SEC Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino receives The Outstanding Filipino Award from JCI Senate Philippines for his significant contributions in leading the corporate sector to becoming one of the best in Southeast Asia.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairperson and CEO Emilio B. Aquino received the highest honor in the 2024 The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Awards, in recognition of his contributions in the corporate sector and the development of the capital market.
In a ceremony held at the House of Representatives on December 5, Aquino received the TOFIL Award for Government and Public Service, leading six other awardees in their respective fields.
Other TOFIL Award recipients included Carl E. Balita for Education; Seagull Philippines Chairman Bing N. Carrion for Peace Advocacy; Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz for Government Service; Commission on Higher Education Chairman Prospero E. de Vera III for Higher Education; neurosurgeon Lynne Lucena for Medicine; and former Dean of the University of the Philippines Los Ba帽os College of Forestry and Natural Resources Juan M. Pulhin for Geographical Sciences and Social Forestry.
Starting 1988, the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Senate Philippines confers the TOFIL Awards to 鈥渋nstitutionalize public recognition鈥� of Filipinos aged 41 years old and above for their exemplary contribution in advancing public welfare and national development.
鈥淚 am proud to say that SEC Philippines has solidified its golden age and has excellently carried out its rallying mantra: that it鈥檚 easy at SEC,鈥� Mr. Aquino said in his speech during the awarding ceremony.
鈥淲e modernized and digitalized the SEC, and restructured our organization with the creation of several innovative offices to meet rising customer and market demands, so that SEC Philippines is now feted to be among the world鈥檚 best employers by London-based Investors in People; among the world鈥檚 best in sustainability reporting, recognized the most number of times鈥攖hrice鈥攂y the [United Nations Conference on Trade and Development] in Geneva, Switzerland), [and] among the world鈥檚 best in digital company registration by [Corporate Registers Forum] in Malta,鈥� he added.
As chairperson, Aquino crafted the SuperVision 2025 at the start of his term to serve as the Commission鈥檚 guide in its goal of transforming the country鈥檚 corporate sector and capital market to be among the best in Southeast Asia.
Aquino accelerated the Commission鈥檚 digital transformation as a tool to achieve his vision, especially during the pandemic to ensure uninterrupted services for its stakeholders. This led to the launch of three waves of digital innovations starting in 2021 to enable online company registration, reports filing, and payment transactions, among others.
The improved registration process has since allowed the SEC to reach record highs in terms of company registrations, with 49,501 new companies registered in 2023.
The digitalization efforts, along with the establishment of new extension offices in Bacolod, Tacloban, Butuan, and Koronadal, brought the Commission鈥檚 services closer to Filipinos locally and abroad.
The SEC has also been at the forefront of making the capital market more accessible to enable growth and expansion. Under his leadership, the SEC established the Philifintech Innovation Office, which seeks to foster innovation and customize the fintech landscape in the Philippines by keeping track of the fast-evolving financial products and services available in the market.
Through the newly established Strategic Partnership and Advocacy Division, the SEC also continues to invite more partners into the SEC Capital Market Promotion and Awareness Inter-Agency Network (CAMPAIGN) to promote the capital market with the conduct of webinars, roadshows, and dissemination of information through social media.
The SEC further launched the Anti-Scam and Illegal Taking of Investments Group, composed of local government units which seeks to empower barangay officials to protect their constituents from investment scams through reporting mechanisms and awareness programs.
鈥業n recognition of the corporate sector鈥檚 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts, the SEC also aggressively promoted the importance of sustainability among businesses, including requiring publicly listed companies to submit sustainability reports annually through SEC Memorandum Circular No. 4, Series of 2019.
Earlier this year, the SEC launched the Sustainability Enterprise Network (eSECNature), an inter-agency network that seeks to increase collaboration among public and private organizations for sharing best practices in their respective sustainability strategies.
These reforms, innovations, and advocacies earned Aquino and the SEC accolades from both local and international award-giving institutions for championing public welfare and advancing national development.
Last year, Aquino was recognized as the first ever Public Sector Innovator in the 2023 Mansmith Innovation Awards, and was named CEO of the Year for the Philippines during the International Data Corporation Future Enterprise Awards 2022, in recognition of the impact of the Commission鈥檚 digital transformation.
He was further conferred with the Outstanding Professional of the Year Award by the Professional Regulation Commission in 2023 for his contributions in the field of accountancy.
For the sixth consecutive year, the SEC also received an unmodified opinion on its financial statements for 2023 from the Commission on Audit, marking the longest streak of unmodified opinions for the SEC over the past decade.