SEC goes into phase 2 of streamlining scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which has just undergone a reorganization that cost at least 368 employees their jobs will soon move into the next phase of streamlining its operations by modernizing its computer systems.

SEC Chairman Lilia Bautista said last Friday that Strategic Alliance Development Corp. (Stradec) will submit by the end of this year a report on the extent to which the agency’s computer systems need to be modernized.

After turning in its report on the outcome of its feasibility study, Stradec, Bautista added, will face the "Swiss challenge" that will enable the consortium to bid for the contract of modernizing SEC’s computer systems, along with the other interested parties.

Earlier, Stradec offered to conduct a feasibility study on how to fill SEC’s informational needs at no cost to the agency except for the right to offer the agency a better deal in case its bid turns out to be inferior to those of the other bidders after the "Swiss challenge."

Former SEC Chairman Perfecto Yasay criticized Bautista for allowing Stradec to have the right of first refusal inherent in the "Swiss challenge" with the consortium knowing the intricacies of the agency’s computer systems.

"If Stradec has offered to conduct the study free of charge, it’s their business decision," Yasay said. "It doesn’t mean it should be given the right to beat the other bidders who have offered packages better than its own."

"It is anomalous for SEC to let Stradec participate in the ‘Swiss challenge’ after its feasibility study since it creates an atmosphere unfavorable to the other bidders," he added. "The situation will, in fact, prevent others from going for the contract."

A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, earlier claimed that Stradec, allegedly close to one of President Estrada’s mistresses, even got the "superuser" password to SEC’s database, alarming personnel in charge of the information system.

The "superuser" password is a highly confidential computer password that can enable anybody to access all kinds of information known to the agency, especially records of both old and new corporations.

Bautista, however, denied that with the "superuser" password, Stradec can distort information in SEC’s database, saying that the agency has upheld the integrity of its records division.

"As for the password, for purposes of protecting the integrity and confidentiality of the SEC records, the password was divided into two – one part given to the assistant commission secretary, a SEC employee, and the other part to Mr. Jonnel Kabigting (a Stradec consultant)," she said, adding that the password has never been given to any outsider.

The "Swiss challenge," Bautista assured, will be fair to all the parties involved in the bidding for the contract of computerizing SEC’s information sysem which, she noted, will need to be improved for the benefit of the business community.