TWO Social Security System officials linked to a stock investment controversy have resigned, the pension fund’s chairman Amado Valdez said Wednesday.
The SSS officials are Vice President for the Equities Investment Division Reginald Candelaria and Senior Vice President and Chief actuary George Ongkeko Jr.
Candelaria filed his resignation last week while Ongkeko filed his last month. The SSS has already accepted Candelaria’s resignation, while Ongkeko’s is still on hold pending clearance.
Valdez made his statement even as a lawmaker on Wednesday urged the SSS leadership to look into the other investment dealings of the state-run pension fund.
At the same time, Rep. Ariel Casilao demanded the resignation of four SSS executives over allegations of “serious dishonesty and grave misconduct.”
“It is disgusting that these corrupt SSS officials are raking personal huge payouts using SSS remittances as investments,” Casilao said.
Rep. Luis Campos Jr. on Wednesday urged the National Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Capital Markets Integrity Corp. to investigate the alleged self-dealing by four senior SSS executives in the stock market.
“We are astounded at the manner in which the SSS’s second-highest ranking executive officer and three subordinates allegedly took advantage of their positions in transactions and acted for their own interests rather than for the interests of the pension fund,” Campos said.
Valdez said the resignations were somehow connected with the ongoing investigation but refused to explain further. Asked for the main reason, he said: “Perhaps they want to pursue other opportunities.”
Candelaria, along with Ernesto Francisco, are facing allegations of withholding from the SSS information on stock investment prospects and then buying the stock for themselves.
Ongkeko, meanwhile, was named in the complaint for allegedly failing to “ensure strict compliance” with SSS policies as head of the risk management group.
SSS Executive Vice President Rizaldy Capulong was included in the complaint for alleged “gross neglect of duty.”
Despite their resignations, the two officials will still have to face the probe, which has been ongoing internally before it was brought to the attention of the media.
All the other officials named in the controversy will be put on floating status as the investigation proceeds. Maricel V. Cruz