Article

27 September 2021

BERNARDO PLACIDO CHAN & LASAM LAW OFFICES (BPCL LAW) is proud to announce that two of its partners, ATTY. DENNIS ARVIN L. CHAN and ATTY. MANUEL INOCENCIO L. LASAM JR. have successfully completed the Certification Course for Compliance Officers conducted by the Center for Global Best Practices (CGCP) from June to July 2021. ATTY. LASAM was also awarded a Certification of Excellence for topping the examination (Top 2) with an overall grade of 93%.

The basic duties and responsibilities of Compliance Officers include, among others:

1. Ensuring that the company complies with its outside regulatory and legal requirements as well as its internal policies and procedures;
2. Working with the Board of Directors and Management to ensure that the organization has internal controls that adequately measure and manage the risks it faces;
3. Supporting business areas in their duty to comply with relevant laws and regulations and internal procedures;
4. Creating, designing, maintaining, updating and monitoring an effective compliance program;
5. Reviewing and setting standards for outside communications by requiring disclaimers in emails or examining facilities to ensure that they are accessible and safe;
6. Organizing regular training sessions for everyone in the company to effectively communicate key regulatory changes and updates;
7. Working with business units and management to ensure appropriate contingency plans are inn place that set guidelines on how to respond to a possible compliance breach;
8. Serving as the key point of contact with regulatory agencies;
9. Ensuring compliance with any audit or examination findings of regulatory bodies, or external or internal auditor; and
10. Applying best practices found in their respective industries.

Given the emerging trend of stricter regulatory compliance with government agencies, the hiring of Compliance Officers is now mandated under Republic Act No. 11232 otherwise known as “the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines” which took effect on 23 February 2019. Also, in a separate code of corporate governance for publicly-listed corporations (PLCs), the Securities and Exchange Commission advocates that Compliance Officers must have a rank of senior vice-president in an organization.

It is very crucial for an organization to be aware of the latest government issuances and to comply accordingly as it is very costly for a company when found to be non-compliant. Among the consequences of non-compliance are:

1. Financial penalties upon the corporation;
2. Suspension of licenses and privileges;
3. Reputational risk even if the corporation is subsequently cleared of any faults;
4. Criminal, civil and administrative sanctions (imprisonment, damages, ineligibility to hold certain positions or offices);
5. Disallowing further business expansion;
6. Closure or suspension of business/trading;
7. Delisting from the stock exchange;
8. Breach of contractual obligations;
9. Removal from office; and
10. Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) penalties.

Should you desire further information on how a Certified Compliance Officer (CCO) may improve your company or organization, you may contact ATTY DENNIS ARVIN L. CHAN, CCO (dlchan@bpcllaw.com) or ATTY. MANUEL INOCENCIO L. LASAM, JR., CCO (mllasam@bpcllaw.com).