Ongpin asks CA to drop derivative suit over Philex Mining shares

The legal counsel of businessman Roberto V. Ongpin filed an appeal before the Court of Appeals to remove a derivative suit born out of the alleged P412 million in “short swing profits” Ongpin supposedly made from buying and selling shares of Philex Mining Corporation.   “Last week, we have filed a petition for certiorari. The lower court, with due respect to them, made a mistake…,” lawyer Rodolfo Ponferrada told GMA News Online on Monday.   “Under the prevailing rules, the docket fees should be paid before the prescription period,” he said referring to a derivative suit filed by a minority shareholder of Philex Mining.   On April 13, the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 158 ruled that Ongpin should face the derivative suit filed by Philex Mining shareholder Mario Ongkiko, even though Ongkiko did not fully pay the filing fee.   “It is basic in our procedural laws that unless the correct filing fees are paid, a court cannot obtain jurisdiction over the case,” Ponferrada claimed in separate statement.   The Pasig City noted it is better that the correct amount of fees of more than P8.2 million be “considered a lien on the judgment to be rendered” than to straitjacket minority shareholders from seeking corporate best practices.   The derivative complaint also asked the court to direct Ongpin and his firms–Deltaventure Resources Inc. and Goldenmedia Corporation–to return to Philex Mining the purported short-swing profits.   The management of Philex Mining refused to sue Ongpin for the alleged “short swing profits” amounting to P412.5 million, which was revealed during a Senate investigation last year.   Still, Ongkiko filed the case involving the transaction in which Ongpin sold 50 million Philex Mining shares under the name of Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) at P12.75 per share on Nov. 5, 2009 and sold the same shares, a month after, to Two Rivers Pacific Holdings Corporation of Manuel V. Pangilinan, Philex Mining chairman, at P21 per share.   Ongpin was then a member of the Philex Mining board of directors.   In a Senate hearing last year, Ongpin was accused of insider trading involving the Philex shares.    However, Ongpin’s lawyer said that the case “lacks merit and is nothing more than a nuisance and harassment suit.”   Ponferrada reiterated, “no inside information was unfairly used in these transactions.” —VS, GMA News