LOANS
MANILA,
SEPTEMBER 27,
2011 (TRIBUNE) Malacañang's directive allowing the
declassification of the Development Bank of the Philippines' (DBP) unpaid loan
accounts, but only on the accounts pertaining to businessman Roberto Ongpin's
bank loans, is clearly a fishing expedition, meant to further persecute his
client, Alex Poblador, Onpin's counsel, intimated.
Poblador dared the Palace to declassify all information connected to all
unpaid DBP loans, and not just the accounts of Ongpin, since such would amount
not only to witchhunting by the bank but also the clear persecution of his
client.
In a statement, Poblador criticized Palace officials for allowing DBP to open
records only in connection with Ongpin's Delta Ventures Resources Inc.'s deals
with Philex Mining Corp., as well as others pertaining to Ongpin's accounts.
"In any event, my client is not bothered by the declassification as all his
dealings with DBP were above-board and he has nothing to hide. What bothers my
client is the extent to which his persecutors are going to just to continue this
fishing expedition against him," Poblador stressed, reacting strongly to news
reports that Malacañang had authorized the declassification of bank files on
certain accounts with alleged links to his client.
It will be recalled that Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa was reported to
have granted last Sept. 13, 2011 the request of DBP President Francisco del
Rosario to waive the DBP Charter's strict confidentiality rule and enable the
bank to open its records regarding Ochoa said in his letter to Del Rosario:
"Your letter request to allow the DBP board of directors to reveal for
examination/inquiry any information relative to details of individual accounts
or specific banking transactions in exceptional cases of alleged anomalous
transactions…is hereby approved."
These records are said to pertain to Ongpin's Deltaventure Resources'
dealings with the Philex, Meralco, Metrorail Transit and Lehman Brothers
accounts to the Solicitor General and other investigative bodies.
Poblador decried this use of an extraordinary presidential prerogative just
to continue the "witchhunt" being perpetrated against Ongpin's Deltaventure
Resources.
"With the exception of Philex, Deltaventure Resources had nothing to do with
the Meralco, Metrorail Transit and Lehman accounts," stressed Poblador. "It is
obvious that DBP's Del Rosario in his request to declassify Deltaventure
Resources' accounts was totally misinformed about the involvement of
Deltaventure Resources in these accounts."
In a statement, Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz welcomed the directive
as he claimed that this will "beef up the cases against those responsible for
these questionable transactions, not only the P660 million behest loans awarded
to Mr. Ongpin."
The DBP board, headed by Del Rosario, filed filed a graft complaint last Aug.
5 through the office of the Solictor-General against Ongpin and others with
trgard to the P660 million loan he got from the DBP for the operations of his
company, Delta Ventures.
Cadiz said the declassification of the information "will make it easier for
the OSG and other investigating bodies to investigate and prosecute those who
participated in these irregular transactions because we can lay all the facts on
the table. I think this clears the way for the true and transparent prosecution
of these cases, without worrying that the documents will not be available"
Reacting to Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz' remarks that the access to
DBP's records will assist government lawyers to "firm up their arguments"
against Ongpin, Poblador said this just proves that when the Solicitor General
several weeks back said that the government "has a very strong case" against
Ongpin, he really had no documents or arguments and he was making charges
without any sufficient basis.
The Ochoa authorization appears to contradict earlier reports quoting both
Communications Head, Secretary Ricky Carandang, and Palace Spokesman Secretary
Edwin Lacierda, that there is nothing personal between Malacañang and Ongpin.
Poblador emphasized that if Malacañang wanted to be truly transparent, t
should not single out Roberto Ongpin and instead authorize the declassification
of DBP's unpaid loan accounts which have actually prejudiced the bank and not
limit it to accounts connected with Ongpin's Deltaventure Resources, which
accounts have ironically been profitable for the bank.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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rights reserved
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