A Makati court has rejected GMA Network’s bid to halt a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulation that enforces strict term limits on independent directors, clearing the way for the corporate governance policy to take effect.
In a decision dated May 11, the Regional Trial Court Branch 138 denied the media company’s petition for a writ of preliminary injunction against SEC Memorandum Circular No. 7, Series of 2026. The mandate enforces a cumulative nine-year cap on the tenure of independent directors in publicly listed corporations, retroactive to 2012.
The policy dictates that once an independent director hits the nine-year threshold, they are disqualified from serving in the same capacity for that specific company, though they may transition into regular directorship roles.
GMA Network initially filed a petition for certiorari on March 26 in an attempt to void the SEC circular. Alongside the main petition, the company sought a temporary restraining order and an injunction, both of which have now been blocked by the court.
In junking the plea, the local court ruled that GMA failed to demonstrate that the policy would cause the company grave and irreversible damage. The court characterized the reshuffling or exit of affected board members as a minor organizational hurdle rather than a legal catastrophe.
“[The removal or non-renewal of certain directors is] merely an administrative inconvenience and a corporate hardship, not an irreparable legal injury that justified the transcendent remedy of halting a vital government regulation,” the court ruled.
The decision further emphasized that regulatory progression for the country’s financial landscape cannot be stalled by the grievances of a single entity, noting that numerous publicly traded firms have already conformed to the rule.
“[The SEC] cannot allow the Philippine capital market to remain globally uncompetitive simply because a single corporation finds the vital task of board renewal as administratively inconvenient. The State’s paramount interest in protecting the investing public and fostering robust economic growth far outweighs the administrative inconvenience claimed by [GMA],” the court added.
With the ruling, the court upheld the SEC’s regulatory mandate to impose structural reforms and standardize corporate governance benchmarks across Philippine listed firms.