Today, it has more than 55,000 direct employees and over 100 major facilities across the Asia-Pacific region.
But perhaps the significance of the latest Forbes recognition lies precisely in what it measures: people.
Forbes and Statista surveyed more than 300,000 employees in over 50 countries, assessing companies on such factors as compensation, opportunities for career advancement, work-life balance and corporate reputation. SMC rose dramatically from 42nd globally in 2025 to 16th this year.
For a Philippine company to stand alongside some of the biggest corporations in the world is an achievement worth celebrating.
It also provides another perspective on the transformation of San Miguel under its Chairman and chief executive officer, Ramon S. Ang or RSA.
Much has been written about RSA’s expansion of SMC and his appetite for large-scale projects.
San Miguel’s footprint today touches the everyday lives of millions of Filipinos — from food and beverages to fuel, electricity, expressways, airports and other major infrastructure.
Yet companies are ultimately more than balance sheets, factories, tollways, airports and power plants. They are communities of people.
That makes SMC’s rise in the Forbes employers ranking especially meaningful. A corporation may construct some of the biggest infrastructure projects in the country, but its lasting institutional strength depends on the men and women who make those ambitions possible.
This is one of the themes running through my latest book, “Ramon S. Ang: The Heart of a Nation Builder,” my first publishing venture through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing.
The book brings together my writings on SMC and RSA over the past eight years. More than a record of corporate expansion, it examines the human dimension behind nation-building — the values, relationships, decisions and sense of purpose that can transform business growth into something that affects the lives of ordinary people — which explains the word “heart” in the title.
Through the Million Trees Foundation, I have witnessed SMC’s support for environmental initiatives and its partnership in helping develop the Million Trees Nursery and Eco-Learning Center during its formative years.
For me, that illustrates an important principle: nation-building is not the work of government alone, particularly in the area of environmental protection and sustainability.
