PSE Board covering up for Villar, Enrile says

(Updated 4:33 p.m.) Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Monday accused the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Board of covering up for Nacionalista Party standard bearer Manuel Villar Jr. after it found nothing wrong with the latter’s reported request to exempt him from bourse rules. The PSE board is executing "a very craftily and cleverly done cover-up" when it said the Villar-owned Vista Land complied with existing rules and requirements for listing and public offering. "Shame on you and your ilk who sit at the board of the PSE," said Enrile in a press conference in Mandaluyong City. The PSE Corporate Communications Department declined to comment on Enrile’s accusations, saying that the board had already answered the issue in an earlier statement. Enrile is seeking re-election under the banner of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, whose standard bearer, former president Joseph Estrada, is trailing Villar in presidential preference surveys. After Estrada's camp accused Villar of getting billions from an allegedly illegal stock deal in 2007, the Philippine Stock Exchange said Vista Land complied with its listing rules. "The PSE board had earlier approved the public offering of Vista Land and in a subsequent meeting in 2007 clarified that the lock-up rule would not apply to the sale by existing shareholders owning less than 10 percent of the outstanding capital stock of the company at the time of the offering," PSE Chairman Hans B. Sicat said in a statement. But Enrile said some members of the Board may have benefitted from the allegedly irregular share sale so they are protecting Villar. "Maraming rason yan e: either takot sila, either kandidato nila, or nakinabang sila financially because they are brokers," he said. (There are many reasons behind that. Either they’re scared, he’s their candidate, or they themselves benefited because they are brokers.) Villar had earlier dismissed the accusations as black propaganda that he used his influence to manipulate the stock market and secure special treatment for his companies. Villar's chief legal officer Nalen Rosero-Galang also challenged Estrada and Enrile to present documents and file charges in court against the Nacionalista Party presidential bet. "We challenge them to file appropriate charges in courts and agencies against the senator and his companies, if indeed violations of laws were committed. Until that time, the public should know that this is clearly nothing but political mudslinging," she said. The initial share sale of Vista Land was done in compliance with the requirements of the Securities Regulation Code and PSE rules, Rosero-Galang said. Enrile also challenged the PSE board to declare as fake the minutes of a June 2007 PSE Board meeting which he used as basis for his accusations "I dare the PSE board to say that the copies of the minutes of their meetings I am holding are fake and if so produce before the public your own version of the minutes so that they can judge who is telling the truth and who are covering up," he said. Another ethics complaint? At the same press conference, Enrile said he would "definitely" file another ethics case against Villar if he wins as senator, and if Villar loses the presidential race and goes back to the Senate to finish his term. "What he did was a violation of existing rules on the operation of the PSE… He used his position to pressure the board," he said. Enrile spearheaded last year the Senate Committee of the Whole’s investigation which found Villar guilty of exerting influence on government agencies so that the road will pass through his real estate properties. [See: The C5 Extension controversy: An interactive map] Enrile reiterated that Villar’s move to "pressure" the PSE board for his personal gains showed "issues of propriety, ethics, delicadeza and moral rectitude." He added that he would make sure Villar would be held accountable for "manipulating the stock market" even if the NP standard-bearer wins as president in the May polls. "I’m used to fighting presidents of this country. It would not be any different... I do not want a financial manipulator to be president of the country," he said. - RJAB Jr./RSJ, GMANews.TV