4 SSS execs also liable for graft
tem used and The (SSS) personally their four officials positions Social profit who Security to from engage allegedly trading Sys- in stocks are liable under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, a senior administration lawmaker said yesterday.
“By investing their own money, not that of the SSS, which have been entrusted to them by virtue of their positions, these SSS officials may have caused undue injury to the government,” Rep. Sherwin Tugna said.
“Our people’s money could have grown and such amounts
could be utilized to pay the increased pensions of our retirees from the private sector,” the chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on suffrage and electoral reforms said.
Tugna warned that the “apparent insider trading committed by the stockbrokers and the SSS officials could have deleterious effects on our whole system of trading securities and can question the capability of the government to implement laws and regulations.”
“A congressional inquiry is warranted so that all acts of malfeasance shall be dealt with accordingly,” the congressman from party-list Citizens Battle Against Corruption said, noting that there may also have been violations of the Securities Regulations Code.
“I believe that Congress, through its oversight powers, should investigate the matter and ensure that the hardearned money of the SSS members were not compromised in this whole fiasco,” Tugna said.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate filed another resolution last Monday before the committee on banks and financial intermediaries seeking the investigation of the alleged trading anomalies of the officials.
He filed House Resolution 1434 that calls for the House committee on good government and public accountability to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into allegations of profiteering and conflict of interest.
Zarate asked the committee headed by Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel to hold a parallel investigation on the exposé of SSS chairman Amado Valdez and commissioner Jose Gabriel La Viña submitted to the banks committee of Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone.
“With this latest development of conflict-of-interest dealing SSS executives, it would also be prudent to conduct an audit on all the assets of the SSS board members and other officials,” Zarate said.
In House Resolution 1433, Evardone claimed that the stock trading anomalies led to “investments opportunity losses” for the state-run pension fund.
The opposition lawmaker also wants a lifestyle check on the SSS executives “to ensure that they are not profiting from their positions in the agency while at the same time pushing for contribution increase or burdening the members.”
The House resolution comes on the heels of an administrative complaint filed by La Viña against executive vice president for investments Rizaldy Capulong and three other officials of the pension fund for private sector employees.
Other officials named in the complaint are equities investment division chief Reginald Candelaria, equities product development head Ernesto Francisco Jr. and chief actuary George Ongkeko Jr.
The SSS officials supposedly made a killing in the stock market by trading stocks on their own via the same stockbrokers managing the pension fund’s portfolio.
In his resolution, Zarate noted it was “unjust” for SSS members to suffer additional burden from the negative implications of the controversy while facing the prospect of higher monthly contributions.
The officials in charge of increasing and improving the members’ fund-life through prudent and high-return investments are now supposedly the same individuals “sabotaging” the members’ funds, according to the lawmaker.
Zarate has called for the SSS to freeze all bank and financial accounts and seize the supposed stock positions of the officials allegedly involved in the controversy.
Reports of bribery
La Viña revealed yesterday he is investigating reports of alleged bribery involving at least two of the four he had earlier charged in an administrative complaint.
During the Pandesal Forum in Quezon City, La Viña said he received reports as early as July that “a minimum of two” officials in the investments sector of the SSS have been allegedly receiving cash bribes from a stockbroker.
La Viña said these reports have yet to be verified. He also declined to name who among the four officials are involved.
“I already informed (SSS president and chief executive officer) Emmanuel Dooc that there are reports… that at least one stockbroker may be paying cash bribes to officials employed in the SSS investment sector,” La Viña said.
“The amount reported is allegedly in the six-figure range paid on a monthly basis, based on the volume of business given by the SSS to the stockbroker,” he said.
According to La Viña, the alleged bribery may be happening to influence the accreditation of stockbrokers in the SSS or to increase the transactions done by the state fund in favor of the involved stockbroker.
“We will know in Congress (what the bribes are for), but what these can influence are the accreditation and the volume of trades,” he said.
La Viña said he may file another complaint against the officials if he finds enough evidence to prove that the allegations are true.
“If we have probable cause, there may even be no action on my part. The ombudsman might file charges against them, the National Bureau of Investigation might conduct a probe,” he added.
The commissioner had also hinted that there are other reports of anomalous activities within the SSS that have not yet been made public.
He expressed full support for the congressional probe, saying he will fully cooperate with the committees and turn over documents to them.
Reforms in the SSS
La Viña said he is proposing some reforms within the SSS to make sure corrupt and abusive practices are prevented in the future.
These reforms include prohibiting top officials of the state fund from investing in the stock market and removing subjectivity in the accreditation of stockbrokers.