SEC soon on Twitter, Facebook

MANILA, Philippines – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is working on a Social Media Infrastructure Project or SMIP, which includes being more accessible to the public through social media and other online platforms.

In a press briefing on September 13, SEC Assistant Director Nolivienne Ermitano of the Investor Information Assistance and Publication Division-Economic Research and Information Department said SMIP is part of efforts to be on par with peers in Asia that are tapping the online platform to improve services.

The project aims to help not just corporations but also the individuals with their information requests from the SEC, Ermitano said.

The project will include a revamp the SEC’s website design, as well as the launch of official SEC social media apps.

SEC would be having an official account and page on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms, he added.

These will allow corporations and the public to get in touch with the SEC in real-time. Subscribers would receive updates on SEC announcements and other related-matters immediately.

SEC also plans to have its own application like the popular traffic map launched by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA). SEC officials plan to tap the University of the Philippines-Information Technology Development Center (UP ITDC), which also assisted the MMDA.

“We would like to have the UP-ITDC so it would be a G2G,” a government to government partnership project, he said.

Should all the necessary approvals be accomplished, the multi-year project will be finished in 3 years, he added.

A challenge they face to pursue the project is lack of trained people that would run the system once it is up. “We do not have enough people now,” Ermitano said.

SEC chairperson Teresita Herbosa said during the same briefing that SEC needs “100 more personnel by 2014.”

Ermitano remained optimistic on the project and mentioned that it has already an executive sponsorship.

The SEC is currently in-charge of monitoring 500,000 active corporations. At present, they only have 400 people. — Rappler.com