PSE elects Pardo chairman; Sicat retained

Manila, Philippines - Former Trade and Industry Secretary Jose Pardo was named yesterday as the new chairman of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) while Hans Sicat remained as president.

During the PSE stockholders’ meeting at the Wack Wack Country Club, Pardo, who has served three months as an independent director in the exchange, was voted chairman.

Pardo, 72, sits as independent director in various companies including the Gokongwei-owned JG Summit and the San Miguel-controlled Bank of Commerce. He said he does not need to give up his post in the firms but has to give up his seat as regular director of Pure Foods, another San Miguel unit.

A prominent business leader, Pardo also served as Finance Secretary during the term of President Estrada. He was also chairman of the Edsa People Power Commission.

Pardo said during his term, he would entice more companies to list in the local bourse. He said he has even tapped his contacts at the DTI because he found out that many Board of Investment (BOI)-registered firms that were required to do a public float once they received their incentives have not complied with the requirement.

He said he would also look into the capital markets development program, new products to be offered and the introduction of the derivatives market in the near future. He added there are many growth areas as the Philippines becomes more visible due to the networking that ASEAN provides.

Likewise, he said the passage of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REITS) is a potential growth source. Based on recent pronouncements of the Finance Department, the implementing rules and regulations will be out soon.

“We are focused on figuring out what to do,” Pardo said.

For his part, Sicat said that there are two primary challenges — liquidity and corporate governance. For liquidity, he said there a lot of inter-related issues and potential solutions from new products to improve the tax regime.

Sicat said they will implement the continuing requirement of a minimum 10 percent public float and the deadline for compliance is the end of the year. He said there will be firms who will opt to go private instead of complying with the requirement.

He also noted that the first quarter performance of the PSE was higher in both revenue and income. Likewise, he said, volume was better when compared to the first three months of 2010 even if there was unrest in the Middle East and North Africa and the twin disasters in Japan.