BIZ BUZZ: Ayala taps Chua, Purisima for board

Former Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and former Shell companies in the Philippines country chair Edgar Chua have been nominated as the new independent directors of Zobel-led Ayala Corp., the country’s oldest conglomerate.

Once approved by shareholders during the annual stockholders’ meeting on April 24, 2026, Purisima and Chua will replace former Energy Secretary Delfin Lazaro, who has been the nonexecutive director of Ayala Corp. since January 2007, and former Sun Life of the Philippines chief executive officer and country head Riza Mantaring, who has been independent director since April 2020.

Completing the seven-person board are Ayala chair Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Ayala CEO and executive director Cezar Consing, nonexecutive director Fernando Zobel de Ayala and independent directors Emmanuel Maceda, chair of Bain & Company and Chua Sock Koong, senior advisor at Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.

All will begin a fresh term in a year fraught with challenges.

Fortunately, the Ayala board, including the possible new entrants, are no strangers to crises and should be able to steer the storied conglomerate through the latest ones and emerge bruised but not beaten.