High stakes

Now we wait with bated breath, anxiety levels are through the roof.

It’s a high-stakes midterm poll, after all, which will no doubt be a referendum on the administration of President Marcos.

Halfway into Marcos 2.0, there is nothing much to applaud in terms of economic or fiscal progress or any new big infrastructure project. There are no new and big state-owned hospitals like what Marcos Sr. built during his term, except for specialty centers, nor life-changing policies that Filipinos could truly be thankful for.

His campaign promise of P20-per-kilo rice is still a soon-to-happen dream, while that of a united Philippines did not materialize. Ooops. Not only did it fail to materialize, it made our country more deeply divided than ever.

As a result, the administration has become too preoccupied with the ongoing Marcos-Duterte family feud that not much attention has been given to the everyday problems of Filipinos.

Inflation has slowed to 1.4 percent in April from 1.8 percent in March, but it is taking time for ordinary Filipinos to feel this. Prices of basic goods and commodities are still high. One just needs to go to the grocery or wet market to see that there is not a lot one can buy for what should be a daily living wage of P1,222 for a family of five, especially with a prevailing wage gap of P577.

Gross domestic product, or the sum of all products and services created within an economy, grew by 5.4 percent in the three months ending in March, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported on Thursday, weaker than expected although slightly faster than the 5.3 percent expansion in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The ugly break-up of the UniTeam awakened a sleeping giant – Duterte’s diehard supporters who love toxicity as much as they love the former president. You could see it in our timelines – all those brazen attacks against anyone who goes against Rody Duterte and the spread of fake news and disinformation.

The results of yesterday’s elections could spell the difference between a better political climate in the country or not. It is significant because it comes after the collapse of the UniTeam.
Depending on who will be elected – especially to the Senate – we may see an administration even more distracted and consumed by political survival, unless of course, that is actually the goal: to keep Filipinos distracted and, to a certain extent, entertained by this ongoing real-life soap opera.

The stakes are high, for sure. That was easily felt last weekend before the elections as concerned citizens, through their social media accounts, made a last-ditch effort to convince people not to vote based on the survey results but for those they truly believe to be competent and sincere.

Here’s hoping, too, that Filipinos voted for their future – the kind that’s built by statesmen over years, even decades, and not the future that ayudas build, as today’s lawmakers would have us believe.

Dark horse for the next SEC chairperson

Last week, I wrote about possible contenders for the next chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a most crucial role, especially in the development of the country’s capital markets and in guarding the corporate sector against bad eggs.
Just to add to that is another name: former Philippine Stock Exchange president Francis Lim, who I’m hearing is a dark horse.

An ACCRA Law lawyer, Lim is a known securities and capital markets expert. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the Ateneo de Manila University with Second Honors, and with a Bachelor of Philosophy from UST, graduating magna cum laude.

I also heard another name – lawyer Carmela Esquivas-Lumagui, the wife of BIR Commissioner Jun Lumagui Jr.

SEC Chairman Emil Aquino’s seven-year term expires on June 6, 2025.

I previously reported on the five topnotch lawyers who are possible contenders for the position – government corporate counsel Solomon Hermosura, SEC Commissioner Rogelio Quevedo, former GOCC chairman Cesar Villanueva, Romulo Mabanta Of Counsel Susana Fong and Philippine Stock Exchange COO Roel Refran.

Of course, as I also said, Aquino may be reappointed, given his experience and accomplishments at the SEC – having issued the most number of cease and desist orders against pyramiding and boiler-room operations of pseudo investment firms.

As chairman, appointed in 2018, he is credited for institutionalizing digital reforms at the SEC, making its operations more efficient and stepping up efforts against investment scams, among other initiatives.

It’s a wait-and-see stance for now. Malacañang has not made any announcement as of this writing, but for sure, it’s going to be a crucial choice.

The SEC needs a competent, credible and incorruptible lawyer with institutional knowledge of securities laws who is also attuned to the changing times – especially in this Black Mirror-esque age of scams and rapid technological shifts.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on X @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.