Barin appointment hailed

The top officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) lauded yesterday the appointment of Fe Barin, a long-time member of the Monetary Board, as the new SEC chairperson to replace Lilia Bautista.

Bautista, who, in turn, was named the next Philippine ambassador to Belgium, said Barin is fit for the job considering the latter’s expertise in banking regulations.

"I welcome the appointment of Atty. Fe Barin as chairperson of the SEC. I have known Atty. Barin for a long time having served also as member of the Monetary Board in my capacity as then Acting Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry. She is knowledgeable and hardworking and her appointment means closer coordination between the BSP and the SEC and maybe a prelude to a more structured implementation of securities and bank products," Bautista said.

Barin had been with the MB — the policy-making body of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) — for 25 years. She was then appointed chairperson of the newly-restructured Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for a year before rejoining the MB in October 2002.

The BSP has jurisdiction over a number of entities which are also under the SEC, which sometimes lead to a regulatory overlap. "Since Atty. Barin has been an institution in the BSP, she will bring with her the knowledge and rules applicable to banks and its subsidiaries, it is expected that there will be more harmonized supervision of financial products,"Bautista said.

The PSE also hailed Barin’s designation, saying she would undoubtedly continue the reforms that the SEC implemented to improve the domestic business environment and restore investor interest in the equities market.

"Atty. Fe Barin is an institution at the BSP known for her professionalism, integrity and diligence. BSP’s loss is the SEC’s gain. She will undoubtedly pursue the reforms chairman Bautista initiated as an even-handed regulator. She will ensure that SEC remains the least corrupt and most sincere agency chairman Bautista left behind," PSE chairperson Alicia Arroyo said.

For her part, Bautista said she would leave the 67-year old agency with a smile on her face, knowing she’ll be leaving a much more efficient bureaucracy and that her successor will pursue the much needed reforms to revitalize the stock market and promote good governance in the corporate sector.

Bautista assumed the SEC chairmanship in 2000 to serve the remainder of the term of office of Perfecto Yasay Jr. who resigned at the height of the BW Resources stock trading scandal.

She is highly credited for the transformation of the SEC into a more public service-oriented government agency. The SEC was then perceived as inefficient, incompetent and corrupt, and lacking the will to exercise its vast powers over 500,000 firms.

Under Bautista’s term, the SEC was reorganized which gave rise to a new SEC staffed with young professionals endowed with a renewed sense and commitment to delivering quality public service. The move was intended to shore up investor confidence badly eroded by the BW Resources stock scandal.

The SEC also pursued the filing of criminal cases against BW officers, broker firms and their relatives found to have engaged in fraudulent trading activities for their personal gains.

It was also during Bautista’s term that the SEC computerized its operations by allowing entities to register with the agency via the Internet and by making readily available articles of incorporation and general information sheets of certain corporations.