(Eagle News) — A complaint has been filed against a high-ranking Social Security System official after he allegedly traded stocks for his personal portfolio by using his position and the same stockbrokers who manage the SSS portfolio.
A report written by Daxim Lucas published in the Inquirer on Oct. 31 said apart from Rizaldy Capulong, the fund’s executive vice president for investments, Reginald Candelaria, equities investment division chief; Ernesto Francisco Jr., head of the equities product development; and George Ongkeko Jr., chief actuary; are facing complaints for “serious dishonesty and grave misconduct.”
According to the report, SSS Commissioner Jose Gabriel La Vina, who filed the complaints, said Candelaria, Ongkeko and Francisco “have a major role in approving stockbrokers and allocating trades.”
La Vina said in the report that the previous SSS administration had required SSS officials to declare all their investments for approval by their superiors to prevent abuses.
But Candelaria and Francisco endorsed each other’s stock purchases–which were done by a broker who was also accredited to handle the SSS portfolio– while Capulong approved them.
La Vina was also quoted as saying that Candelaria, Francisco and Ongkeko had a “direct hand in allocating trades to the many stockbrokers accredited with the pension fund, thus being able to decide which brokerage would enjoy the commissions from the SSS buying and selling of shares on the Philippine Stock Exchange.”
“It’s a conflict of interest. And our rules [define] conflict of interest as ‘real or apparent’ on its face,” La Vina was quoted as saying.