Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III swore in Wednesday afternoon lawyer Emilio Aquino as commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), replacing Manuel Gaite whose term expired this year.

Aquino, who previously held the position of Department Director in the SEC, has 12 years of experience working in the Commission in various capacities, including as head of its regional extension offices in the cities of Davao and Zamboanga.

A managing law partner of the Aquino Uro and Associates, Aquino was formerly the Director of the SEC Non-Traditional Securities and Instruments Department and also of the Compliance and Enforcement Department from 2000 to 2005.

Aquino, who rose from the ranks, started working in the SEC as a lawyer in its Corporate and Legal Affairs Department in 1993.

He was promoted as chief of the SEC extension office in Zamboanga City, where he was assigned from 1995 to 1998, and later held the same post in the SEC extension office in Davao City for two years.

The 52-year old Aquino replaced Gaite, whose term expired on March 16, 2016. Gaite had held his post as commissioner in a holdover capacity because of the 2016 election ban.

Aquino will serve as SEC commissioner for seven years.

Aquino, who is also a certified public accountant, was a professor of Commercial Law at the Ateneo-Xavier University.

He also taught as senior lecturer at the Graduate School of Government and Management of the University of Southeastern Philippines and as associate professor of the College of Law of the Western Mindanao State University.

He completed his law degree at San Beda College and his accountancy degree at the Universidad de Zamboanga.