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Ongpin disputes SEC ruling, to appeal case

posted July 22, 2016 at 11:55 pm by Jenniffer B. Austria [ thestandard.com.ph ]

Former trade minister and businessman Roberto Ongpin plans to appeal the Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to disqualify him from the board of any publicly listed company and collect a fine of P174 million on allegations of insider trading involving shares of Philex Mining Corp.

“Mr. Ongpin intends to appeal this case, for total lack of merit, to the Court of Appeals,” Ongpin’s legal counsel said in an e-mail message, when sought for comment about the SEC decision.

Ongpin’s legal counsel said the Philex Mining case was originally filed at anti-graft court Sandiganbayan by the Ombudsman as a behest loan case and was twice quashed by Sandiganbayan for lack of evidence.
   
“This particular case now has been shifted by the SEC to an insider trading case, but in no way can this case be called insider trading. The jurisprudence is clear on that. The case had unquestionably prescribed as it was filed almost a year after the two-year deadline required in the Securities Regulations Code,” Ongpin’s legal counsel said.


 Roberto Ongpin

The SEC en banc, in a decision dated July 8, 2016, ordered the disqualification of Ongpin from the board of any publicly listed company for allegedly committing insider trading in the sale of Philex Mining shares in 2009.

The corporate regulator also ordered Ongpin to pay a fine of P174 million, or P1 million each from alleged 174 counts of insider trading, based on Section 54.1 of the Securities regulation Code.

The amount was higher than the P17.4-million fine recommended by SEC’s enforcement and investor protection department. 

With the en banc decision, SEC ordered Ongpin to relinquish or resign from any or all positions he was holding as officer, member of the board of directors, or any similar functions in a public company or publicly listed company.

The 80-year-old Ongpin, a former trade minister during the Marcos administration, currently sits as chairman of two listed companies, including PhilWeb Corp. and Atok Big Wedge Inc. He is the chairman of Alphaland Corp. and is in the board of Forum Energy Plc.

The SEC investigation showed that during the week of Nov. 24, 2009, businessman Manuel Pangilinan representing the First Pacific Group and Ongpin entered into negotiations with respect to the possible purchase by the First Pacific group of Philex shares from the latter.

The parties settled on the selling price of P21 per share on Dec. 1, 2009.      In the morning of Dec. 2, 2009, Ongpin through his Golden Media Corp. purchased additional 45,964,500 Philex shares from the open market at P19.25  to P19.50 per share. The purchase involved 174 separate transactions.

The corporate regulator claimed that Ongpin had gained non-public material information as a director and as selling shareholder of Philex when he acquired additional shares in the mining firm before Philex shares were sold to the First Pacific group.

Stock index returns to 7,600

posted June 17, 2016 at 11:20 pm by
The Standard Business [thestandard.com.ph]

Stocks rose for a third day, sending the benchmark index above the 7,600-point level, following overnight gains on Wall Street and the suspension of campaigning for Britain’s EU vote.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company bellwether, gained 57 points, or 0.8 percent, to close at 7,622.07 Friday.  It was also up 9.6 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, also advanced 32 points, or 0.7 percent, to settle at 4,549.27, on value turnover of P10.8 billion. Advancers outnumbered losers, 114 to 68, while 54 issues were unchanged.

Thirteen of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp. which jumped 14.2 percent to P2.97.  Universal Robina Corp. climbed 3.3 percent to P207, while BDO Unibank Inc. went up by 2.5 percent to P108.70.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks  rose with European equity index futures and the pound strengthened after the murder of a UK lawmaker prompted speculation Britons will be less inclined to vote to leave the European Union. Sovereign bonds fell as demand for haven assets cooled.

Markets plunged Thursday as investors grow increasingly concerned that one of the European Union’s big three economies will break away after next week’s poll, which many warn could precipitate a global rout.

Japan’s refusal to ramp up its stimulus in the face of torpid growth at home also dragged on sentiment.

But after five straight days of losses, New York’s three main indexes saw modest gains, which provided some incentive for Asian investors.

Tokyo was up 1.1 percent, having plunged more than three percent Thursday, while Hong Kong was 0.4 percent higher in the afternoon and Shanghai ended 0.4 percent up.

Sydney added 0.3 percent, Seoul put on 0.1 percent and Taipei and Manila also piled healthy gains. With AFP, Bloomberg
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