Funa tapped as new insurance regulator

MANILA, Philippines - President Duterte has appointed Dennis Funa as the new head of the Insurance Commission (IC), replacing now Social Security System president and CEO Emmanuel Dooc.

Funa was sworn into office by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez yesterday after Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea confirmed the appointment.

As insurance commissioner, Funa will concurrently sit as a member of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), alongside Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amado Tetangco Jr. and Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Teresita Herbosa.

Despite being his appointee, Funa vowed to keep his independence from Duterte, who has been irked by alleged delays from AMLC in giving requested documents to the National Bureau of Investigation.

The documents are related to the government’s drug war.

“As AMLC member, I know I have to be independent,” Funa said.

Funa was formerly the IC deputy commissioner for legal services, having been appointed by then president Benigno Aquino III in June 2013.

He obtained his law degree at the San Beda College and passed the bar in 1992. Funa now specializes on intellectual property law and constitutional law.

He served as a legal consultant to the National Power Corp. and various members of the Congress.

Funa was also managing partner at the Funa Balayan Fortes Galandines Villagonzalo and Jimeneo Law offices.

For more than 12 years, he was placed as a national officer of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and was named “Most Outstanding Commissioner” of the IBP in 2007.

Funa also headed the Philippine delegation to various international intellectual property conventions, such as the Asia-Pacific Conference on New Technology and Enforcement of Copyright in 1995, and the World Intellectual Property Organization’s ASEAN Regional Round Table on Intellectual Property Rights Cooperation and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in Thailand in 1996.

With years of law practice, Funa has authored books on intellectual property law, administrative law and international law, among others. He currently serves as assistant professor at the De La Salle University and San Beda College.

The new commissioner has also worked in various capacities in the government before.

He first served as special assistant to the appointments secretary of the President, and director and technical assistant to the chief presidential legal counsel under the Ramos administration.

Funa also served as the executive director of the Videogram Regulatory Board (not Optical Media Board) and member of the Presidential Inter-Agency Committee on Intellectual Property Right and the National Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee. – With Prinz Magtulis