PSE press release a hoax

A mysterious press statement from someone claiming to be Jinky Alora, office in charge of the market regulation department (MRD) of the Philippine Stock Exchange, found its way into the mailbox of reporters covering the stock market beat on Monday. Quoting a May 2013 PSE report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the statement announced that the PSE had fined 19 listed companies and reprimanded seven others for violating disclosure requirements that involved breaching the blackout rule, non-disclosure, delayed submission of reports and non-submission of reports.

The hoax “statement” was unwittingly carried by some media organizations (including online outfits) but the PSE, at 5:19 p.m. on Monday, denied releasing it and issued a reminder to use only authorized e-mails using the official PSE domain. The press statement was questionable from the start as it was sent through a G-mail account. Knowing the PSE, it never shouts out to the world (through a press statement) penalties on issuers, although it regularly posts a memorandum on its website reporting the penalties and the amount paid only after the penalty had been settled. In the same way, the PSE posts on its website violations committed by trading participants and the penalties meted out.

Meanwhile, another tell-tale sign that the statement was a hoax was that Alora was indeed once the OIC of MRD, but the unit had long been dissolved with the creation of Capital Market Integrity Corp. (CMIC). Alora is a real person and an assistant vice president at the PSE but has never been known for sending releases, especially when it comes to sensitive topics such as penalties on issuers.

But while it was a classic “kuryente” (bum steer) case, the sender knew how to target the audience and was resourceful enough to acquire a complete list of the e-mail addresses of stock market reporters. The statement also carried an attachment/supporting document. Could the attachment be genuine? the PSE and the SEC declined to comment, but it is possible. If so, it means the sender had some insider access. Doris C. Dumlao

Harassing Philex

If the MVP group did not seem to mind plunking down a few billion pesos for a struggling operation like TV5, they certainly did not hold back when it came to spending for the rehabilitation efforts of Philex Mining Corp. in the wake of the tailings pond accident last year.

We were told that the country’s largest gold and copper mine (for now, until Tampakan comes into play) has so far spent a whopping P4 billion to rehabilitate the environment around its Padcal mine in Benguet, repair its tailings pond that was damaged by torrential rains and pay the government a P1-billion fine (Note that the proceeds of the fine were supposed to be used for the rehabilitation efforts in the first place, but Philex went ahead and spent on its own anyway.)

Since early March, Philex has been operating under a provisional license, not so much to make money from its mining operations but because it needed to produce tailings to fill the newly rehabilitated pond. And that four-month provisional license will expire on July 7, Sunday.

Given this looming deadline, several stakeholders have been petitioning regulators—specifically the Mines and Geosciences Bureau —to extend its provisional license so that it could continue producing the tailings needed to fill up the basin (thus plugging the hole at the bottom that the rains created).

The pro-Philex stakeholders include the Benguet provincial government, the local government units of Itogon where the mine is located and even the local indigenous communities, many of whose members work at the mines (and their children study at Philex-subsidized schools).

A report seen by Biz Buzz showed that the company has, in fact, passed all the requirements of the government for it to be granted a full operating license with flying colors.

So what is the problem? Apparently, some church leaders, “environmentalists” and NGOs have been lobbying the government to shut Philex down. The sad part is that many of them are not even local stakeholders. Daxim L. Lucas

Aiming for the governorship

Last Friday, Twitterverse was abuzz with rumors that central bank Governor Amando “Say” Tetangco Jr. had been rushed to the hospital for unknown reasons.

At first glance, the rumors seemed believable. In 2010, the country’s monetary policy chief and main banking industry regulator had a heart bypass surgery to unclog all the pipes in his ticker.

It was news like this that could give financial market players their own heart attacks. After all, it was Tetangco’s central bank that kept the Philippine economy afloat during the graft-ridden Arroyo years.

It was the same BSP that helped keep inflation stable and growth rates high in the last three years, leading to the Philippines’ investment grade status with Fitch and S&P. He is not recognized as the world’s top central bank governor for nothing.

However, those who know the governor better—and we here at Biz Buzz take pride in knowing our central bank governors—knew right away that this was not true. Tetangco was in Kuala Lumpur on the night that he was supposed to have been rushed to the hospital. He was there for the Executives’ Meeting of East Asia Pacific (EMEAP) central banks, meeting with counterparts from other Southeast Asian countries, as well those from China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

So where did the ridiculous rumor come from? Some say it may have been from a troubled bank that was recently denied an emergency loan by the BSP—but this seems unlikely given the country’s healthy banking system.

What is more likely is that it came from someone who has his eye on Tetangco’s job. This came after rumors were spread some weeks ago that Tetangco would not finish his second term, which ends in 2017.  Was it someone from the private sector, or worse, from government? Your guess is as good as ours. Paolo Montecillo

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