PhilWeb shares plunge nearly 36% in morning trade

Share prices of gaming technology firm PhilWeb Corporation plunged by P3.22 or 35.74 percent at the noon recess Monday, after its chairman was tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte as among the oligarchs embedded in government.

PhilWeb shares opened at P7.60 apiece, down 15.64 percent from P9.01 per share at the close of trading on Friday. PhilWeb gained a bit of buying support during the morning trade, stemming a sell-off, before breaking down toward the end of the morning trade Monday.

Beleaguered businessman Roberto Ongpin resigned last week as chairman and director of PhilWeb and all its subsidiaries.

Ongpin was disqualified by the Securities and Exchange Commission from serving as an officer or board member of any public company and ordered to pay P174 million in fines for insider trading.

His daughter, Anna Bettina Ongpin, also resigned as vice chairperson and director of PhilWeb "... to devote more time and attention to other business matters."

Duterte vowed to stop the proliferation of online gambling, saying he would suggest that the state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) to cancel the licenses of online gambling operators.

In a statement over the weekend, PhilWeb President Dennis Valdes emphasized that the company was not in the business of online gambling.

"Taking exception to that the company is into online gambling, Valdes stressed that 'PAGCOR e-games are not online gambling ... it cannot be accessed by an office or home computer.

"It is a private, members-only network of clubs where players need to be physically present in order to play. Access to these clubs is strictly controlled such that it is only open to members who are over 21 years old and are financially capable of gaming," Valdez noted.

In the same statement, Valdes noted the elder Ongpin resigned to save the company from getting shuttered by the government. — VDS, GMA News