Public listed companies (PLCs) in the Philippines will soon have to report their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance to regulators, or explain why they have failed to do so. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) ‘comply-or-explain’ regulation will take effect by the end of the year, two years after the government body announced it would make sustainability reporting part of its recommendations for corporate governance. The first sustainability reports will be submitted in 2020. Rose Carmela Gonzalez-Austria, assistant director for corporate governance and finance at the SEC, said the commission recognises that the Philippines is lagging with regulations to improve corporate governance. Sustainability reporting is mandatory in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, while Singapore has a comply-or-explain policy in place. “Our intention is to promote greater transparency on ESG impacts and to provide an enabling regulation that would allow companies to appropriately communicate with their stakeholders,” she said.

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