Enrile questions alleged use of 'dummies' by Ongpin

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Friday questioned why businessman Roberto Ongpin allegedly managed to use a dummy company to acquire multimillion loans from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) in 2009. In 2009, the DBP granted P660 million in loans to Delta Venture Resources Inc. (DVRI), which was initially thought to have been Ongpin's company because it acquired the loan for the stock purchase which benefitted the businessman. However, Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz on Friday said that Ongpin was not a stockholder of DVRI. "It does not appear (he is a stockholder) but he is an executive of DVRI," Cadiz said during the day's Senate blue ribbon hearing on the alleged behest loans granted by the DBP. "The DVRI is almost like a single proprietorship of Josephine Manalo... by owning 24,996 shares out of the 25,000 shares. She is a long-time executive secretary of Roberto Ongpin," he added. He likewise revealed that DVRI had asked DBP to register the 50 million shares of Philex Mining Corporation bought using the DBP loan to Golden Media, Ongpin's firm which eventually sold the shares at a higher price to Two Rivers. "Are you saying that the person appearing as a stockholder of DVRI does does not own the corporation but is acting on behalf of someone else?" Enrile said during the hearing. "Why is Mr .Ongpin the one appearing on paper defending this transaction with DVRI and he does not appear on the articles of incorporation? Are the stockholders of DVRI dummies of Mr. Ongpin?" he added. Cadiz, however, said Manalo never denied that she contracted the loan for Ongpin. Same shareholders Former DBP president Reynaldo David likewise explained that the shareholders of DVRI and Golden Media were the same. He added that there were deeds of trust issued to Ongpin. But Enrile asked why was there a need to go through such a complicated process. "I am not a banker... but the stockholder of a corporation is not the corporation. Why is this borrower putting the shares in another name?" he said. "Why did you go through that subterfuge? Were you instructed by Mr. Ongpin to do that? Are you serving the interest of Mr. Ongpin or the interest of DBP? Mr. Ongpin is the maestro conductor in this," he added. David and Ongpin were both members of the Philex board during that time. David, however, said that it was DVRI - through Manalo - that instructed them to do the transaction. Ongpin in Europe During the last hearing, Ongpin failed to show up because he is reportedly in Europe for business. But he has promised, through his counsel Alex Poblador, to attend the Senate hearings when returns to the country on October 25. On the other hand, Enrile also asked the Senate blue ribbon committee to summon Manalo. "Can we ask the major stockholder of DVRI to explain to us why her corporation appears to be the buyer of the shares when it was Mr. Ongpin was the one who bought the shares of stocks," he said. "We should issue a subpoena against her," he added. Senate blue ribbon committee chair Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, for his part, said Manalo had been invited to the Senate hearing twice but that she has claimed of having a "medical condition." "She was invited twice... we will look at the medical certificate she has sent," Guingona said. Senator Sergio Osmena III, chair of the Senate committee on banks, joked whether Manalo was in St. Luke's, where people invited by the blue ribbon committee usually go to when they cite certain medical conditions. — RSJ, GMA News