Leung voted new PSE president

The board of directors of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) unanimously elected yesterday former Finance Secretary Ernest Leung as president, ending about two months of searching for a replacement after Ramon T. Garcia vacated the post last October.

PSE corporate secretary Edgardo Guevara said the 13 directors in attendance during yesterday’s special board meeting voted to appoint Leung as the next PSE president to serve the unexpired term of Garcia until March next year.

Leung will immediately assume the post as soon as he accepts the appointment. With Leung’s entry, Garcia – who still sits in the 15-man board – will resign from the board to formalize Leung’s election.

Only two of the 15-man board of directors were not able to make it to yesterday’s meeting: accounting guru Washington Sycip, who is out of the country, and First Pacific/PLDT head Manuel Pangilinan.

"I think he (Leung) is a very good administrator, it will be good for the Exchange. He’s a respected executive and his credentials speak for him," Guevara said.

The 62-year-old Leung, an Ateneo alumnus, has served the Philippine government for 36 years, holding various top posts at the Central Bank, Department of Finance, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC), National Food Authority Council, National Development Co., and Development Bank of the Phils.

He was also executive director of the World Bank from November ’90 to October ’92 and held chairmanship positions in the boards/governing bodies of the Land Bank of the Phils., Committee on Privatization, Philippine Export Guarantee Fund, PLDT, NEDA, Monetary Board, and National Power Corp., among others.

Upon leaving public service, Leung has been active in the private sector and non-government organizations, holding board positions at the Philippine Economic Society, Foundation for Economic Freedom, Foundation for Community Building in Asia-Pacific Region, Board of Qinteraction, and LENEP Inc.

The only other strong contender for the PSE post, another former finance secretary, Jesus Estanislao, had written the PSE board that he was not vying for the position, but was open to assisting the Exchange, particularly in promoting corporate governance reforms and restoring confidence into the Philippine economy.

"Since Ernest Leung appears as a possibility, I would strongly endorse him and ask you to get him," Estanislao said.

Estanislao was the chief architect of the Corporate Governance Code and was finance secretary during the Aquino administration. Like Leung, he is presently in the private sector as CEO of the Institute for Corporate Directors.

Leung, in fact, served as undersecretary to Estanislao and was briefly appointed to the top finance post during the Ramos government. He then went to serve as president of the PDIC and chaired the DBP.

The PSE was supposed to elect its new president last Nov. 28, a day before the Securities and Exchange Commission deadline for the Exchange to appoint a new one, as its board of directors said it "needed more time to know the candidates more."

The PSE presidency has been vacant since early October due to Garcia’s decision to go on an indefinite leave until his term expires in March. Garcia was earlier booted out unceremoniously by the board due to the controversy on the Fort Bonifacio relocation agreement, but was reinstated two weeks later.

Since then, the day-to-day operations of the PSE has been handled by a six-man management committee headed by PSE chairman Felipe Yap, along with five other board members.