Belle debunks Ongpin's claims

Belle Corp. described yesterday as untrue and misleading allegations by Roberto Ongpin against the new management of the company.

Belle vice chairman Willy Ocier said that a simple review of the details of the company's disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) show that the P3.3 billion loss last year was caused by write-offs on various investments made during the tenure of Ongpin.

It will be recalled that Ongpin, who was the chairman of the executive committee and director of Belle, together with his partner, Jaime Gonzalez, who was then chairman of the board, were ousted in the stockholders' meeting held on June 24, 1999 after Gonzalez, who was presiding over the meeting, mishandled the board nominations.

Ocier said that it's not true as alleged by Ongpin that a $50 million equity investment by Colony Capital, being negotiated by Gonzalez, was aborted.

He added that Colony Capital never made an offer to invest in Belle. While there were some discussions prior to June of 1999, Colony had advised Belle's chief financial officer that Colony was not in a position to invest in Belle because it had a number of other business interests, including gaming, outside of the property development, he stressed.

As to Ongpin's claim that the acquisition of MagiNet, a subsidiary of Sinophil, by Pacific Century Cyberworks of Hong Kong for $100 million was a certainty, Ocier said that this is far from the truth.

Ocier said that at no time was Belle or its affiliated companies aware of any firm offer at any price from Hong Kong's Richard Li or Pacific Century Group or Pacific Century Cyberworks or any of their affiliated entities.

It was added that on February 1999, Ongpin, in his capacity as chairman of MagiNet, engaged one of the top investment banks in the world, Morgan Stanley, to find a buyer or investor for MagiNet.

Morgan Stanley contacted at least 40 potential investors all over the world through December 1999, without a single firm offer being obtained.

Among the potential investors contacted were AIG, America Online, Cable and Wireless, Hong Kong Telecom, Infoseek, GE Capital, Lycos, Microsoft, Pacific Century, Singapore Telecom, Sky Cable and Yahoo! Ocier added.

Also, Ocier stated that the acquisition of MagiNet was pursued by Ongpin in 1997 even though the Asian financial crisis was in full bloom, the peso had already depreciated against the US dollar, and a report made by an officer of AIA Capital recommended not to proceed with the acquisition because of MagiNet's financial situation.

As to Ongpin's claim that they were in negotiations with two companies for a $100 million investment in Philcom, Belle's vice-chairman said "we have no way of verifying this." He stressed that all they know is that no formal and definite offer has ever been received by APC Group Inc. or Philippine Global Communications, Inc. (Philcom).

On the jai-alai issue, Ocier said that Ongpin must have forgotten that Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) is the operator of the project and that Belle is only the financial partner. At no point in the discussions with Pagcor and the other partner was it ever agreed that Belle would be in control of the project, he stressed. In fact, Ocier said the jai-alai project is doing very well under the Pagcor management.

Ocier chided Ongpin for speaking as if he had nothing to do with Philcom after June of 1999 when in fact, he has improperly clung onto his position as chairman and director of Philcom. All of Philcom's operational and financial problems, including the default on payments to a supplier, happened with Ongpin at the helm of Philcom, he said.

The APC Group Inc. which is the major investor in Philcom has filed a P150-million case before the SEC against Ongpin, his associates and his new company, PhilWeb.com for misappropriation of business opportunities and conflict of interest.

Ocier said that the new management team is devoting their energies to rebuild Belle back to health.

Ocier said "our group might not have the stature and eloquence of Ongpin, but at least we have the best interest of the company and the shareholders at heart, especially in light of the size of our investments Belle."

Ocier also stressed that his group decided that Ongpin's management style of ignoring the board was not appropriate for a publicly listed company.

He disclosed that during Ongpin's tenure in Bell, the board met only once a year and was never asked to approve anything.

He added that had the investments been properly discussed and approved by the board then, whatever resulting losses cannot be blamed on anyone but the board. However, this was not the case at Belle and its affiliates, he revealed.