‘I don’t need A, B, C, D, E or FG to be successful,’ says Ongpin

MANILA, Philippines—Former Marcos-era Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin  defended his three-decade investment track record on Saturday, saying he did not need the backing of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, to be successful in business or take out big-ticket loans.

In a telephone interview from Europe, where he is on a business trip, the businessman said he took exception to the statement made by Sen. Sergio Osmeña III that there was a “B” — a Big Man — behind the controversial P660-million loan extended to him by the Development Bank of the Philippines.

“I don’t need an A, B, C, D, E or even an FG backing me up for me to be successful,” Ongpin said, referring to the shorthand monicker for the the former President’s husband who was called “First Gentleman” or FG.  “I have been doing investment banking deals for 26 years now.”

The businessman pointed out that he had been engaged in large deals since he brought in Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok during the administration of President Corazon Aquino to put up the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel and shopping complex in Mandaluyong City.

Since then, the Kuok group has invested an estimated $3 billion in six hotel and high-end residential developments in partnership with him, including the new Shargri-La hotel being built in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, he added.

The Philippine investments to date of his latest partner, UK-based investment fund Ashmore Group, is worth an additional $2 billion, he said.

“While I admit to being Mike Arroyo’s friend, we met no more than five times during the entire Arroyo administration, and only once in Malacañang,” he said. “Is it a crime now to be his friend?”

During last Friday’s Senate hearing into the DBP loan, Sen. Osmeña expressed the belief that a loan of the magnitude extended by the bank to Ongpin would not have been possible without the go-ahead from an influential backer.

The controversy stemmed from a 2009 loan granted by DBP to Ongpin for him to acquire Philex Mining Corp. shares, some of which were bought from the bank itself.

DBP’s new board of directors contend that the loan was “behest” since it was allegedly granted with “undue haste” and without sufficient collateral cover. They also accused the former DBP board and its former president Reynaldo David of putting the bank at a disadvantage for selling its Philex shares at only P12.75 — itself, already double DBP’s acquisition cost — when Ongpin sold the same shares a few days later to businessman Manuel Pangilinan at P21 per share.

They also accused the former leadership of the bank of exposing it to undue risk for allegedly granting the loan with insufficient collateral cover.

Ongpin said the loan cannot be called a “behest loan” because it was repaid fully ahead of its maturity date, was fully collateralized, and earned for the bank P4 million in interest and P1.3 billion in trading gains for the shares in question.

To Senator Osmeña’s statement that Ongpin was backed by an influential personality, the businessman said: “I admire Sen. Osmeña, but just as he does not require a powerful backer to be a good politician, I, too, do not need a powerful backer to be a good businessman.”

He said that the loan from DBP made up only 17 percent of the total financial package he assembled from a total of seven banks to be able to acquire a pivotal stake in Philex which, after it was sold to Pangilinan, allowed the latter to take control of the country’s largest mining firm.

Ongpin admitted that he felt frustrated by constantly being called a Marcos “crony” and the loan labeled “behest.”

“It’s annoying, quite frankly,” he said. “I was one of the technocrats during the Marcos administration, and was certainly never a crony.”

Despite his dismay at the current turn of events, the businessman said he would continue bringing in partners to invest in the Philippines.

“I love this country, and I will continue helping it,” he said, adding: “I am a battle-scarred man, having fought many wars in the past.”

“I’m happy to wage war with them, because I’m certainly no pussycat,” Ongpin said.

Ongpin also took exception to  Osmeña’s statement that he was not “big enough” to be able to secure such a loan from DBP, and that the businessman was “lucky” to have been able to make a large profit from buying and selling the Philex shares.

“It’s not a question of bigness,” he said. “It’s a question of diligent research and analysis. In the same manner, it’s not a question of luck. It’s a question of careful analysis and judgment calls.”

“That’s how I make money,” Ongpin said. “Not [through] influence.”