PLDT Inc. has retained its position as the second highest-ranked telecommunications company worldwide in the 2026 Children's Rights and Business Benchmark published by the Global Child Forum, securing the spot for the third consecutive year.

The listed Philippine telecommunications provider earned a score of 9.9 out of 10 in the assessment, which measures how companies address children's rights based on publicly available information, PLDT said in a statement issued on Sunday.

Developed in partnership with Boston Consulting Group, the benchmark evaluates corporate policies and disclosures concerning children's rights across workplace, marketplace, community, and environmental operations. The Global Child Forum noted that its scores do not measure actual compliance with corporate policies or the outcomes of corporate programs. Because the rankings draw on what companies make publicly available, the depth of corporate disclosure itself shapes the results.

PLDT Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Manuel V. Pangilinan said the ranking reflects the company's efforts to embed children's rights into its operations.

"Our consistent global leadership in children's rights highlights the dedication of our people in embedding children's rights into our daily operations. PLDT and Smart continue to recognize children as key stakeholders in building a digital society and thus strive to conduct our business in a manner that respects and safeguards the rights of every child," he said.

According to the company, the result reflects efforts by PLDT and its wireless subsidiary, Smart Communications, Inc., to apply the Children's Rights and Business Principles developed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Save the Children, and the United Nations Global Compact — a framework that outlines how businesses can respect and support children's rights.

The telecommunications group said it has updated its child safeguarding policies following consultations and impact assessments involving Filipino teenagers. The revised policies cover employee welfare, product safety, artificial intelligence (AI), supplier due diligence, and environmental management.

PLDT and Smart also disclosed that they had blocked more than 2.4 million uniform resource locators (URLs) linked to the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children between June 2021 and August 2026 through their network-level child protection platform.

Oversight of the group's children's rights policies and performance rests with its Governance, Nomination, and Sustainability Committee at the board level, the company said.

In its 2025 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures, PLDT and Smart reported a parental leave return-to-work rate exceeding 99%, along with zero reported cases of child labor in their workplaces and supply chains. The group also reported no substantiated complaints involving product safety, marketing, and labeling during the year.

As the benchmark is published annually, the group's revised safeguarding policies and future ESG disclosures offer reference points for tracking how its reported performance on children's rights evolves into the next assessment cycle.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., holds a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star. — Juliana Chloe A Gonzales