Gaite vows reforms at SEC; critics slam appointment

MANILA, Philippines - Incoming Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner Manuel Gaite vowed yesterday to help implement reforms in the beleaguered agency even as critics slammed his appointment, saying he was no better than the man he replaced, disgraced SEC commissioner Jesus Martinez.

Gaite, senior deputy executive secretary prior to his appointment earlier this week, is set to be sworn into office today and report to the SEC on Thursday. He replaced Martinez, who is under investigation for allegedly covering up the reported mismanagement in the pre-need firms owned by the Legacy Group of Companies.

“This is a new challenge for me. But I’ll just work because I’m used to that,” Gaite, a lawyer, said in a telephone interview.

He said he was informed on Monday by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita of President Arroyo’s signing of his appointment papers.

He said he plans to look into the systems and procedures at the SEC to determine how he could help strengthen its regulatory powers.

On the controversy generated by his appointment, Gaite said his conscience is clear. He is accused of participating in efforts to prevent ZTE witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr. from testifying at the Senate.

The official gave Lozada P500,000 for his “expenses” in Hong Kong.

Gaite at the time said the money he loaned to Lozada was for a church project. Lozada, however, did not spend the money and turned it over to senators during their investigation into the controversy last year.

“I will not comment on these criticisms because my conscience is clear. That’s their opinion. I’ll just work,” Gaite said.

He also has some good words for SEC chair Fe Barin, with whom he had worked several years ago. He met Barin when he was working as legislative liaison officer for the Presidential Management Staff while she had similar responsibilities at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas during the time of former President Corazon Aquino.

Gaite said he also has to make “adjustments” as he has been working at the Palace in various posts for 23 years.

Gaite is married to a former nun, Maribel Ramos, and they have one adopted child.

Under the Estrada administration, he worked under Presidential Adviser for Flagship Projects Robert Aventajado while holding other posts in concurrent capacity.

A month after President Arroyo assumed power in January 2001, he was appointed presidential assistant with the rank of undersecretary in the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Regional Development.

Gaite graduated valedictorian at the St. Monica Academy in Baao, Camarines Sur in 1969 and salutatorian at the Holy Rosary Academy in 1973.

He took up Philosophy at the Ateneo de Manila University in 1975. He graduated with a law degree from the same university in 1982 and placed 30th in the 1983 Bar exams.

Condemnation

Sen. Manuel Roxas II said Gaite’s appointment “reflects the administration’s lack of decency and concern for public opinion of its conduct.”

“This administration does not care (what the public thinks). At this time that the SEC’s reputation is crumbling down, President Arroyo has appointed someone whose own credibility is as low as the one he’s replacing,” Roxas said.

Roxas said Gaite’s appointment was also a reward for his role in Malacañang’s attempts to silence Lozada.

“What proof could Gaite show that he has ‘good moral character?’ This is one of the qualifications set by law for SEC commissioners,” he stressed.

Roxas, chairman of the Senate committee on trade and commerce leading the investigation into the Legacy group scam, cited Section 4.2 of the Securities Regulation Code on the qualifications for SEC commissioners, stating that: “The commissioners must be… of good moral character, of unquestionable integrity, of known probity and patriotism, and with recognized competence.”

“If the President is really serious in cleaning up the SEC and recovering the public trust in our institutions, she should immediately cancel Gaite’s appointment and headhunt for a person whose integrity cannot be assailed,” he said.

Dr. Carol Araullo, chair of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said Gaite’s appointment is “a grave insult” to the victims of Legacy and to Filipinos in general.

“The Arroyo administration displayed its utter contempt for the plight of Legacy victims and a public weary of government shenanigans by appointing someone who figured in Malacañang’s attempts to suppress the Lozada exposé,” Araullo said.

“It is beyond reason and justice that someone who bribed Lozada with half a million pesos in people’s money just to keep him from testifying in the Senate will have indisputable integrity and qualifications,” she said. - Paolo Romero, Aurea Calica and Katherine Adraneda