Insurance Commissioner Dooc named SSS president

Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel Dooc was appointed president and chief executive officer of the Social Security System by President Duterte on Nov. 15, 2016. (Photo taken from official website of the Insurance Commission at www.insurance.gov.ph )

MANILA — Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc has been named new president of the state-run pension fund Social Security System (SSS).

A Nov. 15 letter of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea addressed to the Social Security Commission board announced President Duterte’s approval of Dooc’s nomination as president and chief executive of the SSS.

Dooc’s replacement at the insurance regulator is yet to be announced. Dooc was first appointed as Insurance Commissioner in 2011 and was reappointed by then president Benigno Aquino III to another six-year term supposed to end in 2019.

When Dooc was selected as the recipient of the Department of Finance’s Baldomero B. Aguinaldo award for 2016, he was cited “for his pioneering leadership in the field of insurance, in ensuring that millions of Filipinos are secured by inclusive, quality coverage resulting in expanded insurance penetration causing the insurance sector’s contribution to the national economy to jump from 1.03 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) in 2009 to 1.56 percent in 2014, and causing the rate of individuals with life insurance coverage to reach 37.35 million or 37.35 percent of the population.”

“One of the major factors in the increase in the country’s insurance penetration can be attributed to the tremendous success of micro-insurance. In 2012, the Philippines has been recognized for having the highest market penetration rate among 19 countries in Asia and Oceana. Under the leadership of Commissioner Dooc, an Enhanced Microinsurance Regulatory Framework was formulated as well as the guidelines on the development and sale of micro agriculture, microhealth and micro-preneed products,” the Insurance Commission had said.

Once Dooc leaves his present post, Duterte will have to appoint a new Insurance Commissioner, who sits in the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

Besides the Insurance chief, the AMLC is made up of the Securities Exchange Commission chair and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor.

Last Monday, Duterte said a “guy,” whom he did not identify, was able to launder P5.1 billion in drug money for “one family” under the radar of the BSP as well as the AMLC.

The President chided officials of the BSP and AMLC for being uncooperative with the Department of Justice in its investigation of the financial transactions of suspected drug personalities.

Duterte said Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II had told him that BSP and AMLC executives were “hard to deal with.”

The bank secrecy law prohibits the disclosure of, or inquiry into, all deposits in banks and banking institutions in the country although there are procedures by which government investigators can be allowed by the AMLC to have a look at the financial transactions of suspected money launderers and corrupt government officials hiding their wealth.  SFM