Ongpin sees junking of P660-M behest loan raps

MANILA, Philippines - Businessman and former trade minister Roberto Ongpin expressed confidence yesterday that the graft case filed against him will be dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman.

“We have incontrovertible evidence that the loans were not behest nor were they a result of insider trading,” his lawyer, Alex Poblador, said as he welcomed Malacañang’s statement that there was no instruction from President Aquino to go after his client over the P660-million alleged behest loan granted to him by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) in 2009 during the Arroyo administration.

He said his client has yet to receive any summons from the anti-graft agency handling the graft case filed against Ongpin and 27 other individuals, including former and current officials of the state-owned banking institution.

“Perhaps these statements from the Palace will now prod them to action and that the summons will now be served. My client is anxious to clear his name and we are confident that upon presentation of factual evidence, instead of accusations via the press, my client will prevail,” Poblador added.

Ongpin has vehemently denied that the two loans he took out from DBP were behest, saying “DBP’s loans to me were fully collateralized, fully paid, in fact paid ahead of schedule. Why they chose to focus their ‘witch hunt’ on these loans and label them behest is beyond me.”

Ongpin stressed that the new DBP board, in February, started “intimidating and coercing their executives in trying to pin me down. This resulted in the suicide of DBP lawyer (Benjamin) Pinpin.”

And while the investigation in DBP was going on, Ongpin said the DBP’s performance under the new management has been dismal, with its net income dropping by a staggering 39 percent during the first half of 2011.

Ongpin, ranked the 21st richest Filipino by Forbes Magazine in 2010 and with a net worth of $300 million, said he will continue to ask large corporations overseas to invest in the country “no matter how much they try to shoot me down.” – Michael Punongbayan, Zinnia de la Peña