Firm linked to Taiwan investor not registered at SEC

A company linked to an alleged Taiwanese economic fugitive that was recently prequalified by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) for one of the most expensive economic zone development projects in history is not registered at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), an SEC official said.

On Aug. 29, Peza Director General Charito Plaza announced in a press briefing that they had cleared for prequalification the project proposal of First Pangasinan Industrial Corp. (FPIC), which intends to embark on a 30-year development project in Dasol, Pangasinan, with a total cost of $360 billion or around P18 trillion.

Without giving clear details, Peza said that FPIC was an affiliate of alleged Taiwanese economic fugitive Chen You-hao, an investor who has been accused of economic crimes in Taiwan.

During the briefing, she said that the company was SEC-registered, 60 percent of which was owned by Filipinos and the remaining share accounted for by foreign nationals. However, a check with SEC showed that the firm was not registered at the commission at all.

“There is no registered corporation under the name First Pangasinan Industrial Corp.,” SEC Commission Secretary Arman Pan told the Inquirer in a text message when asked to validate Peza’s claims.

Plaza announced on Tuesday that FPIC had already been granted a prequalification clearance, which meant that its project was “qualified for registration with entitlement to incentives, subject to compliance with all the requirements for Presidential Proclamation.”

This comes despite a strong warning issued by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines (Teco) last month. According to Teco, Chen had been wanted in Taiwan since January 2014 after a Taiwanese court indicted him for fraud, embezzlement and other economic crimes.

Plaza denied Pan’s statement, calling it “wrong.”