THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has topped the survey of government agencies perceived as the most sincere in fighting corruption within its premises after the agency started to establish satellite offices in various cities in Metro Manila.
Social Weather Stations Survey on Enterprises said the SEC was viewed as the most sincere among government agencies against corruption, even topping pension Social Security System (SSS), the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the Office of the President (OP), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
From a range of +69 to -69 points, the SEC scored at 63 points; SSS at 57 points; PSE at 55 points; OP at 54 points; and the DTI at 51 points. The SEC, which also has transactions with the public mainly on setting up their respective businesses and submissions of various documents, started its program on Integrated Business Registration System, which allows for the simultaneous registration of corporations with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, SSS, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Pag-ibig Fund.
The SEC has also opened satellite offices in Ali Mall in Cubao, in Ortigas Center and SM Manila.
SEC Chairman Teresita Herbosa said the agency may end the year with five satellite offices.
The other two will be located in Alabang in Muntinlupa and another in Cebu.
“We are thinking of adding a new office in Davao where we also have a lot of transactions,” Herbosa earlier said. The SEC processed about 24,000 new corporations last year and regulates about 870,000 corporations. Although the SEC’s earned collections averaged to about P3 billion per annum for the past three years, it remits all of its collections to the national government and has to fight for its annual budget that runs at an average of P400 million per year with about 385 employees.
The survey was conducted with support from the Integrity for Investments Initiative and funding from the United States Agency for International Development and in partnership with the National Competitiveness Council and The Asia Foundation.
Random sampling for the survey was drawn from one-third large enterprises of some 325 companies and two-thirds small and medium enterprises or 641 companies, totaling 966 companies. The respondent enterprises were drawn from Metro Manila (356), Metro Angeles (101), Cavite-Laguna-Batangas (101), Metro Iloilo (100), Metro Cebu (100), Metro Davao (101) and Cagayan de Oro-Iligan (107).