Atin Ito: SMC @ 136

There could hardly be a more fitting anniversary gift for San Miguel Corporation as it marks its 136th year.

The good news: Our very own Filipino conglomerate has broken into the global Top 20 of the Forbes World’s Best Employers 2026, ranking 16th among 900 companies from 52 countries — the highest-ranked Philippine company. According to published reports, SMC is the only Southeast Asian company in the global Top 50.

That is quite a journey for an enterprise that began as a brewery in Manila in 1890.

Over 136 years, San Miguel has grown far beyond beer and food, building major businesses in energy, fuel, infrastructure, transportation, property and other industries.

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.

At 136, San Miguel’s story is therefore not simply about corporate longevity but also about corporate social responsibility. Few enterprises survive for more than a century. Fewer still manage to reinvent themselves repeatedly while remaining deeply woven into the economic life of their country.

From a Manila brewery in 1890 to the 16th-ranked employer in the world in 2026, the distance San Miguel has traveled is remarkable.

But anniversaries should not merely celebrate how far an institution has come. They should also ask where it is going.

For SMC and RSA, enormous projects remain unfinished and new challenges will inevitably emerge. With size and influence come equally large responsibilities — to employees, consumers, communities, the environment and ultimately the country.

That may well be the more enduring measure of a corporation’s legacy.

Buildings will age. Technologies will change. Businesses will evolve. But institutions that invest in people, build for succeeding generations and recognize that corporate success carries a larger social responsibility have the opportunity to leave something far more lasting.

At 136, San Miguel is still building. And its latest global recognition reminds us that behind everything it builds are people.

SMC, atin ito!!!