SEC sets Nov 29 deadline for election of new PSE president

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given the Philippine Stock Exchange until Nov. 29 to elect a new president, or else, the corporate regulator said it will be forced to appoint one in an acting capacity.

In a letter to PSE chairman Felipe Yap, SEC Chairperson Lilia Bautista said should the PSE board still fail to make such election within the given period, "then the SEC shall be constrained to appoint an acting president who shall serve as such until the board shall be able to elect a permanent one."

Bautista said the SEC and the PSE had a meeting last week and they agreed to speed up the installation of a new exchange president who will fill up the slack left by Ramon T. Garcia.

Garcia was ousted as PSE president last Sept. 26 on a majority vote of the board of governors due to the controversy spawned by the proposed PSE relocation agreement with Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. Two weeks later on Oct. 10, the same board patched things up with Garcia and voted to reinstate him, although as a compromise, he filed a terminal leave of absence until his term expires in March 2002.

In the meantime, the day-to-day operations of the PSE are being handled a six-man management committee led by Yap, corporate secretary Edgardo Guevarra and incumbent directors Cayetano Paderanga, Mario Camacho, Patricio Lim and Robert Coyiuto Jr.

Bautista said the PSE has constituted a search committee, three of whom are non-broker directors, to screen the nominees for the post.

"We hope that this will speed up the process of choosing a president," she added.

It was earlier reported that the PSE has been having a hard time selecting a replacement, with a number of prospects turning down the offer for various reasons.

Two former PSE governors – Vicente Jayme and Margarito Teves - were offered the job but both declined.

Jayme, a former finance secretary, and Teves, former Negros representative and now Land Bank president, sat at the PSE board of governors as private sector representatives until March this year.

Ismael Cruz of IGC Securities, a current board governor and chairman of the PSE building committee handling the negotiations for the proposed relocation of the exchange in Fort Bonifacio, was also considered but aside from mixed reactions among the board members themselves, the choice of Cruz faces a legal hurdle which needs to be referred to the SEC for approval.

The Securities Regulation Code (SRC) prohibits the appointment of any officer of the exchange who is a member or affiliated with any broker, dealer or member for at least two years prior to such appointment.

The PSE has a 15-man board, majority of whom (eight) are non-brokers, including Garcia who still sits on the board.

Other names floated are those of former SEC associate commissioner Monico Jacob, former Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo and former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Winnie Monsod.