Tuna firm’s stockholder hits SEC for inaction

A minority stockholder of one of the country’s top canned tuna manufacturers has complained that the Securities and Exchange Commission has failed to give attention to a complaint against the corporation for denying him his right as a stockholder. SCREENGRAB from www.sec.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines–A minority stockholder of one of the country’s top canned tuna manufacturers is complaining that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has failed to give attention to a complaint against the corporation for denying him his right as a stockholder.

In his complaint to the SEC, Necisto U. Sytengco of Quezon City alleged that the management of Alliance Select Food International Inc., (ASFI) barred him from attending a regular annual stockholders’ meeting. The SEC, however, has failed to act on his complaint after two months, Sytengco said in a press statement.

Sytengco, a minority stockholder of ASFI, told the SEC in a letter that he went to the scheduled regular stockholders’ meeting of ASFI on June 16 at the Oakwood Premier Hotel in Ortigas Center in Pasig City. He was accompanied by his lawyer, Fred Bathan. However, he said, he was barred from entering the hall by two “burly security guards” who said they had instructions not to allow anybody who arrived late from entering to participate in the proceedings.

After he sought an explanation, a lawyer from the ACCRA Law faced them and still refused them entry. He was asked by the lawyers of ASFI to challenge their act to refuse him entry to the stockholders meetings in the appropriate courts.

Sytengco said he filed his letter-complaint on June 17, a day after the incident, and sent a follow-up letter on July 7. He asked the SEC to investigate the company for violations of the Code of Corporate Governance and the Corporation Code of the Philippines, “especially with regards to the protection of the rights of minority stockholders of  a company.” He also questioned the legality of barring legitimate stockholders from exercising their rights even if they were late for the stockholders’ meeting.

“Until now no word from the SEC on my complaint has been heard,” he said.

The law requires government officials to take action within 15 days on complaints from the public. He said the delay in SEC’s action on his complaint sends a wrong signal to investors in the country.

ASFII is a publicly listed company and one of the leading canned tuna manufacturers in the Philippines with factories in General Santos City and Bitung, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, in the so-called “tuna highway.”