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Villar says he met with PSE execs but no ‘arm-twisting’


Nacionalista Party standard bearer Senator Manuel Villar Jr. on Friday admitted meeting Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) officials but he never "twisted anyone’s arm" to benefit a publicly-listed real estate company his family controls. He made this clarification on Friday, a day after former president Joseph Estrada and his allies accused him of pressuring corporate regulators to exempt him from a rule that required him to hold his shares in Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. for six months. Proceeds from the share sale supposedly helped fund his presidential campaign, Villar’s rivals claimed. But the NP presidential bet said that Estrada, the standard bearer of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, could have been misinformed about the issue. Nevertheless, he still respects Estrada, adding that he refuses to file charges against him, Villar said in a press conference on Friday.
Under PSE rules, shareholders who own at least a tenth of a company being listed on the exchange cannot sell their shares until after six months. “Baka nakuryente si Erap. Meron lang nagpapaandar sa kanya, hindi nawawala ang paggalang ko sa kanya," he said. (Erap may have gotten burned by wrong information. Someone may be toying with him but still, my respect for him remains the same.) Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc., which claims to be the Philippines’ leading homebuilder, intended to file charges against those making these allegations but the senator — whose two sons are directors in the firm — advised against it. Villar said the PSE did not change any of its rules for Vista Land after he met with its officials and that the PSE even rejected the company’s only request. “The PSE is a private company," he said. "Sila ang gumagawa ng internal rules nila at hindi ito batas…Normal yan na makipag-usap ka sa kanila pag listed ang company mo... Nagkukuwentuhan lang kami, hindi ko sila pinipilit." (The company makes its own rules. If you control a publicly-listed company, it’s only normal that you talk to them regularly. I never pressured them to do anything to favor Vista Land.) He added that no money was lost to the government, insisting that that the government even earned P120 million in revenues paid by Vista and through a fee paid to PSE. The Securities and Exchange Commission has nothing to do with the transaction, he added. The senator also belied Estrada’s assertion that Villar did not divest his interest in the company. Villar said only those in the executive department are required to divest while those in the legislative department like himself are only asked to disclose their interests. In a press statement, Villar’s chief legal counsel, lawyer Nalen Rosero-Galang, turned the tables on Estrada. “Look who’s talking, Estrada has not even fully cleared himself of his involvement in the infamous Best World (BW) Resources stock manipulation scandal in 1999. It is still hanging over his head to this day," she said. She said the BW scam is the Philippines’ biggest share-price manipulation scandal. According to reports, from October 1998 to October 1999, BW Resources' trading price posted a 5,250 percent growth from a stock price of only P0.80 to an astounding P145. She said this was timed around when Macau gambling mogul Stanley Ho was to take over as chairman of BW Resources. Ho went to the Philippines and fled the country. BW Resources’ share prices then plunged to below P30. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the PSE investigated the said scam. “Halos bumagsak ang stock exchange (The stock exchange almost collapsed) because of the BW scandal," said Rosero-Galang. Estrada’s involvement was through his crony then, Dante Tan, who was a major stockholder of BW Resources. “Who duped who? The BW price-fixing scam duped Filipino investors big time," she said. Rosero-Galang said the alleged meeting between Villar and PSE officials as well as phone calls he made to PSE officials are not irregular since every executive who seeks to sells shares at the bourse does the same. She said Villar’s innocuous phone calls are nothing compared to the phone calls made by Estrada to then SEC chairman Perfecto Yasay to clear his crony Tan of any involvement in the BW scandal. This was revealed by Yasay himself during a Senate hearing on BW Resources’ share-price scheme in February 2000. However, during the press conference, Villar refused to talk about past scandals. "Ayokong magsabi ng nakaraang scam...Hindi ko na ie-elaborate yan dahil gusto kong itaas ang level ng kampanya (I don't want to mention past scams. I won't elaborate on it since I want to raise the level of the campaign)," he said. - RJAB Jr./JV, GMANews.TV

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