Press Release
October 7, 2011

TRANSCRIPT OF SEN. SERGE OSMEÑA'S STATEMENTS
DURING THE MEDIA BRIEFING

Q: Hindi lang sa Philex nangyari ito. Meron pang ibang kumpanya?

Serge: Opo, inamin naman ni Mr. Rey David na hindi naman standard itong ginagawa ng DBP, 'yung bumibili ng shares sa market, ang tawag dito ay proprietary trading. Athough they are allowed to do that, they just don't bother. It just so happened in 2008, 2009, they happened to invest in Philex. Sabi ko, 'Philex lang ba?' 'Hindi po, Petron din.' 'Petron lang ba?' 'Hindi po, Meralco din.' Sabi ko, 'Ang galing naman ninyo. You invested in the only 3 companies that were subject of take-overs.' Siguro hindi niya aaminin na meron siyang previous knowledge. But you will remember that Meralco was taken over by Manny Pangilinan, pero nagbakbakan muna sila ni Ramon Ang. Binibili po ni Ramon Ang ang shares at P300/share, at si Manny Pangilinan din, di ba nga nag-sell out ang mga Lopez group? 'Yung Petron ganun din, 'yung Ashomore ang pumasok dun, which is a company represented by Bobby Ongpin. And then, of course, Philex. Tatlong firms iyon. Pero hindi lang 'yun. Pinahiram din niya ng pera 'yung grupo ni Bobby Ongpin, isang korporasyon called Global 5000 to buy the Petron shares. Talagang ginigisa yata ang Pilipinas sa sariling mantika because with Philex, ganun din. Parang laway lang ang puhunan ng Ongpin group.

Q: Sa Meralco din ba nakapasok ang grupo?

Serge: Hindi po. Iba 'yung grupong pumasok diyan. But we will get to that. Abangan na lang.

Q: Konektado itong tatlong ito?

Serge: Let us say sinabi ko sa inyo that there will be 3 eclipse, lunar eclipse in the next 1 year, you will know exactly when it will appear. Panu 'yun? Ang swerte naman nila.

Q: May insider trading po ba?

Serge: I didn't say that, you said that. We will check.

Q: Ano po ang mga indications?

Serge: Stored knowledge. Hindi naman alam ng publiko. Pagkatapos ibebenta nila ang shares nila, P90/share lang. Tapos pero 'yung take-over price, P300/share. Sino kumita? Si Bobby Ongpin. Uli, sa Philex, binenta ng P12/share, tapos binenta ni Bobby Ongpin at P21/share. Sino ang kumita? Hindi ang DBP, kundi si Bobby Ongpin, di ba? O kung sinuman ang principal ni Bobby Ongpin.

Q: May principal si Bobby Ongpin? Masyadong malapit si dating First Gentleman kay Bobby Ongpin, hindi po ba?

Serge: Well, let's wait until the committee comes out with its findings later on.

Q: Established naman na mag-kaibigan sila ni Mr. Ongpin?

Serge: Inamin naman niya sa letter niya kay Lala Rimando.

Q: Principal?

Serge: Yes, principal. Partner. Sa Global 5000, sa korporasyon, inaamin naman ni Mr. Rey David na meron itong mga co-owners. Names were mentioned. Mr. Inigo Zobel's name was mentioned. Korporasyon daw iyon, and one of the princiipals was Mr. Zobel.

Q: May na-establish na bang link kay FG? Meron na ba?

Serge: Wala. Wala. We will never be able to establish that in this hearing. We will establish that outside of the hearing.

Q: 'Yung pagkaka-aprub dun sa application, proof ba ng behest loan? May irregularity po ba dun?

Serge: Yes, that is one of the elements of a behest loan. The unusual speed by which you approve a loan. Nakita po natin na 'yung first loan, in 1 week - April 4, April 7, April 8, April 15. And the second loan, November 4, November 4, November 4, all three committees approved it. That's one of the elements of a behest loan, 'yung may 'wang-wang' 'yung ginagamit sa trapik, 'yung 'wang-wang' approval of a loan application.

Q: Does it matter na nabayaran naman na daw po 'yung loan?

Serge: No. Eh anong mangyayari kung bumagsak ang presyo ng Philex? Sino ang hahabulin nila? But that's one of the elements. There are 8 elements defined by law under the Ramos memorandum and subsequently adopted by the Supreme Court. Any 2 elements present is sufficient to establish it as a behest loan.

Q: Do you see something wrong dun sa pagiging member ng Board ni Mr. David, sa Philex?

Serge: Iyan po ang indication ng insider trading. Sapagkat, huwag niyang sabihin na hindi niya dini-discuss ang share position ng Philex kay Manny Pangilinan. And of course, it's very hard to prove that they discuss it pero magkasama kayo sa Board, nagmi-meeting kayo every month, alam mo na... sasabihin naman iyan ni Manny eh. 'Okay, I am going to buy at least...' Ang swuerte naman ni Bobby Ongpin, bibili ng 50 million shares at P12/share, and 4 weeks later, sells it at P21/share. You better tell that to the Marines, hindi mo alam na ganun ang magiging target price ni Manny Pangilinan.

Q: Pero sir, 'yung pag-upo ni Rey David sa Board ng Philex, by virtue of him being DBP chair?

Serge: Yes, he knows, he should know, what's going on with the Philex activity. He can't say, 'Hindi ko alam iyan, hindi naman napag-usapan 'yan.' You know in this country, lahat 'yan pinapag-usapan, wala lang sa record.

Q: Pero kaya siya nakaupo dun dahil nire-represent niya 'yung DBP?

Serge: Yes, and no. I don't know if he was representing DBP shares. For the simple reason that DBP only owned 2% of the total shareholdings, so it did not have a big enough holding to warrant a board seat. You need about 10% to earn a seat in the Board of Directors of Philex. I don't know how many Board of Directors Philex had at the time, so i-divide lang to get the percentage, siguro mga 7% or 8%. Pero bakit nga ba siya naging director? Siguro, behest director, siguro ganun. (Laughter)

Q: Granted na nakinabang talaga si Bobby Ongpin, pero hindi naman daw nalagay sa disadvantage ang DBP, ang government?

Serge: There is a disadvantage. If Mr. David knew the prices would go to P21/share, and that would be the strike price to be paid 4 weeks later by Manny Pangilinan, it will be hard for us to accept that he did not know that. But since he sits in the Board of Philex himself, sigurado napag-usapan na 'yan, di ba? 'O, kanino kaya ako bibili? Mag-accumulate na kayo.' So, bakit mo binenta at P12/share?

Q: Sir paano po 'yun, Manny Pangilinan ended up buying the shares that were bought using the behest loan?

Serge: Yeah.

Q: Can he be implicated in the behest loan case?

Serge: No, because he is just the buyer. He did not borrow the money, he bought the shares. Actually, pinahiram ng DBP si Manny Pangilinan ng P275 million, to buy the balance of the shares. Kasi hindi ba may natira pang balance na 59 million shares? On November 4, everybody got together and said, 'Okay Manny, buy us out at P21/share.' Of course, that was arranged before-hand. So Manny didn't have enough money to pay the P1.2 billion for the 59 million shares of Philex that DBP still owns, so sabi ng DBP, sige, IOU na lang, that's P275 million.

Q: Hindi naman behest loan 'yung ginamit niya na pambili?

Serge: Hindi naman.

Q: Are you going to invite Manny Pangilinan to the hearing? At this point, meron na?

Serge: If we have something to ask him, yes, we will not hesitate to ask him. Well, ako, the only question I'd ask him is: 'Manny, did you ever discuss buying the Philex shares at P21/share?' And 'When did you talk about it? And to whom did you talk about it?' But of course, he'd stay, 'Hindi', and what could I do about it?

Q: Bakit hindi niya binili nung P12/share?

Serge: That's also a good question that I'd like to ask him. But of course, paano naman kikita si Bobby Ongpin if he buys it at P12/share, di ba?

Q: Anong indictment ang nakikita natin?

Serge: Go on the new expose that we made today. That is was not only 1 company that DBP invested in, but 3 companies: EDC, Meralco and Petron. And hindi nila ginagawa ito. And these happened to be the 3 companies that were the subject of take-overs na dumoble, nag-triple ang price that year.

Q: Sa 2 companies, Philex and Petron, dun involved si Mr. Ongpin?

Serge: Yes, openly.

Q: Sa Meralco?

Serge: In Meralco, I am just pointing out that they sold to somebody else.

Q: Who?

Serge: I don't know but I am going to trace that, I am going to ask. But they did invest. Inamin naman niya (Rey David). Yes, we invested in Meralco. Yes, it was subject of a turn-over. And yes, they sold it to Bobby Ongpin. It was Petron, dun iba ang involvement ni Bobby Ongpin. He bought it for Ashmore. But 'yung Meralco shares, ibinenta niya, umaakyat na, he sold it at P90/share to Bobby Ongpin's company called Global 5000, 4 years to pay at 20% down. Eh pumutok ng P300/share.

Q: Magkano sa Petron?

Serge: Hindi ko pa alam, I am still getting the records. DBP would have the records naman.

Q: Initially, what liability can we pin on Ongpin and DBP?

Serge: Well, there's something like insider trading, behest loan. That's what we are investigating here.

Q: Sa bangko iyon. Eh kay Bobby?

Serge: Behest loan. Pareho sila. Also, to a certain extent, insider trading because he was in the Board of Philex.

Q: Ang galing ni Bobby Ongpin?

Serge: You know, you don't have to be 'magaling' to do what they did. You really don't have to. Sabihin mo lang sakin kung kelan mo bibilhin ito. Sabihin mo lang para may chance na makapasok ng maaga. But Bobby Ongpin is not big enough to be able to get that kind of information and be able to buy those shares at that price. There has to be a... B... behind that behest...

Q: Big Man?

Serge: (Laughter) B... Alam kong aakyat tapos sasabihin ko sayo na, 'Sell me your shares at P12/share.' Eh alam ko namang aakyat ng P21. So, the only reason why I am selling them to you at P12/share is because somebody told me to sell it to you at P12/share.

Q: Who gave the order?

Serge: That is what we are trying to find out.

News Latest News Feed