I am off to the Philippines today to be involved in a workshop to launch our Asian Sustainability Rating (ASR) there. There has already been a lot of local publicity about our new tool with Philippine companies, Petron Corp. and Ayala Land Inc., making it to the top 30 in the 2009 assessment. The Asian Sustainability Rating is anchored on CSR Asia’s proprietary research. Based on sustainability disclosure, it ranks about 200 largest listed companies in 10 key markets operating across Asia-Pacific. The covered countries are Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Petron Corp., which ranked 26th, was the highest-scoring Philippine company, with a score of 70.6 percent. Ayala Land Inc. ranked 29th, receiving a mark of 65.7 percent. Other Filipino firms that made it to the top 100 are Manila Electric Co., ranking 72nd with a score of 45.1 percent; San Miguel Corp., ranked 77th with 44.1 percent; Ayala Corporation, ranked 85th with a score of 41.2 percent; Energy Development Corp. ranked 91st and scoring 39.2 percent, followed closely by SM Investment Corp. at 95th with 38.2 percent and by Globe Telecom at 97th with 37.3 percent.