DBP chair charged with ‘coercion’ in Ongpin loans probe

Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) board chairman Jose A. Nuñez on Wednesday was charged before the Ombudsman with “unlawful coercion, threats, intimidation and pressures" meant to force the government bank’s officials “to persecute" businessman Roberto Ongpin. In his 20-page complaint-affidavit, DBP senior executive vice president and chief operating officer Edgardo F. Garcia claimed Nuñez directly had ordered him to draft a statement that the P660 million in loans granted to former DBP chair Ongpin in April and November 2009 were special accommodations from DBP’s Executive Credit Committee (Crecom). “Respondent (Nuñez) asked me point blank to falsely state, in writing or even verbally, that the Crecom was just pressured by Reynaldo G. David to approve the loans/accommodations in favor of Roberto V. Ongpin," Garcia said. Garcia said Nuñez had called him to a “one-on-one meeting" last April 14, where the incumbent DBP board chairman allegedly admitted wanting to go after Ongpin and former DBP president and chief executive officer Reynaldo G. David. He also alleged that Nuñez threatened to implicate him and his fellow bank officers in the investigation into loans given to Ongpin’s Delta Venture Resources Inc. (DVRI) and other accounts. Garci added that last May 3 Nuñez allegedly leaned on him to “issue/sign a false statement" to make it appear that David had forced Crecom members to favorably endorse Ongpin’s loan application for the DBP board’s approval. “The respondent…subtlety threatened that any charges to be filed against me will jeopardize my entitlement to the retirement benefits I already earned. The threats notwithstanding, I informed Respondent that I cannot, in good conscience, submit to his unlawful demands/threats," said Garcia, who is set to retire from DBP after 22 years of service. 20 ‘show cause’ letters, one suicide In his complaint-affidavit, Garcia narrated how he and 19 other DBP officials had received last May 20 “show cause" letters requiring them to submit written explanations of their involvement in the DVRI transactions. Among those who got the show cause order was documentation lawyer DBP assistant vice president Benjamin E. Pinpin. A month later, a similar directive followed which detailed each official’s purported “participation" in the loan transaction “based on the Bank’s records." “Unfortunately, Atty. Benjamin Pinpin who, despite his explanation in the first show cause letter that his only participation in the subject transaction is to document the approved and authenticated transaction media and that he is not part of the evaluation and recommendation process, was still included in the second show cause letter…prompting him to take his own life on August 2, 2011," the complainant said. After Pinpin's body was found hanging by a nylon cord in the bathroom of a budget hotel in Las Piñas, no less than President Benigno Aquino III himself ordered a review of the DBP’s probe into the loans to see if it had become “overzealous." Nuńez belies accusations In a press statement released also on Wednesday, Nuńez said while he has yet to the complaint filed against him, he admitted being “taken by surprise by this yet another clear attempt to muddle the issue which only involves the question of whether past DBP officials have failed to safeguard P660 million worth of public funds loaned to...Ongpin." The DBP chairman belied Garcia’s allegations of “unlawful coercion, threats, intimidation and pressures," and questioned why the case was filed “only now" by “an official listed by the Commission on Audit (COA) as being among the elite list of highest paid officials -- P12.7 million in 2009." Nuńez claimed that “the facts and documents" will show that the complainant had “connived" with David to pass the alleged P660 behest loans to Ongpin’s DVRI. “As Mr. Ongpin has repeatedly claimed in media that the loan is above board, I hope we all stick to the documents and merit of the case and not becloud the issue with a lawyer’s suicide since the said lawyer can no longer make his defense both in media and any court in the country." Nuńez said. “I implore on Ongpin, David and Garcia to face the Ombudsman case squarely and to leave Atty. Pinpin in peace as is the wishes of his family who simply wants all parties to ... ‘refrain from dramatizing his death’ for their own individual interests," said the DBP chairman. Ongpin and 27 former and current DBP officials are facing criminal and administrative cases before the Ombudsman in connection with the P660 million in "behest loans" to the Ongpin-owned DVRI in 2009. Ongpin served as Trade minister during the term of then President Ferdinand Marcos. Under the Revised Charter of the DBP (Executive Order No. 81), President Aquino ordered 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. —MRT/ELR, GMA News