ROBERTO ONGPIN. RUDY ESPERAS/INQUIRER
MANILA, Philippines – Senator Juan Ponce Enrile on Friday accused a former government official of alleged insider-trading after he had brought 50 million shares from Philex Mining at a lower price and then eventually sold the same shares to another business group at a much higher price.
In the second joint hearing of the Senate’s blue ribbon committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations and the committee on Banks, Financial institutions and Currencies, Enrile said that former trade secretary Roberto Ongpin knew how much shares business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan would be buying in Philex Mining in 2009 and that Ongpin had bought shares from the Development Bank of the Philippines using a loan from the same bank.
Ongpin, a known crony of former president Ferdinand Marcos, was not present during the hearing since he was in Europe and will be arriving on October 25.
In the same hearing, former DBP President and CEO Reynaldo David admitted that they approved two loans totalling to P660 million in 2009 to Ongpin using the company Delta Ventures Resources, Inc. (DVRI) which he was not directly affiliated with. Ongpin was not an incorporator of DVRI which was owned by a certain Josefina Manalo, a former long-time secretary of Ongpin, David said.
David also said that Ongpin instructed the DBP to name the purchased shares of stock under a separate company Goldenmedia. He also admitted that the loan was specifically for the purchase of 50 million shares in Philex Mining owned by DBP, which sold the shares at P12.75 per share. DBP had a total of 109 million shares at the Philex Mining prior to the sale to Ongpin.
Months later, Ongpin sold the shares to Pangilinan’s group at P21 per share.
However, David said he did not know that Pangilinan was buying shares so that he could acquire 40 percent and gain leverage in Philex’s board of directors.
But Enrile and Senator Sergio Osmeña III questioned this since it was known in the business community and players at the stock market that Pangilinan was purchasing Philex shares.
“Everyone knew about this except Mr. David. One would only need to read local business papers to know that Manny Pangilinan was buying Philex shares,” Osmeña said.
Enrile added that Ongpin initially offered to sell the 50 million shares to Pangilinan at P27 per share but the business magnate haggled and they agreed at P21 per share.
David also said he did not know of this but admitted that Ongpin helped DBP unload its remaining Philex Mining shares and were able to sell these also at P21 per share to Pangilinan.
Enrile said that Ongpin may have known that Pangilinan was purchasing Philex Mining shares and had known how much he was willing to pay, thus purchasing millions of shares from DBP.
The Senate president also requested that records of the stock movement of Philex Mining shares in 2009 be submitted.
Ongpin and David were also members of the Philex Mining board of directors when the loan was undertaken and the shares were sold.
When Enrile asked whether David was working for the benefit of Ongpin when he approved the loan, David said: “I do not work for Mr. Ongpin’s benefit. I would like to put that on record.”
Enrile questioned why the DPC approved the loan saying that the Goldenmedia was not authorized to be a third party guarantor based on the company’s primary and secondary purposes as stated in its articles of incorporation. He also ordered that the documents pertaining to the transfer of shares from DBP to DVRI and eventually to Goldenmedia be submitted.
“We want to know whether taxes for this transaction were duly paid,” Enrile said, adding that a tax rate of 10 percent gross sale of shares is required to be paid for these kinds of transactions.