Manila SEC commissioners resign over bickering

Manila SEC commissioners resign over bickering

MANILA (Reuter): A long-drawn out turf battle at the Philippines' Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has come to a head with President Fidel Ramos calling for the resignation of the top five SEC officials from their posts.

The SEC's four associate commissioners announced at a news conference yesterday they had submitted their resignations. SEC Chairman Rosario Lopez, on the other hand, had yet to show up in public.

Manila's SEC, which was founded in 1936 and is Asia's oldest regulatory body, has long been wracked with internal bickering and accusations of corruption among its ranks.

A battle over jurisdiction erupted some months ago between Lopez, who has 30 years of government service and climbed up from the ranks, and her four associate commissioners -- Merle Manuel, Fe Eloisa Gloria, Rodolfo Samarista and Perfecto Yasay.

The row boiled over last June when Lopez sent out a memorandum saying only she could act on all SEC administrative matters and proceeded to divest her deputies of power over the SEC's departments.

The four commissioners retaliated by skipping the SEC's weekly commissioners' meetings, resulting in stalled approvals of public offerings, registration of firms, and licensing of securities.

Yasay accused Lopez of blocking key reforms to develop the country's capital market during yesterday's news conference.

"For one reason or another, the chairman has expressed her objections to these reforms, stating among other things that our industry is not yet prepared for these reforms," he said.

The private sector appears to be sympathetic to the four commissioners' plight although they said Ramos's blanket order for resignations was the right move.

"A mass resignation is the only way. The problem is not the SEC or the four commissioners. But it's for the president to decide which resignation he will pick up," Roman Azanza, head of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX), told Reuters.

A letter written by FINEX along with the Capital Markets Development Council and the Philippine Stock Exchange triggered the current round of controversy.

In the letter, the three groups pointed out "the SEC's apparent inability to work as a team in implementing modern solutions and the as yet unanswered basic question: who is in charge, the chairman or the majority of the commissioners?"

"We feel, quite candidly, that the problem is the Chairman of the SEC. She has been obstructive, uncooperative, and unwilling to proffer or accept either advice or assistance from any sector, private or public," the letter went on.

Ramos called for a closed-door meeting on Thursday to solve the issue, feeding speculation Lopez would soon be sacked.

To douse the rumors, Lopez issued a statement the next day saying that the president was on her side.

The president on Sunday denied Lopez' statement and called for the immediate resignation of Lopez and her four deputies.