Sandiganbayan sets public hearing on Ongpin graft case

The Sandiganbayan has set on May 7 a public hearing on the graft case filed against businessman Roberto Ongpin and several others in connection with the P660 million in alleged behest loans granted to him by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). In an order dated April 23, 2013, the anti-graft court's Third Division directed the conduct of a public hearing to iron out the "contentious issues in the case." The public hearing "will thoroughly ventilate before the general public the contentious issues in the case," said Alex Poblador, Ongpin’s counsel, in an e-mail statement. The Office of the Ombudsman has filed two counts of graft against Ongpin as well as 24 other individuals, including former DBP president & CEO Reynaldo David. The case stemmed from the two alleged behest loans extended by DBP to Ongpin-led Deltaventures Resources, Inc. (DVRI) in 2009 amounting to P660 million. The two loan facilities, amounting to P150 million and P510 million extended in April 2009 and November 2009, respectively, were used by Ongpin to buy Philex Mining Corp. shares owned by DBP, which were later sold to businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan. "Those two loans can never be considered behest as they have been paid with interest well before their maturity," Poblador said. Poblador added these loans constitute only 17 percent of the total financing that his client raised since 2007 to accumulate his then Philex holdings. "And more importantly, these loans enabled DBP to earn record profits of P1.4 billion," he noted. The complaint against the accused was filed in August 2011 by then new DBP management, under its chair Jose Nuñez and its president and CEO Francisco del Rosario Jr. The Office of the Ombudsman upheld the decision to file charges in an order dated January 8, 2013. It earlier said that "the values of the securities did not comply with the collateral-to-loan ratio prescribed by the Central Bank and DBP’s own credit policy memoranda.” — Danessa Rivera/KBK, GMA News