Ex-PSE head Ramon Garcia; 88

Veteran stock broker Ramon T. Garcia, who was president of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) during an important reform period, has passed away at the age of 88.

Garcia battled a liver malignancy for a few years before passing at 1:40 a.m. on Dec. 18, according to his daughter Maria Victoria Garcia-Guingona.

He was a respected figure in the local capital market industry for 47 years and continued to work at his brokerage RTG & Co. even when he had already passed on its leadership to his son Jose Francisco Garcia.

A lawyer by profession, Garcia was highly respected by colleagues in both the private and public sectors and was very active until September when his health started to deteriorate rapidly.

He first joined the stock brokerage industry in 1970 when he was enlisted to manage A.F. Gonzalez and Co. He eventually acquired the brokerage house and renamed it RTG & Co.

During the administration of former President Corazon Aquino, he joined government as chief executive trustee of the Asset Privatization Trust, which was charged to sell off government corporations and other assets.

Garcia returned to the equities sector in 1994, shortly after the merger of the Manila Stock Exchange and Makati Stock Exchange, and was elected to the board of governors in 1996.

He was appointed president of the PSE in 2000 as the bourse was implementing reforms in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the BW stock price manipulation scandal of 1999.

After his stint at the PSE, Garcia returned to his stock brokerage before eventually turning over the reins of RTG & Co. to his son.

A widower for the last nine years, Garcia is survived by his four children: Maria Victoria, Jose Francisco, Father Monchit (a Salesian priest) and Girlie (Garcia-Lorenzo); as well as three grandchildren Bernice, Marian and Ayael.

Garcia’s cremated remains are now at the Gemini and Phoenix rooms of the Bel-Air Club House in Makati until Wednesday evening. A final Mass will be held on Thursday, 9 a.m., at the Don Bosco Church in Makati.—DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA