The Money Market Association of the Philippines (MART) takes exception to the article entitled “MART in Hot Water over SRO Probe Bid,” which appeared last February 23, 2008.  We categorically deny that MART was involved in any, either as the author of the letter to Secretary Margarito B. Teves; or the architect behind the moves in Congress to probe the issues on the self-regulatory organization (SRO) status granted PDEX on the public trading of government securities.

Our association is composed of professional market practitioners, and we pride ourselves with being straightforward and transparent with our ideas and directions concerning the Capital and Money Markets. The MART theme for 2008 embodies our genuine vision and direction, that of “Bridging Stakeholders toward an Efficient Capital Market”. And this certainly defines our role in creating partnerships, based on fairness and integrity, for all our stakeholders in the market, so that we can proceed with reforms and improvements based on true dialogue and open discussions.

We would appreciate it if you published this reply to your article, if only for the sake of fairness and in order to repair whatever damage may have been caused by the article and its misleading headline to our association.