MANILA — First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) will proceed with its annual stockholders’ meeting on July 27 without holding an election for its board of directors after securing regulatory clearance amid an ongoing intra-corporate dispute within the Lopez family.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, May 8, the Lopez-led holding firm said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Markets and Securities Regulation Department allowed the meeting to proceed while excluding the election of directors from the agenda.

FPH said its board will later set a separate stockholders’ meeting exclusively for the election of directors once the “issues in the intra-corporate case are resolved,” or if a court directs that such a meeting be held.

The arrangement effectively keeps the current board in place and avoids an immediate shareholder vote for directors.

The development comes as tensions continue within the Lopez business group, particularly between FPH and First Gen Corp. chair Federico “Piki” Lopez and the family majority led by Lopez Inc. board member Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III, who reportedly controls a majority stake in the parent firm.

The dispute began on February 27 when the Lopez Inc. board voted 5–2 to remove Piki Lopez as president and chief executive officer, citing loss of trust. Lopez later challenged the decision before the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court, which issued a writ of preliminary injunction in March allowing him to remain in his position pending litigation.

The conflict has since expanded to other companies within the group, with the majority bloc accusing Lopez and First Gen of delayed disclosure of “poison pill” provisions linked to transactions with Prime Infrastructure involving businessman Enrique Razon Jr., which they said could expose minority shareholders to significant financial risks.

In a separate move escalating the dispute, Piki Lopez filed a verified complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 6 requesting an audit of ABS-CBN Corp. and an investigation of its executives, including chairman Martin “Mark” Lopez, president Carlo Katigbak, and treasurer Ricardo Tan.

The complaint alleged the “squandering” of company funds, citing around PHP10.6 billion in compensation packages and advances allegedly given to executives and “favored persons” from 2020 to 2025, during a period when ABS-CBN posted PHP45.5 billion in net losses following the loss of its broadcast franchise in 2020.

Lopez also called for the appointment of an independent management committee and a forensic audit of related-party transactions.

ABS-CBN’s board has previously rejected the allegations, saying there were no unresolved audit findings and that executive compensation was properly accounted for, adding the company should not be drawn into an unrelated family dispute.