‘Grateful for the trust’: Rene Almendras steps aside from FPH board race

Insider Spotlight

• Rene Almendras withdrew his FPH board nomination, saying he was grateful for the trust of the non-Lopez family minority shareholders who backed him.
• Almendras said other independent directors could effectively represent minority investors. 
• His exit leaves 17 nominees for just 15 board seats at FPH’s Sept. 25 stockholders’ meeting.

Former energy secretary Jose Rene Gregory D. Almendras withdrew his nomination to the First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) board, expressing gratitude to the minority shareholders who backed him while saying others were equally capable of representing their interests.

“I am honored and grateful that they chose and they trusted me,” Almendras told InsiderPH on Tuesday. 

Almendras was nominated by non-Lopez family minority shareholders seeking an independent voice to look after their interests on the board of FPH, the listed holding firm of energy giant First Gen Corp. and real estate developer Rockwell Land Corp. 

“I know there are other independent directors who can represent them and look out for their interests," he said. 

FPH is owned by listed Lopez Holdings, which in turn is controlled by Lopez Inc., where tycoon Ramon S. Ang is acquiring a critical minority stake as part of a resolution to a family dispute.

Jose Rene Gregory D. Almendras

Stepping aside

FPH separately disclosed that Almendras formally declined the nomination due to “personal circumstances at this time which will not allow him to give the role the attention and commitment it deserves.”

Almendras is sought after for his decades of experience across government, banking and some of the country’s biggest conglomerates. 

He served as energy secretary, Cabinet secretary and foreign affairs secretary during the Aquino administration and is currently an independent director of Emperador Inc. and a consultant to Ayala Corp.

He spent more than two decades with the Ayala Group, including senior roles at Ayala Land and Manila Water, after an earlier banking career that included Citibank and the Aboitiz Group’s City Savings Bank.

Board race stays crowded

Almendras’ withdrawal leaves 17 nominees competing for 15 board seats at FPH’s Sept. 25 stockholders’ meeting, keeping the contest tight even with one fewer candidate.

The other new nominees are Puno Law managing partner Roderico V. Puno, Romulo Law partner Lee Benjamin Z. Lerma, Rayomar president Jose Ramon R. Garcia and Dusit Thani Philippines vice chair and president Evelyn R. Singson.

They join returning nominees Federico R. Lopez, Benjamin R. Lopez, Francis Giles B. Puno, Richard B. Tantoco, Emmanuel Antonio P. Singson, Mercedes Lopez-Vargas, Miguel Ernesto L. Lopez, David O. Chua and Diana V. Pardo-Aguilar, along with independent nominees Stephen T. CuUnjieng, Jaime I. Ayala, Cirilo P. Noel and Cielito F. Habito.