Court rules on Dabawenyo Minerals Corp. case

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The Regional Trial Court has junked the petition for preliminary injunction filed against Said J. Sayre, president of Dabawenyo Minerals Corp., over the allegation that he illegally appropriated some of the shares of the company for himself. In her order on December 17, Judge Virginia Hofilena-Europa noted there was no urgency in imposing a preliminary injunction because Mr. Sayre was able to show proof that he rightfully owns the shares in question. Ms. Europa also instructed Mr. Sayre and his former partners now complainants to report to her courtroom on January 21 to start the hearing of the case. She said Mr. Sayre was able to show proofs the complainants Habib M. Hassan, company vice-president for operations; Rex Angelo A. Gabrido, corporate secretary; and Hadji Nouh Diaman, director for operations “have sold their shares to the defendant." “That being the case, they have no more rights that need to be protected necessitating the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction," she added in explaining her refusal to issue an injunction order. The complainants, in filing the case against Mr. Sayre, claimed he forged their signatures to show that they sold their shares of the company to him. As a result of the complaint, Regional Trial Court Branch 10 Judge Emmanuel M. Castillo implemented a 20-day temporary restraining order in October that eventually lapsed without a preliminary injunction. The two parties have been at conflict for the control of the 6,900-hectare mining area in Mati City, Davao Oriental whose mineral production sharing agreement was already awarded to Mr. Sayre. After the lapse in the injunction, Mr. Sayre told BusinessWorld that the company “would pursue what we have begun" in reference to the joint venture agreements that the company has been negotiating with foreign companies. Among these negotiations were the one with Japanese company Hanwa Co. Ltd. which wanted to mine the 5,000-hectare part of the mining area. He said geologists of the foreign company already visited the area to look into its mining prospects. Lately, Mr. Sayre said the he and the representative of the Japanese company were already finalizing the agreement. Several months ago, Mr. Sayre also successfully negotiated a joint venture agreement with a Chinese company for the 1,000-hectare area and that he was also negotiating with a Taiwanese company for the remaining 900 hectares. The mining area is one of the three big mining sites in Davao Oriental. One of the other mining areas is the one in Pujada also in Mati City which is being mined by Asiaticus Management Corp., a company that unilaterally rescinded its joint venture agreement with Australian giant BHP Billiton. The other big area is that of Sinophil Corp., a 3,000-hectare area in Governor Generoso. — Carmelito Q. Francisco, BusinessWorld