The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) intends to keep Chairman Jose T. Pardo on its board of directors, no longer as an independent director but as a non-broker director representing other market participants, when it holds its board elections during its annual stockholders’ meeting (ASM) on July 4, 2026.

This is in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) memorandum circular (MC) limiting the terms of independent directors to nine years. Pardo has been an independent director of the PSE for more than 15 years.

The PSE listed 16 official nominees for its 15-man board, including veteran broker-directors Ma. Vivian Yuchengco and Eddie Gobing, who can still be re-elected despite new rules also issued by the SEC limiting the terms of broker directors to just 10 years.

Yuchengco has been a PSE director for 28 years, while Gobing has held his seat for 25 years. Incumbent broker director Wilson Sy, who has been on the PSE board for 12 years, is no longer on the list of nominees.

Under the SEC’s final rules on term limits for PSE broker-directors, those who have reached the limit are given a grace period of two more years before being permanently barred as broker-directors.

The same rules also require broker-directors serving for five years to observe a cooling-off period of one year before being eligible for re-election for five more years. This affects incumbent broker-director Diosdado M. Arroyo, who has already been on the PSE board for six years but may also avail himself of the two-year grace period.

During the two-year transition period, the SEC is requiring the PSE to “undertake the phased reconstitution of its board to promote broader representation and diversity of experience.”

The regulator directed the PSE to elect two foreign independent directors with international market expertise, broker-directors representing foreign brokerage firms, and directors with investment banking or capital markets experience, “taking into account the importance of good governance and minority shareholder protection.”

In response to this, the PSE has nominated veteran capital market executive Lorenzo Andres Roxas, who used to be the chairman and president of Maybank ATR Kim Eng Securities, and BDO Capital & Investment Corp. President Eduardo Francisco.

Also new on the list are Asian Institute of Management (AIM) President and Dean Jikyeong Kang, and Thinking Machines Data Science Vice President Niek Johan van Veen, whose background includes marketing, technology, and telecommunications. Both are nominated as independent directors.

Other nominees are incumbent PSE President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ramon S. Monzon, former Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista, banker and former Trade Secretary Peter B. Favila, and former Chief Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-de Castro as independent directors.

Also nominated for re-election are Cecile L. Ang representing investors (San Miguel Corp. Retirement Plan), Jose Arnulfo A. Veloso (from investor Government Service Insurance System), Marilyn A. Victoriano-Aquino (from issuer PLDT Inc.), and broker Anthony M. Te.

Making way for the new nominees are incumbent independent director Vicente L. Panlilio and Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) Chairman Edgardo G. Lacson, who represents other market participants, now to be represented by Pardo.