After filing criminal raps vs gov't officials, Ongpin mulls civil suits

After filing criminal raps versus Anti-Money Laundering Council executive director Vicente Aquino, the camp of businessman and former Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin is readying civil suits over an alleged wrongful freezing of accounts. “Now that we have filed the criminal cases, we are already studying civil charges including who the defendant on this civil case should be,” Ongpin's legal counsel Rodolfo Ma. Ponferrada told GMA News Online on Monday. Ponferrada said they will “file the civil complaint as soon as possible.” In a 13-page complaint-affidavit dated Jan. 14, 2013, Ongpin alleged that Aquino's order to freeze his accounts were baseless and caused moral and financial damage to the businessman. “Mr. Aquino's haphazard and reckless preparation of the Petition, which contains false allegations as I will discuss later, is the proximate cause of undue injury to me and my companies,” the complaint read. Last Thursday, Ongpin also filed criminal charges against Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas deputy governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. in relation to the frozen accounts. Aquino refused to comment pending official receipt of the complaint. “No comment as I have not seen or officially received his complaint,” he said by text. All these complaints and possible suits stemmed from a freeze order imposed on Ongpin's bank accounts by the AMLC because the businessman allegedly received a behest loan from the state-run Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) in 2009. The loan was used by Ongpin to buy Philex Mining Corp. shares owned by DBP, which were later sold to Manuel V. Pangilinan, who is now Philex chairman. The bank accounts were ordered frozen by the AMLC based on a Dec. 6, 2012 Resolution issued by the Court of Appeals. In the complaint, Ongpin also claimed that the AMLC chief “acted with bad faith (or with gross inexcusable negligence, at the very least) when he caused the filing of the Ex-Parte Petition for Issuance of a Freeze Order, which contained false and misleading allegations.” He maintained that the loans were adequately collateralized by PhilWeb Corp. shares, a web solutions company he owns. Ongpin also said that the loan transactions did not violate banking laws and regulations, as what Aquino supposedly claimed. The businessman also brushed off accusations that the loans were “behest,” saying that the “Ombudsman acknowledged that the loans were fully paid on 8 December 2009.” Onpin, moreover, alleged that the freeze orders caused “a significant decrease” in his shareholdings in PhilWeb Corp., Alphaland Corp., Atok-Big Wedge Co. Inc., ISM Communications Corporation, Philippine Bank of Communications totaling P8.9 billion. “We hope the Ombudsman will be partial, because these are ranking officials,” Ponferrada said. — BM, GMA News