At the instigation of the owner and principal shareholder of an agricultural supply company, the SEC investigated what he claimed was the strange movement of his shares in the Philippine Stock Exchange. 10 or so people have been fingered as the manipulators, some of them business advisers of the principal stockholder and along with them the stock brokerage houses they used.

The SEC is going after the 10 or so but not after the brokers. Why? Well one is the identity of the law firms representing the brokers. But that is a minor consideration in view of the fact that the brokers are guilty by indispensable cooperation. You cannot manipulate stock unless you buy and sell it and you cannot buy and sell it unless you pass it through a broker and no broker can qualify if he cannot tell a manipulation when it is being done by others and more so by himself. If these brokers are not charged as well, then Noynoy's Daan Matuwid makes the NLEX look like Kennon Road.

If we want investor confidence to grow, we must punish those who make a profession of discrediting our economy and economic practices and even have an entire building dedicated exclusively to their criminal activity. They have made crime a business and given it a headquarters on Ayala Avenue.

Good night and good luck.