Bangko Sentral exec hits Ongpin ‘persecution’

The lawyer of Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has accused businessman Roberto Ongpin of resorting to persecution.

In a statement, lawyer Augusto San Pedro Jr. observed that Ongpin, when he filed a graft case against Espenilla, was taking the matter personally against the government official even if the freezing of the businessman’s bank accounts was a decision of a collegial body.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) ordered the freezing of Ongpin’s bank accounts after the Ombudsman found probable cause in the corruption charge against Ongpin and officials of the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines.

According to the charge, DBP lent money to a firm owned by Ongpin in 2009. Proceeds of the loans were used to buy shares, including those owned by DBP, in Philex Mining.

AMLC is an interagency body, decisions of which are made by the heads of the BSP, the Insurance Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The governor of the BSP serves as its chair. Espenilla, however, temporarily served as acting chairman late last year when BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. was abroad.

“Furthermore, lest it be forgotten, the AMLC Resolution is a product of a collegial body governing the AMLC and that while Espenilla acted as its then chair, in the absence of the governor, the resolution authorizing the filing of the petition for the freezing of accounts of Ongpin cannot be attributed to him as his personal action. It is a product of a collegial body mandated by the AMLA to act unanimously,” the lawyer said in a statement.

“Therefore, the filing of charges against Espenilla can, at best, be viewed as an act of persecution,” he added.