MANILA, Philippines—Twelve Philippine companies scored high in corporate governance based on a regional benchmark by CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets.

Six of those companies landed in the top quartile, namely: Manila Water Co., Ayala Corp., Aboitiz Power, Energy Development Corp., Globe Telecom and Bank of the Philippine Islands, according to a research report by CLSA Philippines dated Sept. 29.

Three of these stocks had garnered high corporate governance scores compared to peers from other countries in the region, the report said.

Corporate governance refers to the long-term management and oversight of the company in accordance with the principles of responsibility and transparency.

Other Philippine companies also made it to the second quartile. These are Ayala Land Inc., International Container Terminal Services Inc., Manila Electric Co., Philex Mining Co., SM Prime Holdings Inc. and SM Investments Corp.

Out of these 12 stocks, CLSA has a “buy” or “outperform” recommendation for nine of them: Manila Water, Ayala Corp., Aboitiz Power, EDC, BPI, Ayala Land, ICTSI, SM Prime and SM Investments.

CLSA’s report on corporate governance analyzed corporate-specific measures on discipline, transparency, independence, accountability, responsibility and fairness.

Overall, CLSA sees improvements in the Philippines’ overall ranking in corporate governance.

An earlier report dated Sept. 6, a collaboration between CLSA and the Asian Corporate Governance Association, showed the Philippines scoring at the bottom of 11 Asian countries.

“While the Philippines admittedly did not perform well in this year’s [corporate governance] watch, this has to be taken in the context that this survey was conducted during the Arroyo administration,” the report said.

It said it was hoping that the government could speedily enact the kind of changes needed to improve in time for its next survey.

“With the Aquino government taking good governance as one of its major thrusts during the campaign and even in President Aquino’s inaugural speech, we see a strong possibility of the Philippines’ corporate governance scores improving in the next CG Watch,” the report said.