Strengthening Governance

 

 

We are committed to the highest standards of corporate governance and support the principles of openness, integrity and accountability

 
 
 
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 Del Monte Pacific Board of Directors Rolando C Gapud, Benedict Kwek Gim Song, Godfrey E Scotchbrook, Yvonne Goh, Joselito D Campos, Jr, Edgardo M Cruz, Jr, Emil Q Javier with Del Monte Foods Directors, Luis F Alejandro, and Jeanette Naughton

Del Monte Pacific Limited (DMPL) has a strong corporate governance structure which ensures that Management is accountable to the shareholders and stakeholders and operates in an ethical and responsible manner. Our Board of Directors directs the long-term strategy of the Group, evaluates the performance of Management, reviews material issues and provides guidance on matters relating to governance.

We were honoured to receive the Best Managed Board (Gold) Award from the Singapore Corporate Awards twice.

With respect to ethics and integrity, the DMPL Group supports the principles advocated by the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited, the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc and the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines (SEC).

For more information regarding our governance principles, please refer to our FY2020 Annual Report and website at www.delmontepacific.com/corporate-governance.

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Governance 1

Preferred share listing in the PSE led by Director Edgardo M Cruz Jr and COO Luis F Alejandro

 

Ethics and Integrity

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Ethics is the new competitive environment.”

Peter Robinson, CEO

1. The Board of Directors and Management are committed to align the Group’s      governance framework with the recommendations of the revised 2018                Code of Corporate Governance issued by the Monetary Authority of                      Singapore, the Singapore Governance and Transparency Index, the ASEAN          Corporate Governance Scorecard and the SEC’s Philippine Code of                        Corporate Governance for Publicly Listed Companies.

2. A team evaluates and manages Risks, and both Compliance and Risk issues        are reported to the Board of Directors.

3. DMPL implements a Securities Dealings Policy, prohibiting certain                          designated persons within the Group to deal in the Company’s securities            while in possession of unpublished material or price-sensitive information          or to provide such information to others.

4. The Group also implements a Whistleblower Policy that aims to deter and           uncover any corrupt and unethical act detrimental to its interests that may         be committed by officers and employees as well as third parties or any                 other persons such as suppliers and contractors.

5. Del Monte Foods (DMFI) in the US has a whistleblower hotline, Lighthouse,          which may be used in all US locations and foreign subsidiaries. Lighthouse          offers web access, international numbers for our foreign locations,                        multilingual agents and is available 24/7.

6. DMFI aligns with the prescribed Anti-Corruption programme of the US                Department of Justice.

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Executive Chairman Rolando C Gapud receiving the Best Managed Board Award from then Singapore President Dr Tony Tan

7. DMFI periodically performs a third-party risk assessment and evaluates              controls and procedures for the Company’s highest risk third parties. Criteria      used for evaluating risk are:

    a. The country where third parties are based and the associated Corruption             Perception Index of that country;

    b. Whether transactions are material or not; and


    c. The nature of the business partner relationship.

8. Del Monte in the US has an Employee Code of Conduct and Supplier Code of      Conduct.

9. Del Monte Philippines, Inc (DMPI) has an Interested Person Transactions              policy and manual which prescribes the review and monitoring procedures        and approval requirements for any transaction of the Company and its                subsidiaries with any interested person such as a director, the Chief                      Executive Officer, any controlling shareholder or associates of these persons.

10. DMPI has a Code of Business Ethics which directors, management and all            employees abide by. All employees are required to provide information on          related party and conflict of interest, and such information is updated                  annually.

11. DMPI has a stringent policy against fraud and corruption. Supplementing            the Code of Business Ethics are the Employee Code of Conduct and                      Supplier Code of Conduct which help employees and suppliers navigate               several decisions and transactions they make and enter into every day.               Adherence to these codes helps employees and business partners to have         sustainable business relationships.

12. The Company performs internal audits to assess corporate, facility and                subsidiary processes and controls to ensure compliance with the foregoing        policies and to mitigate risk of breaches, fraud and both financial and                  reputational damage.

 
 
 
Governance 2

Data Protection, Privacy and Cybersecurity

1. DMPL also strengthens governance through data protection, privacy and             cybersecurity. The Group has adopted a Data Privacy Manual and                         organisational, physical and technological measures to ensure the protection     of personal data. Additionally, the Group conducts continuous training to           build its employees’ competency in the area of personal data privacy.

2. Recognising that IT assets are vital to support tactical business functions, the     Group is currently in the process of revising its existing Information Security       Policy to ensure that effective protection of information is communicated in       a clear and consistent manner.

3. The Group is likewise committed to protecting its confidential business data       and privacy of individuals. The same applies to cybersecurity laws and                 regulations which have also become increasingly more complex.

4. DMFI takes data security and privacy very seriously and employs workstation     encryption, blocks non-encrypted USB devices and utilizes multi-factor                 authentication on most applications.

5. To ensure data protection in an unsecured environment, more features have      been added to our endpoint protection, such as Endpoint Detection and              Response. The cybersecurity programme is also being aligned with                        ISO27001:2013.

6. DMFI programmes its firewall content protection to enhance the endpoint         protection capabilities and protect users from malicious websites or                     programmes.

7. DMFI implemented a work-from-home scheme for employees using a system     that allows web-enabled applications on personal computers, such as Okta         apps like Box, RingCentral and Outlook Web Access, as Company data can           never be stored on a personal computer. Technical support was also made         available to the employees for other network concerns.

8. To sustain the programme, DMPI has rolled out the cybersecurity awareness     and training initiative which was attended mostly by employees from the             Philippines. The feedback gathered from the sessions will be used to improve     the existing Information Security Policy which will be issued to the entire             organisation as soon as the balance work on the programme is completed.

9. The Company made significant progress in the roll-out of Advanced                      Persistent Threat protection for end point systems, Encryption and Data              Loss Protection systems to key end user devices and pilot departments,              respectively.

10. DMPI mitigates cybersecurity risks to address the vulnerabilities that were         identified during the Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing of           key Company websites.

11. The IT team ensures access to DMPI network for employees who work-                 from-home by regularly checking on internet access, networks, servers and        systems. Technical guidelines were also provided to employees regarding            syncing of emails via outlook, conducting virtual meetings and accessing              the SAP system.

12. Del Monte in the Philippines implements and rolls out policies that are                deployed and enforced in Data Loss Prevention. These policies are now at          the monitoring, notification and management phases. Regular management,      monitoring and periodic maintenance are also being done to the other                cybersecurity implementations on network access control, network                      segmentation, advanced persistent threat protection and encryption.

13. Ongoing audit and assessment, in collaboration with Group Internal Audit            through third-party consultants, are conducted to assess the effectiveness          of the design and implementation of network segmentation, advanced                persistent threat protection and data loss prevention and encryption.

 
 
 
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Directors visiting Modesto Plant in California with management

 

Privacy

1. DMFI has been holding a bi-annual Privacy Task Force to address privacy             concerns and review changes in privacy laws and compliance.

2. We have engaged a third party to audit our systems and mitigate risks                  relating to data privacy and cyberattacks.

3. An awareness initiative on Data Privacy was also started in the Company,           whose head was assigned as the official Data Privacy Officer to the Legal             Department.

4. A survey assessed the level of awareness of employees concerning data             privacy regulations. Of all the respondents handling private data, 51% are           familiar with the general idea of the regulations.