Emilio Benito Aquino is the first CPA-Lawyer appointed as Chairperson and CEO of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce major in Accounting, Magna Cum Laude and Valedictorian at the Universidad de Zamboanga in 1984. He hurdled the CPA Licensure Exams with a rating of 89.14%. He finished his law studies at San Beda College where he was a Dean’s Lister and Silver Medalist. He placed 16th in the 1992 Bar Exams.

After a successful decade-long practice as a CPA Lawyer, he returned to the SEC where he earlier on rose through the ranks to become the youngest Director of its former Prosecution and Enforcement (PED) and Non-Traditional Securities and Instruments (NTD) Departments. He also headed the SEC Davao and Zamboanga Extension Offices. Concurrently, he is the Chairperson of the government-controlled Credit Information Corporation, as well as Chair of the Microfinance NGO Regulatory Council. He is a sitting member of the Anti-Money Laundering Council. He also chairs the ASEAN Capital Market Forum Corporate Governance Working Group.

He is the Supervising Commissioner for the Enforcement and Investor Protection Department; Information and Communications Department; and the Offices of the General Counsel and Commission Secretary. He led the recent sweep against investment scams, and illegal and abusive lenders and is now the SEC’s point man on Fintech, Blockchain and Digital Assets. He created the PhiliFinTech Innovation Office.

As Chairperson and CEO of SEC, he placed digital innovation as a vital component of the SEC SuperVision 2028 to ensure the Commission’s success in the fulfilment of its mandate as overseer of the corporate sector, regulator of the capital markets, and champion of the investing public. To this end, the SEC under his leadership crafted its Digital Transformation and Technology Modernization Roadmap.

His leadership has brought international recognitions to the SEC for promoting ease of doing business, good corporate governance and sustainability. In 2019 and 2022, the SEC was recognized in Geneva, Switzerland among the top recipients of the United Nations ISAR Honours for best practices in the area of sustainability and SDG reporting of companies. In 2023, the Corporate Registers Forum conferred the CRF Innovation Award to the SEC for the digitalization of its company registration system, elevating the SEC Electronic Simplified Processing of Applications for Registration of Companies (eSPARC) as one of the world’s best. At home, the SEC was conferred the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission Award for innovative measures undertaken in the delivery of public service. Further, SEC maintained its distinction as among the best performing government agencies per the Makati Business Club/MAP survey.

For upholding excellence in public service, he also earned the distinction from the Board of Accountancy, as one of the Top 100 CPAs of the century. The Professional Regulation Commission hailed him as the 2023 Outstanding Professional of the Year in the Field of Accountancy while the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants conferred to him the Outstanding CPA in Government Award. On the other hand, JCI Senate Philippines bestowed upon him the 2023 Most Outstanding JCI Senator in the Philippines Award in the Field of Government Service/Public Administration. Rotary International District 3850 presented to him the Exemplary Rotarian Award and the Cliff Dochterman Award from the International Fellowship of Scouting Rotarians. His very recent award for 2024 is the Distinguished Bedan in Government Service by his alma mater, San Beda University.

He is a Major Donor Level 2 of The Rotary Foundation and was the President of the Rotary Club of Zamboanga City West for RY 2009 to 2010 capping the Most Outstanding President plum plus 14 major District Awards and 6 Rotary International Citations and Distinctions. He is a Past President of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Zambasulta Chapter which was recognized under his able leadership as the country’s Best IBP Chapter during the 15th National Convention of Lawyers in Cebu City. He was elected President of the UZ Alumni Association and was thrice awarded as the Most Outstanding Alumnus of Universidad de Zamboanga in the field of Law, Business and Accountancy. He was also awarded as Outstanding Silver Jubilarian of San Beda Law ’92. He is also, presently, the Senior Vice President of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines National Executive Board and the recipient of all the BSP Tamaraw and Usa Awards.

For spearheading the digital transformation of the SEC leading to the significant improvement of ease of doing business in the Philippines, he was named the first ever Public Sector Innovator in the 2023 Mansmith Innovation Awards, and CEO of the Year in the 2022 IDC Future Enterprise Awards. He was also awarded the Orgullo de Zamboanga Premiar (the Highest Pride of Zamboanga) Award.

Atty. Javey Paul Durban Francisco is a career public servant who has been with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for over 20 years. He rose from the ranks starting out as a Securities Counsel II in 2001, promoted to Securities Counsel III in 2003, then Officer-in-charge in 2005. Prior to his appointment as Commissioner by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on April 18, 2018, he was the SEC’s Director for its Davao Extension Office, a position he has held since 2007. Said Office has jurisdiction over SEC operations in Regions XI, XII and some parts of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Atty. Francisco was reappointed in 2022 for a 7
year term.

Atty. Francisco currently supervises the Company Registration and Monitoring Department (CRMD) which is in-charge of the registration and monitoring of corporations and partnerships. In such capacity, he is also in the forefront of Ease of Doing Business efforts of the Commission. He also supervises the Human Resource and Administration Department (HRAD) as well as the Commission’s ten Extension Offices throughout the country.

His professional career as a lawyer began with a stint at the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala and Cruz Law Offices or ACCRALaw. While at ACCRA, he handled various corporate, labor, litigation as well as public interest cases. He joined the government service in 2001 with a short stay at the Office of the Ombudsman for Mindanao. In the same year, he transferred to the SEC.

Atty. Francisco is a product of the Ateneo de Davao University where he studied from elementary up to law school. He earned his Bachelor of Arts major in Philosophy degree in 1991 and his law degree in 1995. He was admitted to the Bar in 1996. In 2005, he earned his Master in Management degree from the University of the Philippines in Mindanao. After completing the Executive Leadership Program of the Career Executive Service Board, he was granted Career Executive Service Eligibility in 2010.

His professional and civic affiliations include the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Davao City Chapter and the National Union of Career Executive Service Officers or NUCESO. He was a director and treasurer of the Association of Regional Executives of National Agencies in Region XI (ARENA XI). He was also a former member of the board of trustees of the Ateneo de Davao University Alumni Association, a life member of the Mindanao Amateur Radio Association or MINDARA and is a Past Master of Datu Bago Masonic Lodge No. 197 of the Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines.

Commissioner Karlo S. Bello is a lawyer with extensive experience in government affairs and public policy. He took his oath of office as commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 27 August 2019.
Atty. Bello previously served as undersecretary for field operations and policy, planning and research at the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the lead government agency ensuring the equitable distribution and cultivation of agricultural lands in the country.

At the DAR, Atty. Bello was designated as ex-officio member of the DAR Adjudication Board; chairperson of the Policy Review and Formulation Committee; vice-chairperson of the National Task Force on Land Inventory; vice-chairperson of the Technical Review Committee for the Project Beneficiaries Development/ Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development Support Program Monitoring and Evaluation System; and member of the Agrarian Law Implementation Rules Consolidation Team.

He was also the chairperson of the special team that represented the DAR in the InterAgency Task Force in the Formulation of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Executive Order No. 75, Series of 2019, which directs the identification of lands owned by the government devoted to or suitable for agriculture for distribution to qualified beneficiaries.

In addition, he was designated as the department’s permanent and alternate representative to and as an action officer of the Task Force Bangon Marawi; chairperson of Task Force Agrarian Reform Boracay Island; vice-chairperson of Task Force Negros Oriental; and chairperson of the special task force constituted to address the Hacienda Nene incident in 2018.

Atty. Bello also served as councilor in Davao City for three terms from 2007 to 2016, becoming acting vice mayor and acting mayor in several occasions. As councilor, he was the president pro tempore and chairperson of the standing committees on Finance, Ways and Means and Appropriations, and Civil Political and Human Rights; and vice-chairperson of the committees on Youth and Sports, Labor and Employment Opportunities, City-owned Real Properties, Peace and Public Safety, and Ethics and Good Government.

Prior to joining the government, Atty. Bello engaged in private law practice. He is a founding partner at Tiongco Siao Bello & Associates, a full-service law firm based in Ortigas Center, Pasig City with branches in Cebu City and Davao City. He left the law firm following his appointment to the DAR.

Atty. Bello graduated from the University of the Philippines with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 2000. He then earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo Law School in 2005. He would specialize in administrative law, after his admission to the Philippine Bar in 2007.

Atty. McJill Bryant T. Fernandez was appointed as Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission on 08 March 2022. He currently supervises the Corporate Governance and Finance Department, which is the lead SEC department on, among others, (i) the formulation of corporate governance-related policies; (ii) regulation of foundations, issuers of proprietary and non-proprietary shares, mutual fund companies, investment companies and public companies; (iii) governance of the Microfinance NGO Regulatory Council; and (iv) the implementation of sustainability reporting across entities in the Philippine corporate sector.

He likewise supervises the (a) Financial Management Department of the Commission, which is the budgeting, treasury and accounting office of the SEC, tasked to develop financial policies and guidelines, as well as ensure complete and transparent accounting and reporting of the SEC’s financial transactions; and (b) Financing and Lending Companies Division, which is specifically tasked to regulate and monitor the financing and lending industries in accordance with the Financing Company Act and Lending Companies Regulation Act, among others.

Commissioner Fernandez heads the SEC’s own Sustainability Committee, which handles the sustainability initiatives within the Commission, the SEC Department Legislative Liaison Office which is the focal body on the Commission’s legislative agenda and coordinates with both Houses of Congress for the said purpose, and the Commission’s National Competition Policy Committee which ensures consistency of SEC issuances with prevailing competition policies and regulations promulgated by the Philippine Competition Commission

Before joining the SEC, he served as Deputy Executive Secretary for General Administration (DESGA) under the Office of the President, where he assisted the Executive Secretary in articulating policy directives of the President through Executive Orders, Administrative Orders, Proclamations and other ordinances, evaluated treaties, executive agreements, foreign borrowings and grants, processed the establishment of special economic zones, and addressed policy, legal and governance concerns of various national government agencies, and government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs).

He concurrently represented the Office of the President and the Executive Secretary in the Board of oversight and interagency bodies, including the Development Budget Coordination Committee, the Fiscal Incentives Review Board under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, National Economic Development Authority Board – Investment Coordination Committee, as well as the Cabinet Clusters on Infrastructure, Economic Development, Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Disaster Risk Reduction, and Human Development and Poverty Reduction.

Commissioner Fernandez likewise served in the governing boards of different GOCCs, including the Laguna Lake Development Authority, Development Academy of the Philippines, and the Philippine Center for Economic Development.

Prior to his role as DESGA, Commissioner Fernandez worked at the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs and handled the review of government contracts, recommendations for executive clemency, and resolution of cases from agencies exercising quasi-judicial functions, as well as administrative disciplinary cases of presidential appointees and local chief executives

Commissioner Fernandez graduated cum laude from the University of the Philippines – Manila with a Bachelor of Arts degree, major in Political Science, and with second honors from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. He was admitted to the bar in April 2009.

Commissioner Rogelio V. Quevedo was until recently the Government Corporate Counsel (GCC), the statutory legal counsel of all government-owned and controlled corporations, their subsidiaries, affiliates, and instrumentalities. As GCC, he has control and supervision over all the legal departments of almost a thousand corporations, like GSIS, SSS, LBP, DBP, PAGCOR, PCSO, MIAA, Cebu Airport, CAAP, MWSS, and LWUA, even water districts in all municipalities all over the country.

Prior to his stint with OGCC, Commissioner Quevedo has been with the faculty of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law since 1986, having served as Director of the Bar Review Institute and the Division of Continuing Legal Education now known as the Training and Convention Division. He has been teaching Civil Law and Commercial Law subjects, particularly Obligations and Contracts Negotiable Instruments and Corporation Law, where he still remains Chair of the Commercial Law Cluster.

After graduation, Professor Quevedo was with the Presidential Management Staff, Office of the President, and later as Chief of the Intelligence Division of the Commission on Immigration until February, 1986.

A graduate of the UP College of Law, he is a product of the UP Preparatory School and the UP School of Economics. He obtained his Master of Laws from Louisiana State University and Doctor of the Science of Jurisprudence (JSD) from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was among the bar topnotchers in the 1981 Bar Exams.

Commissioner Quevedo has been an IT law practitioner since 1983, and was Executive Head of the MANCOM of PLDT SMART and Senior Vice President of the International Business Division.

He was a member of the COMELEC Advisory Council from 2011 to 2017, as its IT expert. He is also a former President of the Philippine Information and Communications Technology Organization (PICTO) and currently the Treasurer of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations, a private think tank group of retired diplomats, national security experts, and business leaders.