Commission (SEC) Emilio Benito Aquino is the first CPA-Lawyer appointed as Chairperson and CEO of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He will serve for a term of seven years. He assumed office last June 7, 2018. He was earlier appointed as SEC Commissioner on December 2, 2016.

Upon his assumption as SEC Chairman, he helped shepherd the passage of the Revised Corporation Code, a landmark legislation that was signed into law by President Rodrigo R. Duterte last February 21, 2019.

Under his leadership, SEC was awarded in Geneva, Switzerland as one of the top recipients of the United Nations ISAR Honours 2019 for best practice in the area of sustainability and SDG reporting of companies. The Commission was also conferred the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission Award for innovative measures undertaken in the delivery of public service and presently getting Special Commendations from the Anti-Red Tape Authority for its Ease of Doing of Business Initiatives. Further, SEC maintained its distinction as among the best performing government agencies per the Makati Business Club survey. SEC has received the highest audit rating from the Commission on Audit for three consecutive years. SEC was likewise recognized by the Government Quality Management Committee for its ISO Certification 9001 2015 covering all core processes and all sites.

Atty. Rachel Esther Gumtang-Remalante is the Director of the Corporate Governance and Finance Department (CGFD) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Since joining the SEC, Atty. Remalante has led the Department in the development and implementation of corporate governance policies, in providing necessary rules and regulations to investment companies, financing and lending companies, as well as the monitoring of the companies under the jurisdiction of the CGFD.

Among Atty. Remalante’s notable accomplishments include the issuance of the Sustainability Reporting Guidance which was awarded an ISAR Honours 2019 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development last 30 October 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland; improving the Philippines’ rank in the World Bank Doing Business Survey.

Atty. Remalante is a lawyer from the University of Santo Tomas and has completed her academic requirements in Executive Master in Development Management, major in Public Finance from the Asian Institute of Management.

She started her stint in the Commission as a processing attorney at the then Corporate and Legal Department, now the Company Registration and Monitoring Department.

She was briefly assigned to the then Securities Investigation and Clearing Department to complement the hearing lawyers that handled the then quasi-judicial function of the SEC.

Then she decided to join the then Enforcement and Prosecution Department, now Enforcement and Investor Protection Department. There she was promoted to being a Chief Counsel. She and her team investigated together with other government enforcement agencies and caused the filing of several criminal cases against illegal forex trading and boiler room operations of shady entities who victimized numerous foreign clients from Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and other countries into buying non-existent securities. For this she was given a commendation letter from the Commission.

Then she transferred to the then Corporate Finance Department, now Corporate Governance and Finance Department to supervise the issuers of non-proprietary shares.

After that she joined the then Non-Traditional Securities and Instruments Department as a Division Head and helped the pre-need plan holders on their claims against their respective pre-need companies.

Lastly, she joined the then Market Regulation Department, now Markets and Securities Regulation Department where she was promoted as the Assistant Director of the Investment Products and Services Division.

Mr. John G. Garcia is an economist and capital markets professional with extensive experience in the
Philippine equities market. He has been in the industry for over ten years and is currently the Head of
the Market Education Department of The Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc.

Throughout his career at the Exchange, Mr. Garcia held various positions in the marketing services and
the trading operations at the PSE, implementing 17 major projects. Currently, he is the program director
for the PSE Certified Securities Specialist Course which the Exchange conducts with partner universities.

Mr. Garcia has a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics and a master’s degree in Management, both
received from the University of the Philippines. He is also a PSE Certified Securities Specialist – a course
he completed at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business.

Michael V. Ferrer, Filipino, is the President and CEO of ATR Asset Management, Inc. and other related entities which include ATRAM Investment Management Partners Corp., ATR KimEng AMG Holdings, and BHF Partners Holdings. He also serves as a Director of ATRAM Trust Corporation and Seedbox Technologies, Inc. Prior to ATRAM, he spent 15 years with ING group where he took on various roles in risk management, treasury, and fund management. His roles in ING include Chief Executive Officer of ING Investment Management Philippines, Country Manager for ING’s fund management company in Taiwan, and Regional General Manager for South Asia based in Hong Kong. Before his career at ING, he worked in private equity and pursued various entrepreneurial interests. He has a Bachelor of Economics degree (magna cum laude) from the University of the Philippines. Mr. Ferrer also serves as trustee, director or advisor of several industry associations including the Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA), the Fintech Alliance of the Philippines, CFA Society Philippines, Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp – Market Governance Board, and the Bankers Association of the Philippines Capital Market Development Committee.

Charles William Ang is currently the Head of Research at COL Financial – a position that he has earned through more than a decade of analyzing companies since joining the firm in 2010. He also serves as Director for Curriculum Development and Senior Faculty Instructor at the Caylum Trading Institute, a premiere educational facility in the Philippines that aims to develop successful traders of global markets. As an advocate of financial literacy, he regularly conducts stock market and financial analysis seminars for COL Financial, Caylum, and CFA Society Philippines.

Charles graduated cum laude from the Ateneo de Manila University with a Bachelor of Science in Management Engineering degree in 2009. He became a CFA Charterholder in 2013.

Lito Villanueva is the Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer for RCBC. Concurrently, he is the Chief Digital Transformation Advisor for the Yuchengco Group of Companies. He is also the founding chairman of Fintech Alliance.ph, a digital organization of more than 70 top companies generating over 90% of Fintech-initiated transaction volume in the Philippines.

Mr. Villanueva is the Philippines’ leading and award- winning thought leader on digital transformation and inclusive digital finance. Recently, he was named the Chief Innovation Officer of the Year by the Financial Times-owned “The Banker” at its Innovation in Digital Banking Awards 2021.
He has over 25 years of experience in banking, telecommunications, payments, development finance, advisory, emerging regulations, and financial technology. He has merited over 60 global and regional awards, including being named as one of the Top 100 FinTech Leaders in Asia and “Mr. Fintech of the Philippines” by BizNewsAsia.

He earned two post graduate degrees, i.e, Master in National Security Administration at the National Defense College of the Philippines, its youngest graduate, thus far, and Master of Arts in Public Administration graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors at the University of Santo Tomas. He has an executive course on digital disruption by design at the Center of Alternative Finance at the Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Mr. Mariño is currently serving as Acting Deputy Treasury of the Philippines the Philippines’ Bureau of the Treasury. In this role he supervises the Asset Management, Accounting and Research operations of the Treasury. Prior to this, he was the Director of the Asset Management Service, overseeing the cash and investment management operations of the Bureau. He has also served as the Division Chief of the Bureau’s Fund Management Division for nearly five years from 2014 – 2019. This Division is the “trading arm” of the Bureau tasked with managing the investible funds of the Philippine National Government.

Prior to his stint in the Treasury, he was a planning officer in the Department of Finance from 2010 to 2013, responsible for processing multilateral ODA Loans and implementing technical assistance grants for Contingent Liability Management and Disaster Risk Financing.

Mr. Mariño earned his Master of Arts in Public Policy/International Program from the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy.