The Board of Directors or Trustees
The Board of Directors or Trustees
- Unless otherwise provided in this Code, the corporate powers of all corporations formed under this Code shall be exercised, all business conducted and all property of such corporations controlled and held by the board of directors or trustees to be elected from among the holders of stocks, or where there is no stock, from among the members of the corporation, who shall hold office for one (1) year until their successors are elected and qualified. Every director must own at least one (1) share of the capital stock of the corporation of which he is a director, which share shall stand in his name on the books of the corporation. Any director who ceases to be the owner of at least one (1) share of the capital stock of the corporation of which he is a director shall thereby cease to be a director. Trustees of non-stock corporations must be members thereof. a majority of the directors or trustees of all corporations organized under this Code must be residents of the Philippines.
Sec. 63. Certificate of stock and transfer of shares. - The capital stock of stock corporations shall be divided into shares for which certificates signed by the president or vice president, countersigned by the secretary or assistant secretary, and sealed with the seal of the corporation shall be issued in accordance with the by-laws. Shares of stock so issued are personal property and may be transferred by delivery of the certificate or certificates endorsed by the owner or his attorney-infact or other person legally authorized to make the transfer. No transfer, however, shall be valid, except as between the parties, until the transfer is recorded in the books of the corporation showing the names of the parties to the transaction, the date of the transfer, the number of the certificate or certificates and the number of shares transferred.
TITLE VIII CORPORATE BOOKS AND RECORDS Sec. 74. Books to be kept; stock transfer agent. - Every corporation shall keep and carefully preserve at its principal office a record of all business transactions and minutes of all meetings of stockholders or members, or of the board of directors or trustees, in which shall be set forth in detail the time and place of holding the meeting, how authorized, the notice given, whether the meeting was regular or special, if special its object, those present and absent, and every act done or ordered done at the meeting. Upon the demand of any director, trustee, stockholder or member, the time when any director, trustee, stockholder or member entered or left the meeting must be noted in the minutes; and on a similar demand, the yeas and nays must be taken on any motion or proposition, and a record thereof carefully made. The protest of any director, trustee, stockholder or member on any action or proposed action must be recorded in full on his demand.
The records of all business transactions of the corporation and the minutes of any meetings shall be open to inspection by any director, trustee, stockholder or member of the corporation at reasonable hours on business days and he may demand, writing, for a copy of excerpts from said records or minutes, at his expense. Any officer or agent of the corporation who shall refuse to allow any director, trustees, stockholder or member of the corporation to examine and copy excerpts from its records or minutes, in accordance with the provisions of this Code, shall be liable to such director, trustee, stockholder or member for damages, and in addition, shall be guilty of an offense which shall be punishable under Section 144 of this Code: Provided, That if such refusal is made pursuant to a resolution or order of the board of directors or trustees, the liability under this section for such action shall be imposed upon the directors or trustees who voted for such refusal: and Provided, further, That it shall be a defense to any action under this section that the person demanding to examine and copy excerpts from the corporation's records and minutes has improperly used any information secured through any prior examination of the records or minutes of such corporation or of any other corporation, or was not acting in good faith or for a legitimate purpose in making his demand. Stock corporations must also keep a book to be known as the "stock and transfer book", in which must be kept a record of all stocks in the names of the stockholders alphabetically arranged; the installments paid and unpaid on all stock for which subscription has been made, and the date of payment of any installment; a statement of every alienation, sale or transfer of stock made, the date thereof, and by and to whom made; and such other entries as the by-laws may prescribe. The stock and transfer book shall be kept in the principal office of the corporation or in the office of its stock transfer agent and shall be open for inspection by any director or stockholder of the corporation at reasonable hours on business days.
STOCK CORPORATIONS* Requirements 1. Registration/stamping of Stock of Certificate and Transfer Book 2. General Information Sheet. (as of the date of meeting 3. Audited financial statements duly stamped "Received" by the BIR a. For corporations who's securities are registered under the Securities Act (old/revised) b. For corporations whose securities are not Within 105 days after the end of the fiscal year as specified in the By-laws Within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year as Period/Due Date Within 30 days from receipt of Incorporation Within 30 days from the date of actual meeting
registered c. For securities brokers 4. Affidavit of Non-operation/Board the Resolution or Affidavit of Cessation of business operation 5. Notice of Postponement of Annual Meeting. 6. Affidavit of non-holding of annual meeting together with the General Information Sheet.
specified in the By-laws Within 60 days after the end of the fiscal year as specified in the By-laws Within the prescribed period for filing financial statements in 3-a.b.c. At least 10 days before the date of the meeting as specified in the By-laws. Within 30 days from the date of the meeting as specified in the By-laws
*Note: Stocks corporations registered after January 17, 1986 shall also file a statement of sources and
applications of funds together with the Income Statement and Balance Sheet covering the first year of operation within the due date for the filing of their financial statement.
G.R. No. 91478 February 7, 1991 ROSITA PEA petitioner, vs. THE COURT OF APPEALS, SPOUSES RISING T. YAP and CATALINA YAP, PAMPANGA BUS CO., INC., JESUS DOMINGO, JOAQUIN BRIONES, SALVADOR BERNARDEZ, MARCELINO ENRIQUEZ and EDGARDO A. ZABAT, respondents.
The by-laws of a corporation are its own private laws which substantially have the same effect as the laws of the corporation. They are in effect, written, into the charter. In this sense they become part of the fundamental law of the corporation with which the corporation and its directors and officers must comply. 11 Apparently, only three (3) out of five (5) members of the board of directors of respondent PAMBUSCO convened on November 19, 1974 by virtue of a prior notice of a special meeting. There was no quorum to validly transact business since, under Section 4 of the amended by-laws hereinabove reproduced, at least four (4) members must be present to constitute a quorum in a special meeting of the board of directors of respondent PAMBUSCO. Under Section 25 of the Corporation Code of the Philippines, the articles of incorporation or by-laws of the corporation may fix a greater number than the majority of the number of board members to constitute the quorum necessary for the valid transaction of business. Any number less than the number provided in the articles or bylaws therein cannot constitute a quorum and any act therein would not bind the corporation; all that the attending directors could do is to adjourn. 12 G.R. No. 124535 September 28, 2001
THE RURAL BANK OF LIPA CITY, INC., THE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS, BERNARDO BAUTISTA, JAIME CUSTODIO, OCTAVIO KATIGBAK, FRANCISCO CUSTODIO, and JUANITA BAUTISTA OF THE RURAL BANK OF LIPA CITY, INC., petitioners, vs. HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS, HONORABLE COMMISSION EN BANC, SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, HONORABLE ENRIQUE L. FLORES, JR., in his capacity as Hearing Officer, REYNALDO VILLANUEVA, SR, AVELINA M. VILLANUEVA, CATALINO VILLANUEVA, ANDRES GONZALES, AURORA LACERNA, CELSO LAYGO, EDGARDO REYES, ALEJANDRA TONOGAN and ELENA USI, respondents.
The Corporation Code specifically provides: SECTION 63. Certificate of stock and transfer of shares. The capital stock of stock corporations shall be divided into shares for which certificates signed by the president or vice president, countersigned by the secretary or assistant secretary, and sealed with the seal of the corporation shall be issued in accordance with the by-laws. Shares of stocks so issued are personal property and may be transferred by delivery of the certificate or certificates indorsed by the owner or his attorney-in-fact or other person legally authorized to make the transfer. No transfer, however, shall be valid, except as between the parties, until the transfer is recorded in the books of the corporation so as to show the names of the parties to the transaction, the date of the transfer, the number of the certificate or certificates and the number of shares transferred. No shares of stock against which the corporation holds any unpaid claim shall be transferable in the books of the corporation. (Emphasis ours) Petitioners argue that by virtue of the Deed of Assignment,19 private respondents had relinquished to them any and all rights they may have had as stockholders of the Bank. While it may be true that there was an assignment of private respondents' shares to the petitioners, said assignment was not sufficient to effect the transfer of shares since there was no endorsement of the certificates of stock by the owners, their attorneys-in-fact or any other person legally authorized to make the transfer. Moreover, petitioners admit that the assignment of shares was not coupled with delivery, the absence of which is a fatal defect. The rule is that the delivery of the stock certificate duly endorsed by the owner is the operative act of transfer of shares from the lawful owner to the transferee.20 Thus, title may be vested in the transferee only by delivery of the duly indorsed certificate of stock.21 We have uniformly held that for a valid transfer of stocks, there must be strict compliance with the mode of transfer prescribed by law.22 The requirements are: (a) There must be delivery of the stock certificate: (b) The certificate must be endorsed by the owner or his attorney-in-fact or
other persons legally authorized to make the transfer; and (c) To be valid against third parties, the transfer must be recorded in the books of the corporation. As it is, compliance with any of these requisites has not been clearly and sufficiently shown. It may be argued that despite non-compliance with the requisite endorsement and delivery, the assignment was valid between the parties, meaning the private respondents as assignors and the petitioners as assignees. While the assignment may be valid and binding on the petitioners and private respondents, it does not necessarily make the transfer effective. Consequently, the petitioners, as mere assignees, cannot enjoy the status of a stockholder, cannot vote nor be voted for, and will not be entitled to dividends, insofar as the assigned shares are concerned Parenthetically, the private respondents cannot, as yet, be deprived of their rights as stockholders, until and unless the issue of ownership and transfer of the shares in question is resolved with finality.