Roman Catholic Church a Major Player in Philippine Bourse Stock Exchange
The Catholic Church in the Philippines remains to be one of the biggest players in the country's stock exchange, led by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (R.C.A.M.), online news site Rappler reported.
As of Dec. 29 last year, the archdiocese parked $667.47 million (P30 billion) in listed firm Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) alone.
The R.C.A.M. holds an 8.35-percent share in the banking company, making it the fifth largest stockholder entitled to one seat in the board of directors.
"The Church used to have three seats before but its shares have been diluted," Rappler quoted an unnamed Church financial adviser as saying.
The R.C.A.M. also invested $926,445 (P41.64 million) in First Philippine Holdings Corp. Its basket of stocks include some from Concrete Aggregates Corp., Central Azucarera de Tarlac, Inc., Philex Petroleum Corp., ISM Communication Corp., and Philodrill Corp.
However, it has decided to pull out its money from oil and mining, according to the financial adviser, to be consistent with its position opposing large-scale mining. Its "negative list" also includes firms involved in gambling and child labor.
The R.C.A.M. used to be on the 16th spot of the top 100 stockholders of Philex Mining Corp., a sister company of Philex Petroleum. Rappler reported that it still had over three million shares in the mining firm as of Jan. 10, 2011, but by June of the same year it was no longer on the list.
The archdioceses and dioceses of Zamboanga, Jaro, Tugegarao, Nueva Segovia, Sorsogon, and Butuan also dabbled in the local bourse.
Among these, the archdiocese of Tuguegarao has the biggest amount of stock investments, with a total of $1.84 million (P82.54 million) bankrolled in conglomerates San Miguel Corp. and Ayala Corp.
San Miguel Corp. has three coal mines while Ayala Corp.'s AC Energy Holdings, Inc. is engaged in coal-fired projects.
Ecclesiastical goods, Rappler said, are not personal assets of bishops and archbishops but retired Tuguegarao Archbishop Diosdado Talamayan had stocks worth $7,801.80 (P350,660) with Phinma under his name.
He also owned common shares in the Ayala Corp. valued at P8 million, according to local news back in 2011.
Rappler wrote that financial statements would have been a "reliable gauge of how the dioceses are faring financially," but majority of them are not even registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to have a juridical entity.
The R.C.A.M., for one, submitted its last financial statement in 1985.