SEC clears guidelines for PSE elections

MANILA, Philippines - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the voting guidelines for this year’s Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) elections.

“The proposed 2014 Nomination and Election Committee (Nomelec) rules and voting guidelines are almost the same with the 2013 Nomelec rules and voting ‘guidelines approved by the SEC,” the agency said.

The SEC said there were “only minor modifications” in terms of date, time and place of annual stockholders meeting, submission of nominations and submission, and solicitation and validation of proxy instruments.

Minor changes were also noted in the “weight of the volume/value of trade and paid-up capital to determine the proportional representation of brokers, the amount of combined value of trade and paid-up capital to determine Category A and B brokers and the deletion of redundant phrases and sentences,” it added.

Specifically, there will still be 15 seats for the board of directors.

The president-director will occupy one seat while broker-directors are allowed a maximum of seven seats.

The Nomelec allotted at least seven seats to non-broker directors consisting of at least three independent directors, and at least one director that will each represent the issuers, investors and other market participants.

The SEC said brokerage firms will be divided into two categories: Broker A for trading firms with combined volume/value of trade and paid-up capital of P5.6 billion and above while those with an aggregate volume/value of trade and paid-up capital below P5.6 billion are classified as Broker B.

“The volume/value of trade shall have a weight of 60 percent while paid up capital shall have a weight of 40 percent,” the SEC said. The 2013 Nomelec Rule pegged a 50-50 weight on value turnover and paid-up capital.

The increase in the total value turnover of PSE prompted the Nomelec to increase the cut-off to P5.6 billion from P4.4 billion.

The PSE’s annual stockholders meeting and board elections is scheduled on May 24.

Last year, all 15 incumbent members of the PSE board of directors were Re-elected for another one-year term. The same set of officers, now on their third term, are: chairman Jose T. Pardo, president and CEO Hans B. Sicat and directors Cornelio T. Peralta, Eddie T. Gobing, Francis C. Chua, Alejandro T. Yu, Amor C. Iliscupidez, Roberto G. Vergara, Vivian Yuchengco, Eusebio H. Tanco, David O. Chua, Emmanuel O. Bautista, Anabelle Lim-Chua, Dakila B. Fonacier and Edgardo G. Lacson.