By Fel V. Maragay

SENATORS yesterday demanded the resignation or ouster of Securities and Exchange Commission officials led by their chairman, Fe Barin, for failing to discipline pre-need companies that mismanaged the funds of thousands of plan holders.

?They should resign now,? said Senator Mar Roxas, chairman of the committee on trade and industry.

?Or being [presidential] appointees, they should be sacked.?

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile urged President Arroyo ?to start firing some people? not only in the commission but also at the Bangko Sentral.

But the Palace dismissed those calls, saying the commission did not have enough powers under the law to fully act on the pre-need crisis.

?I think we should be fair to Barin,? Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said.

?She explained that the SEC lacked teeth. Those calls are unfair. Let?s give [her a chance.]?

In a radio interview, Barin said only the President could tell her to leave.

Earlier this week, the Senate panel heard from the head of the Legacy Group, Celso de los Angeles, whose pre-need business and string of rural banks collapsed in the wake of allegations the company swindled billions of pesos out of investors by promising to double their money.

?It is very clear they failed to do their job of protecting the interest of plan holders,? Roxas said of the commission officials.

?With these pre-need companies going bankrupt and the SEC useless all these times, we can now say it is a conspirator in the scheme to defraud plan holders because it favored the interests of the companies over the plan holders.?

Enrile criticized Barin for her statement that while the SEC was duty-bound to protect the interest of plan holders, this should be balanced by the concerns of pre-need company owners.

?They said they have to strike a balance between regulation and capital formation. We encourage capital formation provided that the people operate within the law and do not injure their beneficiaries. The moment the people are injured, the government must step in and solve the problem,? he said.

At the Senate hearings, Roxas rejected Barin?s contention that she didn?t have enough power under the commission?s charter.

?I am really saddened by your response. You are washing your hands of responsibilities. The SEC has been given the widest latitude to regulate this. If you?d seen the problem in 2005, then you should have analyzed this and stopped the sale of plans, but it continued,? Roxas said.

In his statement yesterday, Enrile singled out Jose Aquino, director of the SEC?s non-traditional securities and exchange department. ?You see, that guy Aquino is ignorant about his job,? he said.

Enrile also mentioned Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. who, according to De los Angeles, owns a rural bank in San Jacinto, Masbate, in violation of conflict-of-interest rules.

He castigated Espenilla for arguing that he was not violating the law when the question was if he did own a rural bank.

Roxas said the assets of Legacy Consolidated Inc., the group?s pre-need operation, should be kept intact and attached to the plan holders? trust fund.

He noted that De los Angeles was able to sell a piece of property in Ayala Alabang for P55 million before his company filed for corporate dissolution last December.

Senator Francis Escudero, chairman of the committee on banks, currencies and financial institutions, called on the Bangko Sentral to quickly act on the complaint of a coalition of plan holders against Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. for the alleged misuse of the Pacific Plans Inc. trust fund.

Parents Enabling Parents Coalition president Philip Piccio said the group filed the complaint last week against the bank for ?gross violation of the General Banking Law of 2000 and other regulations? with the central bank.

The group said that when Pacific Plans, an RCBC sister company, placed the funds of the plan holders in the bank, which later invested it in another company owned by the Yuchengco Group, that constituted ?a prohibited transaction.?

In the House, congressmen doubted De los Angeles? testimony that trustee banks and regulators were responsible for his pre-need company?s woes.

?I don?t buy what he is saying,? Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said.

?For me, the bottom line here is, it?s the pre-need [company?s] lookout if they open a company, it?s a business risk, and they should bear the responsibility.? With Joyce Pangco Pa?ares, Ferdinand Fabella, Roy Pelovello