PSE bares list of board nominees

MANILA, Philippines - A total of 18 individuals are vying for slots in the 15-man board of the Philippine Stock Exchange in the elections to be held on May 1 this year.

Based on the official list of candidates released by the PSE, four non-broker candidates representing investors and issuers have been nominated.   They are Annabelle Chua representing Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Co. (PLDT), Anastacio Martirez of Liberty Telecom Holdings as well as Atty. Estrella Elamparo of the Government Service Insurance System and Amor Iliscupidez of the SMC Retirement Fund.

Omelita Tiangco of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants was also nominated as non-broker candidate, representing other market participants

Also nominated for the non-broker slots are Jaime Enrique Gonzales of information technology and gaming conglomerate IPVG Corp. and Eduardo David of Gravitas Pime Inc.

Nominated to run as independent directors are incumbent chairman Hans Sicat and PSE director Vicente Panlilio as well as former PSE directors Jose Luis Javier and Cornelio Peralta. Industry sources said one the four would resign to give way to the new PSE president.

Gunning for the seven broker-director slots are former PSE chairman Vivian Yuchengco, STI owner Eusebio Tanco, Francis Chua, Alejandro Yu, Eddie Gobing and Alejandro Yu.

Of the 15 seats in the board, seven are reserved for brokers while eight are for non-brokers. Of the eight non-broker seats, three are for independent directors, one for president-director and four for other non-broker directors.

The broker seats, on the other hand, are broken down into five “big” brokers or those with paid-up capital of more than P500 million and two “small” brokers with paid-up capital of less than that amount.

Yuchengco said the PSE is taking its time to select its president and could take a month or two to name one.