Yuchengco bets see ‘convincing’ win in PSE polls

With the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) elections just three days away, the slate led by Alicia Arroyo of RCBC Securities is predicting a "convincing" victory in the battle for the seven board seats reserved for the broker-members.

Rodolfo Cruz of HK Securities, who is running for one of the two slots designated for small brokers, said the Arroyo team – backed up by Philippine Stock Exchange chairperson Vivian Yuchengco – has the "edge" over its competitors, led by AB Capital Securities’ Filomeno Francisco and supported by Yuchengco’s archrival Robert Coyiuto Jr.

"I think they will be outnumbered," Cruz said, pointing out that the issues that have been raised by the other group only muddled their chances of gaining more support from the PSE members.

He said rumors have also circulated that the Coyiuto group may boycott the general membership meeting instead and withdraw from the elections, although this has yet to be confirmed.

Coyiuto has been at odds with Yuchengco dating back to the existence of the Manila and Makati Stock Exchanges until the early 90s. Their feud heightened last year when Yuchengco won over Coyiuto as PSE chairman despite the latter’s dominance in the brokers’ seats, as the crucial votes of the majority non-broker directors provided the swing votes in Yuchengco’s favor.

This year, however, both were prevailed upon by President Arroyo herself to desist from running again to resolve the internal conflict within the board, unify the bourse, smoothly implement reform measures, and liven up the stock market anew.

But despite their absence, the broker-candidates have aligned themselves to either the Coyiuto or Yuchengco camps.

Aside from Cruz and Arroyo – the President’s sister-in-law who was last year’s top vote-getter – their allied candidates are Gregorio Kilayko of ABN-Amro Securities; Marita Limlingan of Regina Capital; Joseph Madrid of Phil-Equity Partners; Myron Timothy Papa of Papa Securities; and William Ang of Astra Securities.

On the other hand, those in Francisco’s slate are Paulino Soo of Abacus Securities; Harry Liu of Summit Securities; Eddie Gobing of Lucky Securities; and Federico Lim of Belson Securities – all reelectionists; Joseph Roxas of Eagle Equities, and Gregorio Chan of Tri-State Securities.

The candidates will vie for seven of the 15 seats in the board, five to represent the big brokers (with a combined value turnover and paid-up capital of P500 million and above in 2002) and two for small brokers (less than P500 million in combined value).

The remaining eight slots are for the non-brokers, as required by the Securities Regulation Code. Four have already been shortlisted as independent directors, one of the many issues raised by the Coyiuto group, while the other four will represent the interests of issuer companies (2), investors (1) and other market participants (1).