Roberto V. Ongpin
The news report that a group led by Marcos’ former trade and industry minister Roberto V. Ongpin has closed the deal of taking over the 97.28-percent stake of the Chung, Luy and Nubla families in the Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCom) for P4.68 billion should be an eye-opener for the current management of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and newly appointed Ombudsman, former Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales.
Aside from the fact that the late Ralph Nubla, former PBCom’s chairman, was the Chinese community’s best link to Marcos and likely proxy of the dictator’s usual 60% equity in a company granted government favors, the BSP, SEC and PCGG should look deeper into the transaction if Ongpin would really pay P4.68 billion or just be handed Marcos’ equity in street certificates already forfeited to the state.
Ongpin’s other multibillion-peso stakes in mergers and acquisitions such as the San Miguel Corporation-Ongpin consolidated stake in Meralco immediately draw the attention of people like me aware of Marcos’shenanigans. Making me curious is how Ongpin acquired his 10% stake in Meralco from the GSIS, SSS and Land Bank he’s merged with the SMC’s stake.
Before that Ongpin’s PhilWeb Corporation got the contract for Pagcor’s online casino that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile called a sweetheart deal because it’s awarded without public bidding and the revenue sharing lopsidedly favors PhilWeb which has been raking in billions of pesos of income. Onpin also played an important role in SMC’s acquisition of Petron which, of course, resulted in a good stake for him in the oil company.
Over and above such spectacular and unbelievable business performance even the most objective minds couldn’t help but ask where did Ongpin’s capital come from and hasn’t the current PCGG management considered the possibility that Ongpin whom Marcos named his industry czar benefited personally from the down payments on the $700-billion 11 Major Industrial Projects Ongpin was in charge of in the early 1980s until Marcos was toppled by people power in 1986.
The PCGG and Justice Carpio-Morales should conduct forensic audit and probe using as baselines Ongpin’s ITRs from 1975-79 when he’s with SGV and his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) from 1980-85 when he’s in government, then his ITRs to 2010 if his personal net worth of $300 million last year according to Forbes Magazine is within the realm of statistical probability and not from what the USDOJ defines “a process or series of actions through which income of illegal origin is concealed, disguised, or made to appear legitimate (main objective); and to evade detection, prosecution, seizure, and taxation.”
The big elephant though on top the above incredible growth of net worth is Ongpin’s involvement in a patently unlawful takeover of Philex Mining Corporation in its June 2009 stockholders meeting by his investors groups and that of Manny V. Pangilinan of PLDT and First Pacific. Pangilinan was voted chairman of the board while Ongpin was vice chair. As though to emphasize Ongpin’s investment capacity a press release described him with major stakes in real estate, Pagcor online gaming, power, energy and telecom firms.
Reyanaldo David, former DBP vice chair and president, which might’ve showed the hands of the big puppet master, former FG Mike Arroyo, completed the 11-man board as independent director and not as representative of DBP which, at the time, had only 109 million shares, representing a paltry 0.003% of all Philex owners with voting rights. But these were enough for Philex to proceed with the annual meeting where stockholders would give their nod to approve key corporate decisions geared to favor Pangilinan’s and Ongpin’s respective groups that had the biggest stakes.
Less than 6 months after that June meeting, David’s DBP, the Ongpin group, and former Philex CEO Walter Brown jointly sold all their Philex shares to Pangilinan’s group for a fabulous price of P21 per share. To DBP, that meant a historic windfall. The bank accumulated its Philex shares from the open market for an average of only P5.06 per share. Trading the mining stock resulted in a 315% return in just over 8 months. David must be surprised to this day that the Philex deal meant fat and fast returns for the bank and almost surely for himself, the former FG, and other members of the previous DBP board of directors and management.
David couldn’t answer to this day since no official inquiry has been called, why, a month before selling at P21 per share to Pangilinan’s group, DBP sold almost half of its over 100 million Philex shares to Ongpin at only P12.75 per share. The baffling price difference and the timing of the two deals – only 4 weeks apart – have raised critics’ brows and fanned speculations of hanky-panky, even illegal, arrangement, more so with the alleged involvement of former FG Mike Arroyo. Could this rise to a plunder case for Arroyo and Ongpin?
In any event, it’s a patent violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) that could extend to the Anti-Plunder Law (RA 7080), more so when the November 2009 deal was financed with a DBP loan of P510 million loan to enable Ongpin to acquire the bank’s Philex shares.
Simply put, Ongpin fried the government with its own fat by buying the DBP shares with bank loan probably secured by its shares in a criminal conspiracy that included David and other DBP board members and executive officers that approved the transaction.
Such being the case, Sec. 3(e) of RA 3019 was violated by Ongpin, David, et al. of causing any undue injury to any party, including the Government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence. This provision shall apply to officers and employees of offices or government corporations charged with the grant of licenses or permits or other concessions. Considering the amount involved, this could rise to violation of the Anti-Plunder Law (RA 7080).
Moreover, Ongpin’s shares of stocks in various corporations are almost surely manifestly beyond his legitimate income; hence, unlawfully acquired properties deemed forfeited to the state pursuant to RA 1379.
For direct comment: fcwenceslao1034@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment