Too good for the SEC? (1)

published 16 Mar 2009, MST

(First of two parts)

What’s a silver-haired 74-year-old lady who has lived a full life serving government and raising six children doing at the center of an ugly controversy involving a businessman-politician duping people of their hard-earned funds?

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Fe Barin would be quite happy cooking and reading, activities she enjoys in her free time, but the fact is that she has learned to love her job—and all that came with it. “If you love your job, then it ceases to be just a job,” she says. She is pleasant and generous with her time that morning, barely a day after being pilloried anew in the hearing of the Senate committee on trade and commerce for the Legacy mess. The commission oversees pre-need companies, to which Legacy Consolidated Plans belongs.

When she was appointed by President Arroyo in 2004 to head the regulatory body, Barin saw a challenge and an opportunity to grow professionally, even when she was already past her retirement years. She had spent four decades at the Bangko Sentral, starting in 1956 as a fresh law graduate on a temporary capacity with her wages paid daily. Much later, she went to the Philippine Deposit Insurance Co. before serving, ever so briefly, at the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Despite her age, Barin’s work habits have not let up. She starts her day early and ends it well between 7 a.m. and 7:30 every evening. Her staff knows her as a disciplinarian, but Barin says she does not demand from them anything she does not demand of herself. If there is any lesson she has learned, it is that hard work definitely pays. “And I’m not just referring to financial gain. It’s growth and fulfillment, as well.”

Still, the controversies hounding the commission and the harsh words recently hurled at Barin can hardly be called a payback for the long hours she had been putting in at the SEC in the past five years. The initial reaction by somebody who claims to have a heart is likely to sit up and cringe at the lashing out Barin has been getting from senators. (Her own family has exclaimed: “Mom! How can you take it?”) One thinks other unscrupulous individuals deserve those—but not the lady. Small wonder that right after her first appearance at the Senate, the Palace immediately came to her rescue, invoking the public to “give her a chance.”

But of course governance, and how it is judged, is not anchored on emotions. One is either able or unable to do one’s job. And although the public tends to see the willful commission of corrupt acts as inherently worse than plain omission or inability, the latter is still perceived as unforgivable, especially in these tough—nay, desperate times.

So what does Barin say to those clamoring for her resignation due to incompetence? “They can say whatever they want to say. Everybody is entitled to his own opinion.” There is no hint of smugness or arrogance as she mouths these words. “But I will not resign because of this issue. I am still able to sleep every night. I have nothing to hide.”

Barin is first to admit that her way of doing things is wanting. “There have been lapses,” she concedes. And if there’s anything she has learned, it is not to be content doing her work quietly. “We realize we have to go out there and audit these companies,” she says. “We should not just wait for the reports the businesses submit and for the complaints lodged by the public.”

With the present structure of the Commission, these are better said than done. Actually, that’s just one of the many things Barin wishes done at the Commission—if only the agency’s hands were not full, and if only there were enough hands in the first place. The Commission has more or less 400 employees, tasked to implement at least nine laws. According to Barin, they would need at least 200 more people, or an increase of 50 percent from the current count. And there’s no need for Congress to do something to the existing laws, she says. The reorganization can be done administratively.

The implication is that all these could have been very well done before, way before the College Assurance Plan, Pacific Plans and the Legacy fiasco. Why did not the Commission act sooner?

“People have been asking me if I was not aware of just how much power I, or the agency, has,’” Barin continues. “But I am sure the lawmakers did not contemplate an omniscient SEC. I surely do not want my job to be like that.” When she was appointed to the agency, the first thing she did was to read the pertinent laws and “internalize” her mandate.

One such mandate is to balance the interests of businesses and those of the public. Several weeks back, Barin drew a lot of criticism for articulating these twin duties in the Senate hearing. Senators and just about everybody watching expected Barin to say the public’s interest took precedence above all.

But the chairman stands firm on what she said, claiming that the objectives of businesses should not run contrary to the public good.

Barin believes that instead of being a know-it-all, high-and-mighty agency preening into the affairs of companies, the SEC should adopt a stance that encourages corrective measures for violations of specific laws. This way, businesses can change their erring ways as they continue to exist to provide products or services to the people.

“Regulators are not there to cramp their [businesses’] style,” says Barin. “In the long run, they will stay in business if they do it right. The SEC is meant to help them stay there.”

But the fact is that some businessmen don’t act responsibly and thus don’t deserve to stay a day longer in their trade. The fact is that the word “profit with honor” is occasionally ditched for the more materially rewarding “profit by all means.” It seems naïve to assume the best about the intentions of all businesses, and that all the people in your organization harbor the same lofty ideals that you do.

Do we need this kind of goodness in the Commission? Absolutely. Barin’s views give us an idea of the destination. That she plods through her daily tasks, big and small—and at her age—shows the quiet but steadfast love for country career employees are known to have.

Still, one person’s virtue is not enough, especially if that person is a gentle soul who assumes the best about everybody around her. There are those who will try to get away with anything, if they can, and if they are permitted by others in the system who, for a host of reasons, can be cajoled into looking the other way.

As for the beleaguered chairman, Barin hopes that after all this is over, people will see through all the murk and appreciate her and her efforts for what they truly are.

We hope she will, too.

(The SEC Chairman speaks of reason in regulation, the gullibility—and greed—of Filipinos, the predicament of just-retired Commissioner Jesus Martinez and the importance of family support in this space next Monday.)

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