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THE
Securities and Exchange Commission collected last year
P691,000 from 17 stockbrokers as penalties for
violations of various rules of the commission. In
addition, the SEC, as securities regulator, required the
Philippine Stock Exchange to make public the name of the
violators and the amount of fine they paid. This is one
SEC action that should be commendable; it shows the
agency has the guts in implementing its rules.
SEC
officials have made a point in dealing with
stockbrokers: Follow the rule or else suffer the
consequence of not obeying. But perhaps, they do not
know that the perception among some stockbrokers is that
the commission could only be strict with them but not
with the market’s major players – the listed companies.
It is not important here to point out to commission
officials that they are practically engaged in selective
application of the rule. If not then, why has the
commission not disclosed yet to the public the details
of the 2001 secret agreement between Eduardo Cojuangco
Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of San Miguel
Corp. and Kirin Brewery Ltd. of Japan?
***
Mortgage redemption insurance.
Does the Government Insurance System have an existing
policy requiring borrowers to obtain mortgage redemption
insurance only from GSIS? Is a life insurance policy a
borrower obtained from a private insurer like
Manufacturers Life, one of the world’s biggest insurers,
to serve as a substitute for GSIS-issued MRI not good
enough for GSIS? Perhaps, GSIS president Winston Garcia
would want to enlighten the public on whatever rule his
people follow in processing housing loans. If not, then
the Insurance Commission should audit GSIS on the MRIs
it has issued to find out if the fund has been
maintaining favored insurers – if any.
In
this connection, perhaps, Mr. Garcia would also want to
inform housing loan borrowers whether or not GSIS has
any plan of reducing its lending rates as commercial
banks have been doing in the face of falling interest
rates. Otherwise, GSIS borrowers may seek out big
commercial banks like ChinaTrust to see if they can
transfer their GSIS loans to them for lower charges.
***
The
good news.
The Chua family has been baking hopia for over 80 years.
Eng Bee Tin, the name of the company that is synonymous
with the bread that the Chuas have been making, has been
expanding the label in creating various kinds of hopia
that used to be limited only to two kinds —the so-called
old-time favorites, munggo and baboy. For
one, Eng Bee Tin has pioneered in ube hopia, now Eng Bee
Tin’s bestseller.
Gerry
Chua of the family’s fourth generation now runs the
company. With him managing the company, what’s in store
for its patrons as far as future plans are concerned?
Gerry says Eng Bee Tin plans to go public but not in the
sense that it would undertake an initial public offering
of shares. It could not because it is a
single-proprietorship entity. Public here, in Gerry’s
vocabulary, means tapping the public to sell his
products through affordable distributorship, which would
not require franchise fee. The distributorship could
effectively operate on trust and confidence between
Gerry and the distributors. Let’s see how he would
implement this marketing strategy. |
