Philex Mining appoints SSC officials as board members

Philex Mining Corp. has appointed three commissioners of Social Security Commission (SSC) as new members of the board of directors, the miner disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

In an endorsement letter dated February 28, 2017, SSC Commissioners Anita Quitain, Michael Regino and Jose Gabriel La Viña were appointed to the Philex board.

Each of the SCC commissioners were given a single qualifying Philex share to sit on the board of the mining company.

The new appointees replaced former SSC Chairman Juan Santos and Commissioners Bienvenido Laguesma and Michael Victor Alimurung on the Philex board.

"We had our meeting yesterday. We were there, the commissioners from SSS. We were given one share, just one share," Quitain told GMA News Online on Wednesday.

In a separate text message, La Viña noted the symbolic shares of stock allow nominees get a vote and sit on the board.

"There is one share, called a qualifying share, put under a director for the SSS nominee-director to have the right to be voted as board director. This one share is beneficially owned by SSS and entrusted under the name of the SSS nominee-director, which shall be transferred back to SSS after his or her tenure," La Viña said.

As of December 31, 2016, the pension fund held as much as 20.22 percent of the outstanding shares of stock of Philex Mining which entitles SSS to three board seats, he said.

"The SSS nominee-director sits on the Philex board not in his personal capacity but on behalf of the SSS. The Corporation Code of the Philippines requires that a board director must have at least one share in the corporation where he sits ... The SSS arranges this qualifying share," La Viña added.

Quitain will serve in the executive and finance committees of the mining company, while La Viña will join the nomination and finance committees.

Regino will be a member of the board’s audit and risk committee, as well as the Silangan executive committee.

Appointed to the SSC on October 27, 2017, Regino is responsible for the policy directions of the Social Security System (SSS) as well as monitoring and overseeing of the actions of SSS management. SSS is the state-owned pension fund for private sector employees. — VDS, GMA News