8 July 2021
When the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines took effect in February 2019, having compliance officers became mandatory for corporations vested with public interest. Responding to the strong demand for compliance officers, a Certification Course for Compliance Officers was developed by the Center for Global Best Practices.
This year’s course has nine online sessions spread out from June 24 to July 27, and includes DivinaLaw Senior Partner Atty. Danny E. Bunyi and Consultant Atty. Justina F. Callangan among its lecturers.
Discussing the effects of good compliance which become a virtuous cycle, Atty. Bunyi said:
“If your shareholders trust you, you are able to maintain your regulatory licenses, you have good supplier and customer loyalty, you are an attractive investment, you are very competitive, what will happen? You will now be in a position to hire the best and the brightest. People will be flocking because they know you have this virtuous cycle. And not just hiring, but being able to retain the best of your human resources.”
Speaking on the fourth session of the course, Atty. Callangan gave these valuable tips for the preparation of periodic reports:
“How do you perfect your reports? Start right. To help you fill out any report, any form required to be filed with the SEC, you go to Annex C (of the Securities Regulation Code). It provides specific instructions on how to fill out a particular form. It guides you how to prepare a correct report. Now sometimes, if it is your first time to prepare a report, you are not confident. So, what do you do? Google for samples. You are so lucky it is so easy to look for samples (in the websites of other companies). If despite the samples you still have some issues, then ask a friend who has experience in the preparation of a particular report. Or you can call the staff at the SEC. However, before you even call up someone at the SEC, make sure you have made preliminary studies already.”
Atty. Callangan was formerly director for the Corporate Governance and Finance Department of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a former consultant of the Listings Department of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).
Atty. Bunyi formerly served as chief compliance officer and head of the Legal Department of one of the leading banks in the country.
The Certification Course for Compliance Officers was co-developed by Atty. Bunyi and Atty. Callangan, along with two other lawyers. Both DivinaLaw lawyers have been teaching the course since it was first offered by the Center for Global Best Practices in October 2019.
