MANILA, Philippines?The Philippine Stock Exchange is holding a special board meeting Monday to discuss the lifting of the trading suspension on Manila Electric Co. after the latter entered into an agreement with Philippine Depository Trust Co. to isolate all of its disputed shares.

?Although the agreement is between Meralco and PDTC, it will help us resume the trading of Meralco shares as the disputed shares have been segregated from the other shares,? PSE president Francis Lim said Friday night.

In a separate interview, PDTC chair Vicente Castillo said the depository lifted the restrictions on the rest of the shares after the quarantine of the disputed shares.

?We can now certify that all shares of Meralco are eligible for trading,? Castillo said, noting though that it would be up to the PSE, which is a self-regulatory organization, to determine when the shares could resume trading.

The state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines earlier sued Meralco, citing an illegal cancellation of shares equivalent to about 3.8 percent of the utility?s total issued stocks.

The shares also belong to the 10-percent block that Landbank and other government financial institutions have agreed to jointly sell to Global 5000 Investment, a local investment fund led by businessmen Inigo Zobel, former Trade Minister Roberto V. Ongpin and condiments businessman Joselito Campos.

Based on its written commitment, Meralco will recognize the validity of 3.37 million shares already traded and settled before the trading of Meralco shares was indefinitely suspended on Dec. 17.

Lim said the PSE board would discuss during the meeting what would happen to shares already traded but not yet settled.

Castillo said the PSE and Meralco would have to draw the terms on the unsettled shares.

Of the disputed shares, Meralco reported that 40.6 million were lodged with PDTC while the remaining 1.4 million shares remain in the name of a claimant contested by Landbank and not lodged with PDTC.