PDIC names reps to UCPB board

The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) has named their eight representatives to the 15-man board of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), led by incumbent chairman Edward Go and newly-appointed president and chief executive officer Jose Querubin.

Sources revealed yesterday that the PDIC has finalized the short list of nominees to the UCPB’s policy making body, adding five more names to the initial list of three representatives.

First to be named to the UCPB board were Go, Querubin and PDIC director Norberto Nazareno, who will sit as one of the PDIC representatives to the board of directors.

Yesterday, five more names were added, led by veteran banker Deogracias Vistan, former education secretary and Monetary Board member Armand Fabella and veteran banker Ruben Almedras who used to head Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

Also in the list of nominees were PDIC director Rosalinda Casiguran and Noemi Javier who would sit as "organic PDIC representatives".

Sources said the names have been approved by the PDIC and submitted to the UCPB as well as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) which would have to approve the nominations after they go through the usual fit-and-proper examination of the Monetary Board.

BSP Governor Rafael Buenaventura confirmed that the list has been submitted, as he expressed confidence that the PDIC nominees would boost public confidence on UCPB.

"The suggested list looks good. These are all professional people and I’m optimistic that they’d do well for the bank," Buenaventura said.

According to Finance Undersecretary Eric O. Recto, the list has also been examined by the Department of Finance which heads PDIC where Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho sits as chairman of the board.

"Over the next couple of weeks we will be able to finalize their nominations although we still need to talk to some of the nominees,"Recto said.

He said, it would be up to the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to reconstitute its remaining seven seats in the UCPB board.

Before the PDIC’s P20-billion financial assistance package, the PCGG used to control the board of directors and the entry of eight PDIC nominees would require it to reconstitute its representation in the board.