SolGen defends Palace order to declassify info on Ongpin's DBP deals

The Office of the Solicitor General has denied that President Benigno Aquino III's administration is persecuting businessman Roberto Ongpin, who allegedly entered into anomalous transactions with the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) during the Arroyo administration. In a press statement, Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz said Malacañang's order to declassify information is part of the Aquino administration's transparency and anti-corruption drive. Ongpin and 27 former and current DBP officials are facing criminal and administrative cases at the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the grant of P660 million in "behest loans" to the Ongpin-owned Delta Ventures Resources Inc. (DVRI) in 2009. Ongpin served as Trade minister during the term of then President Ferdinand Marcos. “If the documents will not show anything, why be afraid. If he [Ongpn] has done nothing wrong he should welcome the documents. Why be afraid if it will exonerate him?" Cadiz said, in reaction to Ongpin lawyer's statement. The solicitor general made the statement after Ongpin's camp said Malacañang and DBP are engaged in a fishing expedition when President Aquino, through Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., ordered the DBP to declassify documents on the P660-million loan. “There are only three questions that need to be answered here. Was Ongpin’s DVRI which was granted the P660 million loans qualified to secure a loan? Was the procedure in securing a loan followed? And why was the loan approved in record time? The documents will give the details," added Cadiz. He also said that even without a scrutiny of the documents, there is already a "strong case" against Ongpin. Cadiz then noted that the DVRI's loan was approved by the former DBP leadership in one day. “This alone is enough to hold him accountable for the P660 million behest loan. With the declassification of information relative to details of the anomalous transactions, it provided the nail on the coffin," he said. DBP deals with Ongpin Last Sept. 13, Malacañang granted the current DBP leadership's request to "reveal for examination" any information involving individual accounts or specific banking transactions that are deemed anomalous. Aside from DVRI files, other documents to be scrutinized are individual accounts or specific banking transactions of the DBP involving Global Air Services Inc./Metrorail Transit Corp., installment sale of the shares of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), and investments in Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Except for the $60 million investment with Lehman Brothers, Ongpin is allegedly involved in the three other deals, which were consummated during the leadership of former DBP president Reynaldo David and former DBP chairman Patricia Sto. Tomas. Section 22 of the Revised Charter of the DBP (Executive Order No. 81) allows President Aquino to allow the declassification of information on transactions made by the state-owned bank. In its Sept. 13 order to the DBP, Malacañang told the DBP to open before the Office of the Solicitor General the information gathered in the declassification of documents related to the deals with Ongpin. — VS, GMA News