Duterte picks new SEC commissioner

President Rodrigo Duterte has named the replacement of Commissioner Blas James Viterbo of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who resigned in February due to health issues.

SEC Davao Extension Office Director lawyer Javey Paul Francisco was appointed SEC commissioner on April 18, according to the document released by Malacañang on Monday.

Francisco will serve until May 20, 2021.

Viterbo's resignation came weeks after the SEC ordered to revoke the incorporation papers of online news site Rappler, which published articles critical of the President and his administration, for supposedly violating the foreign ownership restrictions on mass media companies.

The SEC en banc decision on Jan. 11, 2018 was signed by SEC chairperson Teresita Herbosa and Commissioners Antonieta Ibe, Ephyro Luis Amatong, and Emilio Aquino.

Viterbo did not take part in the decision of the corporate regulator which Rappler questioned before the Court of Appeals.

Herbosa had said that the resignation of Viterbo had nothing to do with the Rappler issue.  — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News