the concert was also part of the yearlong celebration of Ayala’s 170th anniversary that honors the Filipino through a fusion of various arts and culture entertainment and social development projects. Featured artists performed the works of Piotr Tchaikovsky, Maurice Ravel, as well as the music of romantic Filipino composers including Constancio De Guzman, Mike Velarde, Jr., and national artists Ernani Cuenco and Levi Celerio. Cayabyab conducted the SMPO in a selection of great Filipino love songs which he himself orchestrated.

Fresh from her successful Paris debut, Licad performed Maurice Ravel’s Concerto in G Major together with the SMPO under the baton of Castillo. Castillo, a highly acclaimed Filipino-American conductor, was recently appointed principal conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.

Since 1961, the Ayala group of companies through the Ayala Foundation has taken an active role in helping improve the lives of the underprivileged through its various social development, education, arts and culture, information technology and youth development programs. These projects are carried out in partnership with individuals, companies and institutions that believe in the same dream of a better life for Filipinos.

“Ayala has long been aware of its corporate social responsibility,” noted Zobel. “Since its inception, Ayala Foundation has always striven to evolve and meet the changing needs of the times. Today, we continue to look for ways by which we can further nurture the soul of creativity of the Filipino.”

In Mandaluyong City, residents of # 81 Interior, Makaturing Street are working to transform the former quarry site into a shanty-less, self-sustaining community through a collaboration with the Ayala group of companies, Habitat for Humanity Philippines, the Makaturing Neighborhood Association, Inc. (MNAI), and the city government of Mandaluyong.

Launched on March 15 by Ayala Corporation executive managing director Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Habitat for Humanity International founder Millard Fuller, and Mandaluyong City Mayor Ben-Hur Abalos, the Integrated Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (KALAHI) ng Ayala is a tri-sectoral response to the government’s appeal to help eradicate poverty.

Explained Ayala Foundation president Victoria P. Garchitorena: “The Integrated KALAHI ng Ayala attempts to address poverty by providing an array of empowering services for target communities and thus unleash their potential for development.”

Synergy for impact

Inspired by the KALAHI ng Ayala pilot in Block 37, Addition Hills, Mandaluyong, the Integrated KALAHI ng Ayala is designed around the concept of creating synergy for impact. Participants are asked to select from among their existing corporate social responsibility projects and channel these into a common area to better address the needs of the community.

For Makaturing, Ayala companies put together their individual expertise and resources to give a complete development package. Manila Water Company (MWC) installed two fire hydrants in strategic spots in the community so that residents will be better equipped to respond quickly to fires. Globe Telecom donated a computer laboratory with free Internet access for one year and Ayala Foundation will provide computer training. Ayala Land also began a dental mission that will continue in the next two to three years.

Meanwhile, the Bank of the Philippine Islands, MWC, and Ayala Foundation developed a micro-lending program that will provide small livelihood loans to unemployed women and youth of Makaturing. Ayala Foundation will also work with MNAI to improve its solid waste management program and further reduce residual garbage in the area.

Moreover, BPI, Honda Cars Makati, Inc., and Globe will embark on creative fund-raising schemes to raise awareness and support for other community projects such as the renovation of the multi-purpose center and scholarship for Makaturing children. The Ayala Business Club-Metro Manila East, an organization of officers from Ayala companies in the locality, will also design a special project for Makaturing’s overseas Filipino workers and their families.

Model community

In addition, Habitat for Humanity will lead house construction and renovation, making the Integrated KALAHI ng Ayala a more potent instrument for addressing Makaturing’s basic needs. Habitat’s Adopt-a-Community Program will also complement Ayala Foundation’s efforts in training members of the neighborhood association to maintain the well-being of the community. MNAI and Makaturing residents have agreed to become active allies by contributing volunteer labor and helping manage the project in the long term.

“The Philippines is the anchor of our work in Asia,” noted Fuller. “Habitat ofr Humanity was started here in 1988 and it will build about 1,500 houses this year. And the most exciting thing about the Philippines is the involvement of young people in this country. Here you have the next generation coming along to make sure that the work not only continue but also expand dramatically in the future.”

The results of the Integrated KALAHI ng Ayala remain to be seen but partners are confident that residents of Makaturing will find a new sense of dignity as well as a new meaning to community life. Garchitorena hopes that the Makaturing model will inspire other companies to initiate similar programs in their communities.

“We believe that KALAHI offers an innovative possibility for corporations in search for a meaningful way to harness available resources for poverty alleviation. Through synergy, we can achieve a common vision of progress for all Filipinos,” said Garchitorena.

What’s in a business name? For the oldest Philippine business house, the name Ayala is as valuable as its reputation, to which it has given the utmost importance since its establishment in 1834.

What’s in a business symbol? In a yearlong celebration of its 170th anniversary, Ayala has refreshed its corporate logo as the symbol of its vision and fundamental values that have guided it over the years.

Chairman Don Jaime Zobel de Ayala, leading the celebration, recalls that Ayala began as a distillery business by two entrepreneurs when Manila was little more than a village.

“Age is no virtue in itself,” he notes. ‘What is significant is the way we have survived and prospered, and the meaning we have put into our corporate story.”

Through Ayala’s many milestones,including the decision to develop a major mixed-use community in a swampland in Makati in the 1960s, and the engagement in socio-political struggles that led to People Power uprisings in 1986 and 2001, runs a thread that weaves them all together, Don Jaime says.

“That thread is Ayala’s consistent adherence to a clear business philosophy and values,” he says. “Indeed, we have endured and prospered through the decades, not by flowing with the changing political and social tides but by standing firm on our value systems.”

In affirmation, Ayala president and chief executive officer Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, quotes the book Built to Last: “Visionary companies seek profits, but they are equally guided by a core ideology–core values and a sense of purpose beyond just making money.”

All of Ayala’s key executives cite these core values as responsible for Ayala’s reputation for superb management, outstanding products, and effective exercise of social responsibility, which have become part of its tradition and long history.

However, as Mr. Zobel points out,”these values are also what drive us in generating new ideas and continuing to innovate even as we continue our tradition of excellence in all the things we do.”

These values have won high recognition. In an annual survey of leading Philippine companies, readers of the Far Eastern Economic Review have included four Ayala companies, the highest number for a Philippine group: Ayala Corporation, Globe Telecom Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands, and Ayala Land.

They cited Ayala Corporation and Ayala Land for their long-term vision and financial soundness; Globe for the high quality of its services and products and for innovation in responding to customer needs; and Ayala Corporation and Globe as companies that others try to emulate.

Ayala decided to review its brand as a corporation in 2003, on the eve of its 170th year. It sought to find a symbol for its new brand promise and values, to renew, re-inspire and nurture them in Ayala’s people and all other stakeholders who share them.

Mr. Zobel cited a need to find a way to strengthen and nurture Ayala continually as an institutional brand name while enhancing complementation with the name brands of its subsidiaries and subsidiaries, which have grown powerful themselves.

The brand review involved all levels of the organization. The Zobels–Jaime, Jaime Augusto, Fernando, and other key executives put their ideas together in brainstorming sessions, and employees participated in focus group discussions. They looked into their history, analyzed the present and peered into the future. To help structure the brand review, they hired Hong Kong-based Enterprise IG.

Values and promise

The first step of the process was to define the Ayala “brand promise,” a statement that acts as a directional compass and inspires everything people say and do in Ayala. The essence of the culture was found in a phrase: “Pioneering the future.” Henceforth this will be the endorsement line in all forms of corporate communication.

The brand review process surveyed the array of corporate values that operated in Ayala, to find what lay at the core. The process ultimately led to a set of four: integrity, long-term vision, an empowering leadership, and commitment to national development.

Long-term vision runs through the center of the Ayala story, as Don Jaime observes, citing the company’s many firsts in the Philippines, ranging from its development of central business districts to electronic banking, to GSM wireless phone services.

His son, Jaime Augusto, adds, “Over the past 17 decades our CEOs had visions that they converted into reality by fostering entrepreneurship and the drive for excellence. They took the best paths present in order to reap the rewards of the future.”

Integrity for the company means doing the right thing, even when no one is looking, and being held accountable for all our actions. It results in solid partnerships based on trust.

Don Jaime explains the concept of leadership that empowers: “In the face of diverse issues in increasingly complex situations, our leaders can succeed only by empowering people at all levels to make decisions and to take action within the framework of the shared vision and the culture of innovation, responsibility and accountability.”

Commitment to national development is a major reason Ayala is universally admired. This value runs deep in the soul of the organization. Other foundations recognize the Ayala Foundation as one of the most deeply involved and most operationally active among them, with its far-reaching achievements in areas of education, youth development, integrated community development, environment, technology and its programs for culture and the arts.

Renewed rallying point

With focus on the brand promise and the core values, the brand review process resulted in a symbol that renews Ayala’s rallying point for its citizens.

Retained is the unique Ayala icon, a symbol of solid achievements, which was created by the late Fernando Zobel, Don Jaime’s late uncle, who was one of the most progressive Philippine artists during his time.

Added is a new word mark “Ayala” in a warm color tone representing vigor and eagerness to continue “pioneering the future.”

At the brand launch held for Ayala officers and employees, Don Jaime declared: “Today, the Ayala name and the Ayala icon have become one symbol for pioneering the future and the core values that we have consistently upheld: integrity, long-term vision, empowering leadership, and commitment to national development.”

The Ayala icon consists of a stylized pair of double-line As, interlocking at the center. These are actually a stylized A, the first letter of the company’s name, rendered four times in blue in free space. Within the blue color are four, straight white lines which suggest movement either pointing to or emanating from the core.

In the way a flag with carefully chosen colors and elements rallies together and inspires citizens, the Ayala brand serves as an emblem and an energizing call to nurture the core values and live up to the promise of pioneering the future.

Internal and external publics

While it is intended primarily for the people of Ayala, the refreshed brand readily elicits a similar response among the investors, partners and many others in the general public who share these core values. It reinforces the Ayala reputation as the company that attracts the best people and develops the finest professionals, and is the partner of choice for the best Philippine and international corporations.

The Ayala subsidiaries and affiliates, including Ayala Land, BPI, Globe, and AC Capital, which have their own varied subsidiaries and affiliates, remain as stand-alone strategic business units. “They are,” says Mr. Zobel, “Ayala’s core business pioneering the future with Ayala.”

For the brand promise of “pioneering the future,” Ayala has created a directional symbol, the “pioneering arrow” that it can use in some of its corporate and marketing communications materials. The arrow, derived from the Ayala icon, can instantly identify business profiles, annual reports, press statements, advertisements, and websites as collaterals belonging to Ayala. The arrows will serve as the frequent visual reminder of Ayala’s promise to pioneer the future.

“Refreshed branding after 170 years makes it a true milestone for Ayala citizens, for our corporate soul,” says Mr. Zobel.

“Except in legal documents, we will no longer use our legal entity name Ayala Corporation,” he says. “We will be simply known as Ayala.”

In a disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange, Ayala Corporation announced that its Board of Directors approved on January 20, 2004, the declaration of a 20 percent stock dividend to all stockholders of record as of April 16, 2004, payable on May 12, 2004.

For this purpose, the books of the corporation will be closed for the transfer of shares from April 13 to April 16, 2004, inclusive.

The above declaration will be submitted for the ratification of the stockholders in the corporation’s Annual Stockholders’ meeting on March 26, 2004 as required by law.

Ayala’s corporate video “What makes a good company great?” will be awarded as finalist of the International Award Competition for Film and Video of the New York Festivals on January 30.

A total of 662 entries from 29 countries competed in the Film and Video competition. The New York Festivals has honored excellence in creative communications worldwide for nearly 50 years.

The Ayala video, a five-minute audio-visual presentation shown to the company’s various stakeholders last year, is the only Philippine entry that reached the finals in the Industrial Productions-Public Relations-Corporate Image category.

Given challenging times for the Philippines in 2003, Ayala chose “Responsible Stakeholder Relations through Corporate Governance” as the theme of its five-minute audio visual presentation and articulated it through the tagline: “What makes a good company great? The people who stand by it.” It expanded the concept to reflect not just corporate stakeholder relations but also unity and stakeholder relations in Philippine society. The campaign was elevated to a national level: “What makes a country great? The people who stand by it?”.

As finalist, the Ayala video bests entries from France, Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore, Scotland, Canada, and Finland. Winning entries represent Germany, USA, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Australia.

Other finalists are entries from China, USA, South Africa, and Ethiopia.

Ayala Corporation led Philippine companies in management’s long-term vision for the ninth consecutive year in Far Eastern Economic Review’s Review 200 survey of Asia’s leading companies in 2003.

This confidence among senior management, business owners, and other business executives and professionals who responded to the survey was earned by Ayala’s strategic directions over the years. These included the growth of its subsidiary Globe Telecom, the sale of Pure Foods Corporation, and the industry leaderships of Ayala Land, Inc. and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI).

The 11th Review 200 survey asked FEER readers to rank 153 multinational corporations and between 29 and 40 local companies in 12 countries in five leadership categories: high-quality services and products, long-term management vision, innovative response to consumer needs, financial soundness, and a company that others try to emulate.

In the Philippines, strong consumer demand buoyed Jollibee Foods Corporation in the top spot for the sixth consecutive year and pushed San Miguel Corporation to second place. They were followed closely by Ayala Corporation in third place, Globe Telecom in fourth, and BPI in sixth.

Ayala also ranked second in financial soundness and third among companies that others try to emulate. In addition, BPI ranked first in financial soundness while Globe Telecom ranked third in high quality services and products, second most innovative in responding to customer needs, and fourth among companies that others try to emulate.

Ayala Land, Inc., a new entrant to the Review 200, was considered favorably by respondents and posted strong ratings in three categories. It earned the 7th spot among company leaders in the Philippines and was third in long-term vision and fifth in financial soundness.

“Besides Globe, Ayala Land also contributes to Ayala Corp.’s bottom line, as does Bank of the Philippine Islands, the only commercial bank in the top 10, noted FEER.

Year of Optimism

The Review 200 survey noted “a mood of optimism’s despite a year that plagued regional economies with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and conflict in Iraq. Close to the two-thirds of respondents believed that business would improve in 2004.

A similar attitude of optimism is also apparent in the Philippines with 49.3 percent of respondents believing that business prospects will be better next year and 30 percent saying that prospects will be much the same as 2003.