12 bets vie for 7 broker-director seats in PSE board

MANILA, Philippines - Twelve individuals are vying for the seven broker-director slots in the 15-man board of the Philippine Stock Exchange in the annual elections to be held on May 14, 2011.

Of the 15 seats in the board, seven are reserved for brokers while eight are for non-brokers. Of the eight non-broker seats, three are for independent directors, one for president-director and four for other non-broker directors.

The broker seats, on the other hand, are broken down into five “big” brokers or those with paid-up capital of more than P500 million and two “small” brokers with paid-up capital of less than that amount.

PSE chief executive Hans Sicat has been nominated as president.

Among those running for the broker-director slots are incumbents Vivian Yuchengco, Eddie Gobing, Alejandro Yu, Eusebio Tanco, Ismael Cruz and Francis Chua as well as new candidates Joseph Roxas, Emmanuel T. Bautista of Deutsche Regis Partners Inc., former PSE president Ramon T. Garcia, Harry Liu and William Ang.

The incumbents and the positions they want to occupy are: PSE president and CEO Hans B. Sicat (president), Eusebio H. Tanco (broker A), Ma. Vivian Yuchengco (broker A), Amor C. Iliscupidez (non-broker-investor), Jose Luis S. Javier (independent director), PSE chairman Cornelio T. Peralta (independent director), Ismael G. Cruz (open seat-broker), Eddie T. Gobing (open seat-broker), Alejandro T. Yu (open seat-broker) and Francis Chua (open seat-broker).

The new candidates are: Joseph Y. Roxas of Eagle Equities, Inc. (broker A); former PSE director Roberto G. Vergara (non-broker investor); Anabelle L. Chua of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (non-broker issuer); San Miguel Corp. treasurer Sergio G. Edeza (non-broker issuer); Employers Confederation of the Philippines president Edgardo G. Lacson (non-broker other market participant); former Internal Revenue Commissioner Dakila B. Fonacier (independent director); former Finance Secretary Jose T. Pardo (independent director); Emmanuel T. Bautista of Deutsche Regis Partners, Inc. (open seat-broker); former PSE president Ramon T. Garcia (open seat-broker); PSE Foundation, Inc. president Harry Liu (open seat-broker); and former PSE director William L. Ang (open seat-broker).