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(GMA News) A stockbroker is getting 14 years of jail time after a Pasig court ruled in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concerning its illegal trade transactions complaint it filed over two decades ago.

In a decision dated May 7, the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 67 found Johnny S. Yap of Solar Securities Inc. guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violation of Section 26(a)(I)(1) of the Revised Securities Act, now Section 24.1(a)(i) of the Republic Act No. 8799 or the Securities Regulation Code (SRC).

Yap was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment and a fine of P1 million.

The court also ordered the issuance of a warrant of arrest against Yap.

The SEC said the Pasig court ruling is the fifth conviction it secured since the SRC’s enactment in 2000.

The court ruling stemmed from a complaint filed by the SEC against Yap, who was then the president, sales manager, and director of Solar Securities, after the brokerage was found to have committed “wash sale” transactions composed of 142 buy and sell orders for stocks of Best World Resources Corporation (BW) during the months of June and October 1999.

Wash sales refer to transactions wherein the buyer and seller of the stock share a beneficial owner, according to the SEC.

A beneficial owner is any person who, directly or indirectly, has or shares voting power, which includes the power to vote, or to direct the voting of, such security; and/or investment returns or power, which includes the power to dispose of, or to direct, the disposition of such security, it said.

The corporate regulator said it formed Special Operations Group (SOG) in August 2000 to investigate the matter and found that Solar Securities’ transactions were wash sales not only because the brokerage was both the buyer and the seller in all the 71 buy order and 71 sell order transactions, but also because the offers and bids were made at very close intervals.

Section 24.1(a)(i) of the SRC states that it shall be unlawful for any person acting for himself or through a dealer or broker, directly or indirectly, to create a false or misleading appearance of active trading in any listed security traded in an exchange or any other trading market by effecting any transaction in such security which involves no change in the beneficial ownership thereof.

The Pasig court ruled that Yap, as Solar Securities’ compliance officer, had the duty to ensure that the company was compliant with the regulations and legal requirements for its trading transactions.

Thus, Yap was deemed to have directly or indirectly executed transactions. Yap also admitted that he himself executed some of the transactions.

Further, the court concluded that the transactions involved no change in the beneficial ownership.

Evidence showed that Solar Securities paid itself at the price it offered to sell the BW shares.

“In fact, no commission was paid and/or earned in all these transactions, which totally negates any appearance that Solar was transacting for its clients,” according to the decision.

Moreover, the court ruled that the transactions were entered into for the “purpose of creating a false or misleading appearance of active trading or misleading appearance with respect to the market of such security.”

BW shares were trading for 80 centavos each at the start of 1999, according to the SEC… Read More

(BusinessWorld) The Senate on Thursday approved on second reading a bill seeking to strengthen the country’s law against sexual abuse of children online.

The Senate approved Senate Bill 2209, which will repeal the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 and amend the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009.

The committees on women, science and technology and finance approved the measure on Tuesday.

Senator Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel, who endorsed the bill to the plenary, said the bill penalizes the use of digital or analog communications to sexually abuse and exploit children.

Cases of online child sexual abuse almost quadrupled in the Philippines at the height of a coronavirus pandemic from March to May 2020, according to data from the Department of Justice.

The Philippines was also among the top 10 countries that produced child porn in 2016, Ms. Baraquel said in her sponsorship speech, citing a report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)… Read More

(BusinessWorld) The House committee on ways and means has recommended that the chamber House approve the Senate’s amendments to House Bill 7068, which extends the estate tax amnesty application period by two years from the original deadline of June 14.

June 14 is the deadline stipulated in Republic Act 11213 or the Estate Tax Amnesty Act.

On Sept. 15, 2020, the chamber approved on third reading House Bill 7068, which also called for a two-year extension of RA 11213.

The House later sought to extend it by a further two years, amending the tax amnesty deadline to four years from the original “two years from the effectivity of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of this Act.”

On Thursday, however, the Senate approved on third reading its version of the bill under Senate Bill 2208 which set the new deadline at June 14, 2023.

“This representation poses no objection significant enough to merit the constitution of a bicameral conference committee,” House Committee on ways and means chairman Jose Ma. Clemente S. Salceda wrote in an aide memoire to Speaker Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco and Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, dated May 20 and made public Friday.

Mr. Salceda said the extension is a “vital piece of our COVID-19 bounce back puzzle. The estate tax amnesty will be critical to economic recovery, as it would allow property owners with unsettled estates to access bank financing or to liquidate their property to finance other needs.”

“Having estates settled will unlock the value of such properties and allow credit arising from them to be used to finance economic activities. COVID-19 quarantines also took away significant filing time from potential filers for estate taxes, such that availers did not have full opportunity to complete the estate tax amnesty process for the entire period allowed by the law.,” he added.

The House version of the bill reinstated the provision that only one return may be filed for estates involving multiple generations of decedents, which had been vetoed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte when he signed the act.

The Senate version deleted the provision, but “the President is likely to veto the same provision again if it were kept,” Mr. Salceda said.

The Senate also removed the requirement for heirs to submit “proof of settlement,” which Mr. Salceda said “is immaterial, as the Bureau of Internal Revenue can simply require such proof to be presented if so needed.”.. Read More

(BusinessWorld) Philippine shares closed the week in the green as investors went bargain-hunting amid the local bourse’s intraday low and after the US released data showing lower initial jobless claims.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) inched up by 1.61 points or 0.02% to close at 6,199.25 on Friday, while the broader all shares index increased by 2.42 points or 0.06% to 3,842.73.

“The local bourse managed to close in the green territory this Friday as bargain hunters took advantage of its intra-day dip,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Senior Research Analyst Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco said in a Viber message on Friday.

“The positive cues from Wall Street’s overnight rally caused by the decline in the US’ initial jobless claims also helped in the local market’s performance today,” Mr. Tantiangco added.

The PSEi dropped to an intraday low of 6,172.18, while the all shares index went down to 3,828.05.

Over in the US, the initial number of people filing for unemployment claims reached 444,000 for the week ending May 15, the lowest level since March of last year.

Most sectoral indices closed in the green on Friday except for financials, which declined by four points or 0.29% to 1,372.47, and services lost 3.49 points or 0.24% to end at 1,453.69.

Meanwhile, property gained 10.61 points or 0.35% to 3,000.93; mining and oil improved by 24.34 points or 0.26% to 9,311.23; holding firms climbed 7.83 points or 0.12% to finish at 6,144.54; and industrials went up by 5.88 points or 0.06% to 8,578.12.

Value turnover inched down to P5.03 billion on Friday with 1.63 billion shares switching hands, from P5.52 billion with 2.97 billion issues traded in the previous session.

Advancers bested decliners, 103 to 95, while 47 names closed unchanged. Net foreign selling went decreased to P512.74 million on Friday from the P731.23 million in net outflows logged on Thursday.

“The index downtrend remains intact and we may continue to test new lows for next week as MSCI rebalancing deadline will be on May 27, and we don’t see any significant positive catalyst to reverse sentiment for now,” AB Capital Securities, Inc. Junior Equity Analyst Lance U. Soledad said in a separate Viber message… Read More

(BusinessWorld) The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will continue to study the possibility of developing its own digital currency but will seek to build up its capacity to handle digital-currency operations.

“We are developing our capacity to adopt it but we are not in a hurry… at the moment,” Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said during the Institute of International Finance’s Asia-Pacific summit Friday, in response to a question about developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

“We remain supportive of financial innovations brought about by technological advancements knowing that new and promising enhancements to the delivery of our mandate may still arise and therefore, we will look at it as we consult with other central banks,” Mr. Diokno added.

The central bank is in possession of the results of a study conducted by a technical working group formed before the pandemic, but he did detail the findings.

Late last year, Mr. Diokno had said the BSP will continue to assess the issue of a digital currency but may not move to issue one within the next five years.

A CBDC is centralized, issued, and regulated by a central bank, and can serve as a medium of exchange or store of value. It is deemed less prone to price volatility unlikeh decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

It may also act as a representation of actual paper-based currency notes. Central banks in China, Sweden, and Singapore are among those considering the issue of CBDCs.

The BSP has cited potential benefits of such an issue, including broader financial inclusion with the decline of bills and coins, additional options for monetary policy action, and heightened competition and innovation in the financial system.

Some of the risks include privacy violations, higher banking costs, money laundering, terrorism financing and other cybersecurity issues.

On the bank’s financial inclusion goals, Mr. Diokno said the BSP retains its target of a 50% share of digital for all financial transactions, and 70% penetration of financial accounts in the adult population by 2023.

“With the pandemic, we will accomplish such goals earlier than originally envisioned, so that may be before the end of 2022,” he said… Read More

(BusinessWorld) The Tourism department on Friday said it had recommended that a green lane for vaccinated tourists be set up.

“The green lane will pave the way for the reopening of our tourist destinations to leisure travelers who are now fully vaccinated,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in a statement.

“It will give the jobs back to many of our tourism workers and gradually revive the tourism industry under safe conditions,” she added.

The agency said it was studying protocols for inbound international travel for people who have been fully vaccinated.

It said some countries have eased border restrictions and opened up major destinations to fully vaccinated foreign visitors.

The Bureau of Immigration has said more international flights might resume in the next few months… Read More

(GMA News) Registration for the national ID system was suspended in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan on Wednesday as people swarmed the area, in violation social distancing measures.

According to Jun Veneracion’s Thursday report on “24 Oras,” the local government had only expected 1,600 registrants who were contacted via text message to go the shopping mall where the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) had organized the registration.

However, up to 4,000 registrants showed up at the venue, most of whom were not scheduled that day.

“Pina-suspend muna namin ‘yung kanilang operations yesterday afternoon atsaka today and most probably tomorrow, suspended pa rin [We suspended the operations yesterday afternoon, today, and most probably we’ll also suspend tomorrow],” Atty. Rizaldy Mendoza, Assistant City Administrator, said.

“Kasi nga, gusto ko sanang ang city makialam doon sa sistema nila para po maiayos natin ‘yung sistema ng PSA [Because I want the city to get involved in their system so we can fix it.],” he added.

Marian Santiago, one of the registrants, said she felt mad due to the people’s lack of discipline amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Obviously, dikit-dikit and magulo. It’s— may matanda, may bata, so walang sistema [Obviously, there was no space and it was chaos. There were seniors, young people, no system was in place],” she said.

GMA News has reached out to the PSA for comment.

For siblings Elaine and Mary Rose Saraga, however, what happened was not new.

“Hindi na rin po ako nagulat kasi nung 18 po kumuha kami ng National ID, which is napakadami ding tao. Siksikan, walang social distancing,” Elaine said.

(I’m not surprised because we went to get a National ID on the 18th, and it was also crowded. There place was packed and there was no social distancing… Read More

(Manila Bulletin) Four young Filipino cadets graduated from the prestigious United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) on Wednesday, May 19, where US President Joe Biden as the guest of honor and speaker. The USCGA Class of 2021 is composed of 240 new graduates, including seven international students from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Georgia.

First-class Filipino cadets Genison Basilio, Eric Joseph Noble, Daisy Anne Atayan, and Dianne Shaira Basuel are Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) sponsored cadets under the Coast Guard Cadetship program. The Filipino graduates are set to commence their Coast Guard training and service in the Philippine waters. During his speech, US President Joe Biden challenged the newly graduates “to be the future” in the changing world.

“The world is changing. We need you even more. It’s time for you to go out and be the future, to make the future,” Biden said in the USCGA’s 140th commencement exercises in New London, Connecticut. Biden also expressed his gratitude and acknowledged the support of the parents and families for raising “young people of incredible courage and determination.”

“We must continue to model responsible maritime behavior and uphold clear rules of international agreements that will protect and steward this pristine environment and secure it for future generations,” Biden said. During the ceremony, PCG District Palawan Commander Commodore Genito Basilio accompanied his son Genison, as Biden handed over his diploma… Read More