Ongpin lawyer assails gov’t ‘witch-hunt’

Businessman Roberto Ongpin

The lawyer of businessman Roberto V. Ongpin on Monday decried what he described as a continuing “witch-hunt” against his client in the decision of Malacañang to waive confidentiality rules and reveal to investigators details of a P660-million loan secured by Ongpin’s Deltaventure Resources Inc. from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) in 2009.

In an e-mailed statement, lawyer Alex Poblador said his client was not worried about the plan to disclose the details of the loan, adding that Ongpin’s transactions with the DBP “were aboveboard and he has nothing to hide.”

“What bothers my client is the extent to which his persecutors are going to just to continue this fishing expedition against him,” Poblador said.

“If Malacañang wanted to be truly transparent, it should not single out Ongpin, and instead authorize the declassification of DBP’s unpaid loan accounts—which have actually prejudiced the bank—and not limit it to accounts connected with Ongpin’s transactions which have been profitable for the government financial institution, Poblador said.

He decried the use of an extraordinary presidential prerogative just to continue the “witch hunt”  against Ongpin.

Confidentiality waived

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa was reported to have granted September 12 the request of DBP president Francisco del Rosario to waive the DBP Charter’s strict confidentiality rule, and enable the bank to open its records regarding Ongpin’s dealings with Philex, Meralco, Metrorail Transit and the Lehman Brothers accounts to the Solicitor General and other investigative bodies.

On Monday, Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz said that access to DBP’s records would help government lawyers to “firm up their arguments” against Ongpin.

Countered Poblador: “With the exception of Philex, Deltaventure Resources had nothing to do with the Meralco, Metrorail Transit and Lehman accounts… It is obvious that DBP’s Del Rosario, in his request to declassify Deltaventure Resources’ accounts, was totally misinformed about the involvement of Deltaventure Resources in these [other] accounts.”

‘Very strong case’

Poblador said this statement proves that “when the Solicitor General several weeks back said that the government ‘has a very strong case’ against Ongpin, he really had no documents or arguments, and he was making charges without any sufficient basis.”

At the same time, the lawyer said the authorization from the Office of the Executive Secretary for the loan details to be made public “appears to contradict earlier reports quoting both Communications Head Secretary Ricky Carandang and Palace spokesperson Secretary Edwin Lacierda that there was “nothing personal” between Malacañang and Ongpin.

The DBP president had earlier described the Deltaventures transaction as a behest loan.

Zenaida Ongkiko-Acorda, a private lawyer hired by DBP, earlier said it was “an enigma” that Deltaventures was able to obtain gargantuan loans from DBP with extraordinary speed in a single day.