SM Group upholds high data privacy standards to protect customers, stakeholders
SM Retail, the retail arm of the SM Group, received the NPC Seal of Registration Compliance Excellence Award for the Private Sector at the National Data Privacy Conference in Parañaque City. In photo are officers from the SM Retail Data Privacy & Protection Team, from left: Bernadette C. Salinas, Chief Data Officer; Atty. Mikhail Josef P. Soriano, Manager; Leyson N. San Juan, Data Protection Officer and AVP; Lorenz Victor D. Anyayahan, Senior Manager; and Luis Angelo D. De Castro, Senior Manager.
Sy-led conglomerate SM Investments Corp. has assured its customers and stakeholders of its continued commitment to maintaining rigorous data privacy standards as a core component of corporate governance.
The conglomerate highlighted that its subsidiary, SM Retail, received the NPC Seal of Registration Compliance Excellence Award for the Private Sector from the National Privacy Commission (NPC) during the National Data Privacy Conference.
The award recognizes private sector organizations that uphold transparency and accountability by visibly displaying their NPC Seal of Registration across their physical operations and digital touchpoints.
“We are grateful for this recognition from the NPC. We understand how critical data governance is to maintaining customer trust and loyalty. This award reflects the collective effort of the different business units across SM Retail to strengthen data privacy compliance and awareness,” said SM Retail President Jonathan Ng.
SM Retail was also named a finalist for Privacy Initiative of the Year, acknowledging the company’s significant efforts to educate employees through specialized data privacy channels, modules, and training sessions. These initiatives are designed to strengthen privacy awareness across the entire organization.
“These programs promote the responsible handling of personal data as part of everyday work, using practical, retail-specific scenarios to make privacy more relevant and actionable for employees,” Ng noted.
Additionally, SM Retail’s Data Protection Officer (DPO), Leyson San Juan, was named a finalist for Data Protection Officer of the Year for the second consecutive year. These honors follow SM Retail’s Privacy Management Program Award win last year.
The awarding ceremony in Parañaque was held during Privacy Awareness Week (PAW), an annual celebration dedicated to strengthening data privacy awareness and promoting responsible personal data processing in the Philippines.