Press Release
June 13, 2012

TRANSCRIPT OF PRESS BRIEFING OF SEN. SERGE OSMEÑA

ON THE HEARING ON THE DBP BEHEST LOANS

Q: Sabi ni David he did not talk to the Board about the Ongpin loan?

Serge: Sabi ni David he did not talk to the Board until the board meeting on November 4.

Q: Do you buy that?

Serge: No, I do not buy that. Because I know that they have been talking with Mr. Ongpin way before this. Pero siyempre pinapalabas nila na hindi ito planado, na bigla na lang tumawag si Mr. Ongpin sa kanya on November 3 or November 2 at nagsabi na 'Ako na lang ang bibili niyan pero bigyan mo ako ng loan.' Ngayon, nung kinwestiyon naming, 'Bakit ka pa magpapa-loan pa diyan eh mabebenta mo naman ito ng cash sa stock exchange?" Ang sabi niya, hindi babagsak ang presyo. And this was 50 million shares. But on the day before, on November 389 million shares have been traded to the stock exchange on Philex. Hindi naman bumagsak ang presyo, umakyat nga eh, umabot ng P13. The next week nag-P15, tapos the next week pa nag-P19 pa per share, malaki-laki po ang trading diyan. It's not true that they would have depressed the price because certainly a huge amount of shares have been traded on the very day that he said Ongpin talked to him.

Q: Sir, 'yung P510M may collateral ito?

Serge: 'Yung P510M, 80-20. And that is against the rules of Central Bank and the rules of the DBP. And nakalagay waiver, kasi maximum 50% loan-to-value ratio. So if you give me P1B worth of shares, I can only lend you a maximum of P500 million. In this case, pinahiram nila P800 million, 80%. Eh di halos wala ka ng margin of safety because the Bangko Sentral regulation made sure that the depositors' money is protected. Siyempre, kung real estate, 70% ang binibigay sayo na loan to value ratio, if your house is worth P1 million, maximum I can lend you is P700,000.

Q: Was it established that the Philweb shares were used as collateral?

Serge: That questionable. Kasi po Philweb shares were used as collateral for the first loan in the amount of P150M. But for the second loand, hindi naman ni-require ng DBP. Pero ngayon sinabi ng DBP, hindi po, sumulat naman ang DVRI na pwede itong gamitin sa second loan. Now I do not know kung pwedeng pahabol na lang 'yun. That could have been done yesterday or last week, kasi galing lang sa DVRI. But DBP certainly did not request for it to protect themselves.

Q: But the 2nd loan was much bigger di ba?

Serge: That's why its more anomalous because (1) DBP sold an asset which could have been paid in cash, ibenta mo lang sa stock market, sa stock exchange. Sabi nila, hindi, that's too much, babagsak ang presyo. Ah ganun ba? EH bakit they sold 389 million shares and you're only selling 50 million shares? As a matter of fact, the day before, the last trading day, Friday, they sold 10 million shares easy. Tumataas pa nga ang presyo eh. So, that certainly was not a reason that we take as it is. Secondly, binigyan mo pa ng 80% loan to value ratio. So, I sold you say P1 billion worth of shares but I loaned you P800 million. Sabi ko, isn't that against your rules? Yes. Isn't it against the rules of the Bangko Sentral? Yes. Does it make sense that you would lend 80%? Sabi ninyo you're in a hurry to get rid of it because the price might drop. But even if the price drop, you only have a 20% buffer there. So if the price drop by 20%, wala na, you're fully valued already on your loan. If it drops some more, wala ka ng cover. That's the reason why there is always a statutory limit, that you might not lend more than 50% loan to value ratio for equities or securities.

Q: Were the Philweb shares enough?

Serge: No. That's one of the worst collateral you can ask. Because Philweb is very thinly traded... thinly traded because I think only about 5-6% of its shares are traded in the market and 95% is owned by Ongpin's group. So kung mataas ang presyo, sila ang gumagawa niyan. Hindi mo alam kung iyan talaga ang value. And if you're going to look at price earnings ratio of Philweb, it's 30:1. And the price earnings ratio now that's trading in the Philippine Stock Exchange is about 15:1. So you're looking at something that's priced double the market. There's something wrong here. Hindi naman blue chip iyan.

Q: You mentioned that DBP was 'naked?'

Serge: Yeah. Kasi kinuha 'yung collateral binenta kay Manny Pangilinan. So nawala 'yung collateral ngayon ng DBP for about 4 days. Kasi sabi muna ni Mr. Ongpin on December 3, akina muna 'yung shares ha, ita-transfer ko na kay Manny. I'll pay you in 4 days time. Eh di for 4 days may utang siya sa DBP pero wala siyang collateral. That's what you call 'naked.' That's from December 3 to December 7.

Q: Sa 9 hearings, ano na po ang napatunayan niyo? Ano na ang na-establish niyo?

Serge: Well, several things. (1) Hindi ho sila nagbibigay ng mga 10 waivers. Out of the ordinary 'yan. Tinanong ko kanina si Mr. Del Rosario, the current president of the DBP, 'yung waivers normal 'yan kung 2-3 waivers lang. Pero 'yung you don't have to give me your financial statements, you don't have to undergo credit investigation, you don't have to sign a joint and several statements, sabi ko wala naman diyan ang pangalan ni Mr. Ongpin. May 80% loan to value ratio which is against all their internal and external rules and regulations. Ang dami eh. Atsaka approved in 1 day. Sabi ko, tinulak talaga ito. And it was a behest loan...somebody was behesting the. Sabi, grabe ito.

Q: Tinulak nino?

Serge: Whoever you want to name. It is a behest loan in 3 senses: (1) there was a powerful official outside, a powerful person who has extreme influence over DBP officers. It could be the DBP President or high-official, like in this case Rey David. This loan could have been done on the behest of David. But of course David takes his orders from somebody.

Q: David and somebody else?

Serge: Let's be fair. I have not established yet on paper, I have information but I have not come up with what I call evidence that I can present in the impeachment court, yet... na talagang kay Mike Arroyo ito. Kasi sabay-sabay lahat iyan. Daming loans na nakuha sa DBP atsaka talagang anomalous loans. Alphaland 1,2 and 3. MRT. Petro. Global 5000. Meralco. Atsaka Philex. DBP lang 'yun ha. Wala pa 'yung sa Land Bank.

Q: What are the indicator that points to Mike Arroyo?

Serge: I cannot give you my trade secrets now. If I do, they will be able to cover-up now. Or tamper with witnesses. Mahirap iyan eh. Natatakot din ang mga witness eh.

Q: At this point in time, have you been able to establish sufficient proof of insider trading?

Serge: Yes. Pinagyabang ni Mr. David 'yan eh. In the December 9 transcript of the board of directors' meeting of the DBP, nagyabang si David: Pinataas naming ni Bobby 'yung presyo ng Philex, pinababa ni Manny Pangilinan kasi siya ang bibili kaya lower the better. PInataas namin uli, nakikita mo kasi tumaas na eh. We raised it to P19, Pangilinan got it to P14. We raised it again to P19, tapos hindi na umimik si Pangilinan and instead he agreed to pay P21. That's prima facie. Transcript that's certified. The board members were there. Nagyabang nga eh. You know how Filipinos are. Pinakuha ko 'yung transcript, hindi ;yung minutes. Kasi 'yung minutes, like the Journal of the Senate, is already sanitized, it's just a summary, it's a recapitulation in the words of somebody else of what happened. But the transcript is a verbatim translation of the tape recording of the DBP board meeting on December 9. The deal closed on December 7, ayun at nagyabang na siya on December 9. Atsaka, it's backed up by looking at the trades. Kitang-kita mo that he was really bragging. What he was bragging about was true, because that's what happened.

Q: kung DBP loans pa lang ito at wala pa 'yung Land Bank, matatagalan pa ito?

Serge: Yes. This is only the 1st loan, Philex. After that the MRT. After Meralco, and then Petron...

Q: How many more hearings?

Serge: Maybe 365 more hearings J

Q: You can't make Rey David naman to admit....

Serge: No, no. I can't make Rey David admit. But we're giving him time to give his side also. Because sometimes talagang contradictory, and sometimes talagang dinedeny nya, just like sabi niya sa transcript, haka-haka lang niya, nagyayabang lang siya... but if you look at the records of the trades, you look at the pattern of behaviour, talagang kitang-kita mo na magkasabwat sila ni Ongpin, from the beginning from March. From march, sabay-sabay na bumibili ang DBP at si Ongpin ng Philex shares and then they sold at the same time.

Q: 'Yung Mike Arroyo factor, pano nyo ito mapapatunayan?

Serge: The Mike Arroyo factor... I have some witnesses. But they're just too scared to come out openly. Okay lang sabi ko. We will wait.

Q: Magkano ang total amount na napunta kay Mike Arroyo?

Serge: I don't know. Like what I said, dinadaan niya sa ibang tao eh. Hindi mo makikita ang pangalan niya. He used Ashmore. He used Global 5000. GAS. Alphaland. So you will not see his name. He has some smart lawyers cooking these things up for him. Pero lalabas din yan.

Q: Bata pa ni Mike Arroyo si Rey David?

Serge: Definitely. Mr. David was nominated by Ms VivienYuchengco. Thru Mike Arroyo. That's how he got to DBP.

Q: Sabi mo magkasabwat si David and Ongpin since March....

Serge: The pattern of behaviour and trading shows that David, thru DBP, started accumulating Philex shares in March-April 20009 at the same time that they approved the P150 million to Ongpin to also accumulate Philex shares. And they happened to sell at the same time also.

Q: May criminal liability ba 'yun?

Serge: The liability involved? There is nothing wrong with buying and selling Philex shares. Anybody's free to do that. What we're objecting to is the use of government money, behest loans, to award a crony in the same manner that... there were 10 waivers... and nobody get to get that same kind of accommodations... approved in 1 day, nobody gets it at 2%. They took away the trading opportunity on the Filipino people sapagkat, bakit mo binenta 'yung 50 million shares kay Mr. Ongpin at P12.75 and then sold your 59 million shares at P21? So, malaki ang lugi ng...if they have been able to also sell the 50 million shares at P21, the DBP lost a potential profit of around P412 million. That's why the whole thing became a stink because of the type of loan, the circumstances in which it was given and the type of profit that benefited not the DBP, not the Filipino people but Mr. Ongpin.

There's something else there. Section 23.2 of the Securities Regulation Code prohibits any official or director from trading or making what they call short swing profits, in other words profits that you would enjoy under a period of 6 months. Kasi director ka eh. So it is implied by the law that if it is inside of 6 months, that is prohibited, you cannot make short swing profits. Ongpin made almost P2 billion in short swing profits... the reports that we're getting from the Securities and Exchange Commission, show that heto, nag-buy, nag-sell, nag-buy, nag-sell... and he was a director. He was not only a director, he was vice chairman of Philex. It is implied by the law that if you are a director, you cannot trade and enjoy short swing profits. You can buy, and maybe sell in 1 year. But to sell within 6 months, you have to give up the profits to the corporation.

Q: Na-mention niyo na merong witnesses but they are too scared to come out in the open...Kumbinsido kayo na it's FG who is behind this?

Serge: Yes. 110 percent. Alam naman ninyo 'yan. I think the entire Filipino know that....

Q: Without the witnesses, ma-e-establish niyo ang link kay FG?

Serge: Now you know, you always want to be sure. You see what happens during a trial, like the impeachment trial. Makwe-kwestiyon 'yan. So you want also to protect your witness, to protect them in the sense that you don't want them to be harassed, you don't want them to be threatened, you don't want their children to disappear on their way to school. I am really very careful about that. Makikita mo na...

Q: 110% convinced?

Serge: I am 110% that FG controlled Rey David.

Q: Isa sa possible recommendation ng committee is the filing of charges... vs Mike Arroyo?

Serge: Not unless I bring out those witnesses. So, let's wait. There are more investigations. Makikita mo sa MRT nandiyan din 'yung fingers ni FG o ni Gloria. Sa pagbenta ng Meralco shares. Either by SSS or the DBP. 'Yung pagbenta ng Petron, nandiyan din sila.

Q: Administrative cases?

Serge: That's being prepared.

Q: Anong pwedeng ikaso sa kanila sa Ombudsman?

Serge: Corruption. The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act provides that if you're a public officer, you shall not give or grant unwarranted benefits or unwarranted advantages to a third party. And in this particular case, you saw the type of loans that were being given out. Unwarranted p o 'yun. You put the government at a grossly disadvantageous position. And in this particular case, the DBP was put at a grossly disadvantageous position.

Q: Binanggit ba ng source ninyo kung magkano ang kinita ni FG?

Serge: I cannot expose what they're telling me. But it's not in pesos or centavos. Pero makikita mo ang koneksyon.

Q: By witnesses, how many do you mean?

Serge: Varying degrees. There are 2 serious witnesses kasi talagang nakita nila. Then there are other witnesses who see documents. Depende eh. I see you entering the hotel, eye witness ako dun. Or I got the receipt from the hotel that you paid with your credit card, that's a different witness, secondary na 'yun.

ON MINDANAO POWER

Q: Diversion of P500M loan for Mindanao power crisis....to be used for purchase for e-trikes and e-appliances....

Serge: I did not have time to read it. I hardly know about that loan. That was a loan from the ADB, righ t? May nag-complain sa akin about 3 months ago but I could not pay attention to it because we have the trial going on. So I will take a look into that today. Having said that, that's a loan granted to the Philippine government and the Philippine government has the right to determine where it is best spent. Ngayon, maraming grupo nag-aaway dahil diyan... 'yung mga Greenpeace, gusto nila dito mo ilagay 'yan. 'Yung mga solar developers, please put that into solar. It's always like that in any budgetary hearing, you have many people fighting over a small piece of pie. I was trying to referee 2 of them but I will study it more in detail over the coming week. But we, the Senate, had nothing to do with that. I mean, oversight lang kami sa EPIRA at sa energy sector, biofuels, and renewable. But we can always....Sec. Almendras has always been a reasonable man to talk to. But sadly he's leaving the energy department.

(To be continued....)

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