MikeLigalig.com

Ombudsman indicts DBP officers
27 September 2012

OMBUDSMAN Conchita Carpio Morales ordered the filing of two criminal Informations against Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) officers and three private individuals, in connection with DBP’s grant of two loans in the total amount of P660 million in 2009 to Deltaventures Resources, Inc. (DVRI).

In a Review Resolution signed on September 25, 2012, Ombudsman Morales found probable cause to indict (i) DBP’s ex-officers Patricia Sto. Tomas, former Chairman; Reynaldo David, former President & Vice-Chairman; former Directors Alexander Magno, Floro Oliveros, Miguel Romero, Franklin Velarde, Renato Velasco and Joseph Donato Pangilinan; Edgardo Garcia, former Senior Executive Vice President (SEVP) & Chief Operating Officer; Armando Samia, former SEVP & Head of Marketing Sector; Rolando Geronimo, former SEVP; Perla Soleta, former Senior Assistant Vice President (SAVP); Jesus Guevarra II, former SEVP & Marketing Head of the Brach Banking Sector (BBS); Crescencia Bundoc, former VP & Head of Regional Marketing Center-Metro Manila (RMC-MM); Arturo Baliton, BBS Manager for RMC-Western Luzon; Nelson Macatlang, RMC-WL Chief Accounts Management specialist; Marissa Cayetano, RMC-MM Assistant Manager; and (ii) private individuals Roberto Ongpin, DVRI General Manager; Josephine Manalo, DVRI President; and Ma. Lourdes Torres, treasurer of Goldenmedia Corporation (GMC), for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act (RA) No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, in relation to the grant of a P150 million credit line to DVRI.

Ombudsman Morales also found probable cause to indict Sto. Tomas, David, Magno, Oliveros, Romero, Velarde, Velasco, Garcia, Samia, Geronimo, Soleta, Guevarra, Bundoc, Baliton, Ongpin, Manalo, Torres along with Ramon Durano IV, former DBP director; Benedicto Ernesto Bitonio Jr., former EVP and Head of Finance Sector; Teresita Tolentino, former AVP; Rodolfo Cerezo, RMC-MM Assistant Manager; and Warren De Guzman, RMC-MM Assistant Manager, for another count of violation of Section 3(e) of RA 3019, in relation to the grant of a P510 million loan to DVRI.

The charges as against Benilda Tejada, Josephine Jaurique and Justice Lady Flores were dismissed for insufficiency of evidence.

The case stemmed from the complaint filed in August 2011 by DBP represented by its chairman, Jose Nuñez, and its president and chief executive officer, Francisco Del Rosario, Jr. for violations of Sections 3(e), (g), (j) of RA 3019, RA 8791, and other banking regulations against the 28 respondents who allegedly participated in the grant of ”behest” loans in the sum of P660 million under relaxed concessions used in the purchase of DBP-owned shares in Philex Mining Corporation, all orchestrated in a span of less than a year.

The Review Resolution points out that majority of DVRI’s shares are registered in the name of Manalo and its paid-up capital amounts to only P625,000, while most of GMC’s equity are owned by Boerstar Corporation whose shares are, in turn, held in majority by GAME Equities, Inc. It added that Manalo and Torres are GMC’s President and Treasurer, but Ongpin is the Chairman and shareholder of GAME, and that in November and December 2009, Ongpin and David were directors of Philex. Ongpin was a former DBP director and is a known associate of then DBP President David.

         The Review Resolution states that DBP extended two loan facilities in the amounts of P150 million and P510 million in April 2009 and November 2009, respectively, to DVRI, even though DVRI was undercapitalized; the values of the securities did not comply with the collateral-to-loan ratio prescribed by the Central Bank and DBP’s own credit policy memoranda; there are indications that corporate layering was resorted to; and the proceeds of the second loan were used to purchase DBP-owned mining stocks, although the private company was not licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as a securities dealer, and with reported indicia of insider trading.

        It explains that DBP sold to DVRI in November 2009 fifty (50) million shares in Philex at only P12.75 per share. DVRI used the proceeds of the DBP loan to purchase from DBP the Philex shares which were subsequently registered in the name of GMC. In just a span of one month or in December 2009, the Philex shares were sold at P21.00 per share or at almost double the value.

    Ombudsman Morales also directed that copies of the Review Resolution be furnished the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Anti-Money Laundering Council for “their immediate action on the possible violations x x x of the National Internal Revenue Code, the Securities Regulation Code and the Anti-Money Laundering Act, as amended, that may have been committed in this case.”

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=88510.0