Ongpin unloading PhilWeb shares to save the company

Businessman Roberto V. Ongpin on Wednesday announced plans to sell all his shares in listed gaming technology provider PhilWeb Corporation in a last-ditch effort to save the company.

In an emergency meeting with shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders in Makati City, Ongpin said he plans to sell his PhilWeb shares in public auction.

As majority shareholder, Ongpin holds 771,749,896 PhilWeb shares equivalent to 53.76 percent of the total shares outstanding.

"I hereby announce that I have decided to conduct an open auction for all of these shares as of today," he told the stockholders.

The auction which began on Wednesday is set to end at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, August 17.

"The auction is open to every financially capable person or entity who wishes to submit a bid, and I will sell my shares to the highest bidder," he said.

The winning bidder will be announced on Thursday, August 18.

The company announced late Tuesday it was winding down the operations of all 286 e-Games outlets after its contract with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) lapses at midnight on Thursday.

The e-Games operations account for 100 percent of PhilWeb revenue.

Ongpin is betting that with him totally out of the company, PhilWeb might be able to secure a new contract with industry regulator PAGCOR.

The company failed to secure a renewal of its licensing agreement with the regulator during a last-minute negotiation on late Tuesday.

The intellectual property license agreement was extended for a month last July.

During the meeting on Wednesday, Ongpin pointed out that he was the sole person targeted by President Rodrigo Duterte, and that leaving the company would hopefully save it.

"I am doing this auction so that I will be totally out of the picture and the innocent bystanders, such as the shareholders, the employees of PhilWeb Corporation, the e-Games operators, their collective employees which numbers some 5,000 people, may be able to save their jobs," he said.

Ongpin said he was being singled out by Duterte as among the oligarchs in the country whom the President intended to eliminate.

"Exactly one week ago on August 3, I was struck by lightning and named as an oligarch that must be destroyed.

"The lightning bolt was obviously meant for me and me alone, and not for the other shareholders of PhilWeb, the employees of PhilWeb, or our e-Games operators who are employed throughout the country," he said.

Ongpin said stepping out of PhilWeb could save the company as the non-renewal of the agreement with PAGCOR seemed more of a personal issue than regulatory.

During his first Cabinet meeting on June 30, the President vowed to stop the proliferation of online gambling in the country.

PhilWeb argued the company was not in the business of online gambling, after Ongpin resigned as its chairman last week, but it was not enough to secure a new contract with PAGCOR.

The Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday issued a temporary trading suspension on PhilWeb shares until 9:00 a.m. of August 24. The company sought for a voluntary trading halt until the end of August. — VDS, GMA News