5 topnotch lawyers among contenders
MANILA, Philippines — Five of the country’s top lawyers are in the running to become the next chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as the seven-year term of incumbent Duterte appointee Emilio Aquino ends on June 6, 2025.
While Malacañang has yet to announce who will be the country’s next top corporate regulator, industry sources told The STAR that the most prominent names floating in the grapevine are five legal luminaries: government corporate counsel Solomon Hermosura, SEC commissioner Rogelio Quevedo, former GOCC chairman Cesar Villanueva, Romulo Mabanta counsel Susana Fong and Philippine Stock Exchange COO Roel Refran.
The Securities Regulation Code requires the SEC chairperson to be a lawyer.
Hermosura, who placed third in the 1986 bar exam, is currently the government corporate counsel. He was former managing director and chief legal officer of Ayala Corp, among many other leadership positions in the Ayala Group of Companies, for decades. He is also a faculty member at San Beda University – College of Law.
Quevedo, who placed 10th in the 1981 bar exam, was appointed SEC commissioner last year. Prior to this, Quevedo served as the government corporate counsel from September 2022 until early 2024. He has been an information technology (IT) law expert since 1983 and held significant positions in the telecommunications industry, including serving as the executive head of the management committee of PLDT-Smart.
Villanueva, who placed second in the 1981 bar exam and sixth in the 1982 CPA board exam, is a CPA-lawyer like Aquino.
He is currently a partner at Villanueva Gabionza Law Office, with practice in commercial and corporate law, securities law, banking and finance, foreign investment, mergers and acquisition.
He previously served as chairman of the government commission for government owned and controlled corporations from 2011 to 2016 He graduated cum laude from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law in 1981.
Fong rejoined Romulo Law as counsel after retiring from a career in investment banking, trust and investments, private banking and insurance.
She received her bachelor of laws degree from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1985, the same class as First Lady Liza Araneta.
She was admitted to the Philippine bar in 1986 and joined Romulo Law until she pursued a career in banking and insurance for more than two decades, according to her profile at the law firm.
Refran, fourth placer in the 1999 bar exam, is currently COO of the PSE. He was an associate at Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices, and associate at SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan.
Refran is a CPA-lawyer who holds an MBA from Emory University USA where he was a Fulbright scholar. He earned his BS Business Administration and Accountancy degree, magna cum laude, from the University of the Philippines and his Juris Doctor degree (second honors) from the Ateneo University School of Law.
Aside from these five names, however, it is also possible that a dark horse may emerge, sources said.
Technically, Aquino may also be reappointed.
Aquino, a Zamboangueño, was appointed SEC commissioner in 2016, rising from the ranks to become the youngest director of its former prosecution and enforcement and non-traditional securities and instruments departments.
He is credited for having issued the most number of cease and desist orders against pyramiding and boiler-room operations of pseudo-investment firms.
He placed 16th in the 1992 bar exam.
He is credited for institution digital reforms at the SEC, making its operations more efficient and for stepping up efforts against investments scams, among other initiatives.