Embattled businessman and former trade minister Roberto Ongpin stepped down as chairman and director of online gaming company PhilWeb Corp., dragging the stock price by 36.9 percent Thursday.
“I hereby tender my resignation, with immediate effect, as chairman and director of PhilWeb Corp. and all of its subsidiaries,” Ongpin said in a letter addressed to the board of directors of PhilWeb which was disclosed to the stock exchange.
PhilWeb said the reason for Ongpin’s resignation was to enable him “to focus on the real estate projects of Alphaland Corp.”
Ongpin’s resignation came a day after he was named by President Duterte as an “oligarch.”
Duterte said he planned to “destroy the oligarchs that are embedded in government,” in a speech late Wednesday, and named Ongpin as an example.
“These are the guys who just sit in their jets and in their mansions everywhere, and their money trickle like a taxi meter,” according to a video and transcript of the president’s speech. The president did not specify any actions he planned to take on Ongpin.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said it was studying the filing of a criminal case against Ongpin for alleged insider trading involving Philex Mining Corp.’s shares in 2009.
SEC last month ordered the disqualification Ongpin from the board of any publicly listed company and asked him to pay a fine P174 million, or P1 million each from alleged 174 counts of insider trading, based on Section 54.1 of the Securities regulation Code.
These charges, however, only involved the administrative aspect of alleged insider trading.
Share price of PhilWeb plunged 36.9 percent to close at P8.95 Thursday.
The stock has been plunging since the start of July, after Duterte ordered a stop to online gambling at his first cabinet meeting. The president’s speech was the main trigger for PhilWeb’s dive, said Astro del Castillo, managing director at First Grade Finance Inc. in Manila. “Duterte is known to walk the talk and always hits the bull’s-eye. Ongpin has a problem,” he said.
Ongpin, who had served as trade minister of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and was a former deputy chairman of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post newspaper until last year, didn’t reply to a call and text message to his mobile phone. PhilWeb’s office didn’t return three calls seeking comment.
PhilWeb President Dennis Valdes said when reached by telephone that he was in a meeting and couldn’t speak.
SEC said it would strongly oppose Ongpin’s injunction petition filed with the Court of Appeals.
“While the SEC abides by the TRO, it believes that its issuance does not satisfy the stringent requisites for the issuance of the extraordinary writ. The CA, while citing the complexity of the issues involved, considered “not the amount of fine imposed upon Ongpin but the penalty of disqualification and the order for him to relinquish or resign from the positions of director or officer,” SEC said.
SEC chairperson Teresita Herbosa said that under the Securities Regulation Code, the corporate regulator was mandated to “minimize if not totally eliminate insider trading and other fraudulent or manipulative devices and practices.”
