PSE expands selection body for new president

The board of directors of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has agreed to extend the deadline for the submission of nominees for PSE president to June 23, giving the bourse more time to search for highly-qualified candidates.

The extension was decided upon in a board meeting yesterday, acting on a request made by several PSE members not to rush the appointment of the next bourse president. The deadline for the submission of nominees was originally scheduled last June 15.

Sources said another issue resolved during the meeting was the expansion of the selection committee to comprise the entire board, disbanding the three-man panel earlier appointed by PSE chairman Alicia Arroyo.

The group of former PSE chairman Vivian Yuchengco earlier questioned the composition of the Arroyo-appointed selection committee and the June 15 deadline on the submission of the list of potential candidates to fill in the position of PSE president.

The selection committee included Arroyo herself, outgoing PSE president Cayetano Paderanga and independent director and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) treasurer Annabelle Chua.

But while the issue on the composition of the selection committee has been threshed out, another issue that needs to be resolved is whether Paderanga is qualified to sit as independent director in the exchange. The PSE legal counsel has sought the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is now reviewing it and will issue its opinion anytime soon.

An independent director is defined under the Securities Regulation Code as someone who is independent of management, and free from any relationship which would materially interfere with his exercise of independent judgment in carrying out his responsibilities as director of a corporation.

Paderanga is currently president and chief executive of PNOC Development & Management Corp., a sister company of publicly-listed PNOC Exploration Co.

He is also president of CIBI, a credit information bureau that collates business information for the private sector and publishes the top 5,000 firms with the SEC.

Paderanga will relinquish his post as soon as a new president is named. He quit after being cited for conflict of interest because of his continued employment in PDMC and CIBI. He, however, remains as director of the exchange.

Under the Securities Regulation Code, the PSE president should not be a member and not associated in any capacity, directly or indirectly, with any broker,dealer or member, or listed company of the bourse.