The untouchables

By JV L. Arcena

Ombudsman Samuel Martires has the unenviable task of sorting through the P1.6 billion worth of loans owed by the Lopez group of companies that were reportedly written off by the Development Bank of the Philippines.

For nearly a decade now since news on the condoned loans broke in the media, the Lopezes have remained untouchable where the DBP sale is concerned.

No less than officials of the state-owned bank have adamantly denied that a write off transpired.

But President Rodrigo is not about to throw the towel on this issue and let go — not when the government suffered a huge loss while the Lopezes even earned a profit after recovering their assets sold by the DBP.

“There were so many investigations about banking except that when it comes to the Lopezes, the investigation would stop. Now this has reached me in an official capacity. What I can do is to pass this on to the Ombudsman. For me, the Ombudsman is the most independent body to solve this,” the Chief Executive said.

According to Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, the loans of the Lopez group, which back then was not bankrupt, were sold to Lehman Brothers Asia for an amount between P668 million to P1.069 billion.

The Palace official said the Lopezes were reportedly able to recover the assets for about P1.25 billion to P1.4 billion.

“So in total, the government, through DBP, lost between P598 million to P999 million, while the Lopez family earned a profit of P250 million to P417 million,” Roque said.

Now, perhaps you are wondering why everything is only reportedly and within a certain price range. The only reason for this is that neither the DBP nor the Lopezes have a copy of the sale documents. The DBP said the documents they have were all turned over to Lehman. Lopez Holdings president Emmanuel Tirona also said they are still looking for whatever papers they may still hold.

For such an important sale, and not an insignificant amount, neither party kept a record of what they insist was an aboveboard and legal transaction.

But as early as 2011, the media already kept a record of the loans: Maynilad Water’s P710.86 million, Bayantel’s P591.81 million, Central CATV Inc.’s P207.10 million, and Benpres Holdings’ P157.95 million.

The Lopezes, as expected, denied the reports, and turned the tables on the journalists who made the exposé, saying they were merely “victimized by some PR operatives.”

Ten years later, everyone involved in the sale — or more accurately, everyone who profited from the sale — is still denying it was an illegal condonation.

But now that the ball is with the Ombudsman, one can only hope that Martires would again prove his independence and get to the bottom of this issue.

Let the ax fall where it should. This is long overdue, and there should be no untouchables in the pursuit of justice and accountability.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)