Who will be the next SEC chairperson?

5 TOPNOTCH LAWYERS AMONG CONTENDERS

- By IRIS GONZALES

Five of the country's top lawyers are in the running to become the next chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as the seven-year term of incumbent Duterte appointee Emilio Aquino ends on June 6, 2025.

While Malacañang has yet to announce who will be the country's next top corporate regulator, industry sources told The STAR that the most prominent names floating in the grapevine are five legal luminaries: government corporate counsel Solomon Hermosura, SEC commissioner Rogelio Quevedo, former GOCC chairman Cesar Villanueva, Romulo Mabanta of counsel Susana Fong and Philippine Stock Exchange COO Roel Refran.

The Securities Regulation Code requires the SEC chairperson to be a lawyer.

Hermosura, who placed third in the 1986 bar exam, is currently the government corporate counsel. He was former managing director and chief legal officer of Ayala Corp, among many other leadership positions in the Ayala Group of Companies, for decades. He is also a faculty member at San Beda University - College of Law.