President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has named lawyer and former Philippines Stock Exchange president Francis Edralin Lim as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Com-mission (SEC), effective this week.
In a briefing in Malacañang, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said Lim will take over from the incumbent chairman Emilio Aquino, whose term will expire on June 5.
Bersamin said Lim’s leadership of the SEC is expected to strengthen investor confidence and further promote transparency, innovation and inclusive growth in the Philippine finan-cial sector.
“Attorney Lim is a distinguished member of the legal and financial communities. He has made significant contributions to investor protection and market transparency through both his professional work and academic involvement. He brings to this office decades of experience in corporate law, governance, and capital markets
regulation,” Bersamin added.
Lim is a senior partner at the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (AC-CRALAW), and served as president of the Shareholders Association of the Philippines, vice president of the Management association of the Philippines, and a trustee of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, CIBI Foundations and the Judicial Reform Initiative.
He also served as president and chief executive officer of the PSE from 2004 to 2010 and held key positions in various institutions.
He is a law professor at the Ateneo Law School and the San Beda College Graduate School of Law. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Asso-ciation. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1981.
As this developed, the SEC expressed hope that the signing of the Capital Markets Efficien-cy Promotion Act (CMEPA or RA 12214) last week would spur increased investment in the securities market.
A landmark piece of legislation that lowered the tax rate on capital market-related transac-tions, CMEPA, was signed on Thursday of last week.
Outgoing SEC chairman Emilio Aquino viewed the new law as a boost to the SEC’s “ability as a regulator to create an environment that not only increases capital market accessibility to more Filipinos, but also builds trust and confidence in long-term investing.”
Salient provisions of the CMEPA include the reduction of the stock transaction tax to 0.1 percent from 0.6 percent, as well as the lowering of the documentary stamp tax (DST) on the original issue of shares to 0.75 percent from 1 percent.
Aquino said the removal of the DST on mutual funds and unit investment trust funds (UITFs), along with the tax exemption on income derived from the redemption of such units, would encourage more Filipinos to participate in long-term investment vehicles and deep-en the country’s capital markets.
The CMEPA standardizes the final withholding tax on interest income at 20 percent, thereby simplifying compliance across various investment instruments.
The CMEPA also aims to harmonize the capital gains tax to a flat 15 percent on shares of foreign corporations, align the Philippine tax regime with global standards, and help attract more foreign investment.
Aquino said the new law is also expected to attract more Filipinos to increase their retire-ment funds through the Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA), by enabling em-ployers to claim an additional 50 percent tax deduction for PERA contributions, provided they match or exceed the employee’s contribution.
Meanwhile, Bersamin also announced that President Marcos had declined the courtesy resignations of Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr., Bureau of Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio, and National Treasurer Sharon Almanza.
This means they will continue to serve in their respective offices,” he said, adding that Malacañang had to make the announcement on who had been retained “to clear the uncer-tainties in many agencies and offices”.
The president had requested the courtesy resignation of all his cabinet secretaries, cabinet-rank appointees, agency heads, and presidential advisers and assistants as he re-viewed the performance of each individual to recalibrate his administration.
