The Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PH-EITI) ordered mining, oil, and gas firms to state their beneficial owners in the general information sheet they are required to file every year with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The SEC revised the GIC to include a beneficial ownership declaration form last July. This requires all registered stock and non-stock domestic corporations to declare their beneficial owners.
As defined by the SEC, beneficial owners are “the natural persons who ultimately own or control or exercise ultimate effective control over a corporation.”
This is approved as a policy measure to aid the anti-money laundering initiatives of the government, according to its mandate to promote transparency.
The policy is in line with efforts to prevent the use of anonymous shell companies to launder money and hide possible conflicts of interest.
The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines said the disclosure of beneficial owners continues to increase.
“It enhances confidence in our local companies, thereby helping improve the investment climate. More importantly, it can help prevent corruption and illicit financial flows, and can increase trust and accountability in the mining sector,” COMP executive director Ronald Recidoro was quoted in a Philippine Star report.
“Beneficial ownership disclosure in the country is an enormous task, but we appreciate its value in curbing illicit financial activities,” Finance assistant secretary Ma.Teresa Habitan added.
The changed GIS orders corporations to include beneficial owners and their information, including complete name, residential address, nationality, tax identification number, and percentage of ownership or voting rights in filling out a beneficial information declaration form.
