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New securities act by 15th: Manila

MANILA: The Philippine House of Representatives has promised to complete amendments to a proposed new securities act by April 15, paving the way for its passage into law, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said.

"The House said they would finish what they are doing by April 15 and go on bicameral (sessions with the Senate)," SEC chairwoman Lilia Bautista told Reuters late on Saturday.

The two houses of Congress often pass different versions of a proposed law and bicameral meetings are held to draft a common version.

Bautista said passage of the proposed Revised Securities Act would restore the integrity of Philippine markets in the aftermath of an alleged price fixing scandal involving shares of gaming firm BW Resource Corp.

"There are a lot of good shares that are being offered in the market and it's too bad they are being affected by the perception that there is no fairness in the market," she said.

The BW investigation, spurred by a 5,000 percent rise and subsequent crash of the firm's shares in 1999, had brought the main share index .PSI to a 16-month low and the peso to its lowest level this year.

The new securities act would give the SEC more teeth to protect investors against insider trading and price fixing, Bautista said.

Like the present law, the proposed act punishes insider trading with a jail term of seven to 21 years but imposes a heavier fine of 50,000 pesos ($1,216) to five million pesos ($121,650).

The current law prescribes a fine of 5,000 to 500,000 pesos.

The proposed amendments would also clear the way for the demutualisation, or public ownership, of the Philippine Stock Exchange, which is currently owned by its member-brokers.

Bautista said the SEC and the exchange were studying the details of demutualisation, which would free the bourse from the influence of powerful brokers.

Calls for demutualisation of the exchange intensified following the BW scandal.

"We should really look into it closely," Bautista said. "They're (the exchange) studying it and we're also studying it."-Reuters