EDITORIAL - The reformer

The Securities and Exchange Commission, in dire need of a knight in shining armor to restore its credibility, gets its savior today in the person of Manuel Gaite. Or at least that’s what the former deputy executive secretary is painting himself to be, as he promises to bring reforms to the SEC. 

What SEC chief Fe Barin and the other commissioners have to say about the man who vows to reform their agency is not publicly known. The SEC officials have been under fire for their failure to detect the scam allegedly perpetrated by the Legacy Group of pre-need companies and rural banks. SEC officials were dragged deeper into the mire after one of the commissioners, Jesus Martinez, was reported by witnesses to have accepted lavish gifts including a house and lot from Legacy owner Celso de los Angeles.

Martinez, who went on leave on the eve of his retirement, was the officer-in-charge of the SEC who issued a cease-and-desist order in an attempt to stop the annual shareholders’ meeting last year of the Manila Electric Co. The order was issued upon the request of the Government Service Insurance System, which had tried to wrest control of the power firm in what many saw as a proxy war between two powerful clans.

Gaite will be stepping into Martinez’s shoes, and there are fears that it could turn out to be a perfect fit. Gaite’s claim to fame — or notoriety — was to give a man he barely knew, Rodolfo Lozada Jr., P500,000 in cash in the middle of efforts to prevent Lozada from telling the Senate what he knew about the national broadband network deal between China’s ZTE Corp. and the Department of Transportation and Communications.

Grilled by the Senate, the deputy executive secretary made a valiant though clumsy effort to keep Malacañang out of what he presented as an act of charity toward a virtual stranger. That same loyalty will doubtless be carried on to the SEC as Gaite reaps his reward.

Palace officials have said Gaite is capable, but there are many other Filipinos in this overpopulated country who are even more capable, without his baggage. The officials also trotted out endorsements from religious personalities, but Lozada can match every endorsement with 10 supporting him. Lozada admitted his human weaknesses and sought redemption by denouncing wrongdoing. Gaite, upright public servant, has been rewarded for what critics saw as an attempt to stop the denunciation. This is the new reformer at the SEC.