Businessman Ongpin sues Bangko Sentral Deputy Gov. Espenilla

Businessman and former Trade Minister Roberto V. Ongpin on Thursday sued Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. for violating Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft Law.

 

In an emailed statement, Ongpin said his Lawyer Alex Poblador filed the complaint before the

Office of the Ombudsman.

 

Asked about the position of Bangko Sentral, director for Corporate Affairs Fe dela Cruz told GMA News Online that “ we will first have to see it... Then we'll take it from there.”

 

The case filed by Ongpin alleged four elements of the crime punishable under the Anti-Graft Law are present:

 

That the accused are public officers or private persons charged in conspiracy with them

 

That said public officers commit the prohibited acts during the performance of their official duties or in relation to their public positions

 

That they cause undue injury to any party, whether the Government or a private party

 

That the public officers have acted with manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.

 

“Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft Law, punishes public officers for 'causing undue injury to any party including the Government in the discharge of his official functions, or giving any private party unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his functions, through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence'.”

 

Espenilla, as Deputy Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and acting chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering Council, is undoubtedly a public officer, the statement read.

 

“Second, Mr. Espenilla signed AMLC Resolution (which sought the ex parte application for a Freeze Order against Ongpin’s accounts, among others) as Acting Chairman of the AMLC and Officer-in-Charge of the BSP. Thus, he signed the AMLC Resolution indisputably in the performance of his official duty or in relation to his public position,” Ongpin noted.

 

“Third, Mr. Espenilla’s act of signing the AMLC Resolution, which runs counter to the position which he earlier took and declared under oath before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, is the proximate cause of undue injury to Ongpin and his companies,” the businessman alleged.

 

The freeze order, Ongpin claimed, reduced by P3 billion – as of Dec. 10, 2012 or the first trading day after the order was published in the newspaper – his shareholdings in publicly listed Philweb, Alphaland, Atok, ISM and PBCom.

 

“The Freeze Order was extended for another six months on December 26th.  As a result, the value of Ongpin’s shareholdings in the mentioned listed companies dropped by another P5 billion for a total of P8 billion in market values which were wiped out as a result of Mr. Espenilla’s action,” Ongpin alleged in the complaint.

 

“Other than the freeze order (which was initiated by the AMLC Resolution), there has been no other significant development that would have caused the value of the stock of these companies to 'drop like a rock' across-the-board,” Ongpin also claimed.

 

“Fourth, Mr. Espenilla certainly acted with evident bad faith (or with gross inexcusable negligence, at the very least) when he signed the AMLC Resolution since last 14 October 2011 (during a joint hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and the Committee on Banks & Financial Institutions), he acknowledged under oath that from the point of view of the BSP as the regulator of banks, the sale by DBP of its 50 million Philex shares to a company beneficially owned and controlled by Mr. Ongpin was a 'prudent' and 'positive' transaction that resulted in 'trading gains' for the bank,” Ongpin also alleged.

 

“We have faith in the judicial system and we hope that the Ombudsman will be impartial in evaluating the complaint we filed against a ranking officer of the Bangko Sentral,” said Poblador. — VS, GMA News