Belle shareholders urge SEC to resolve board conflict

Minority shareholders of Belle Corp. who support ousted chief executive officer Robert V. Ongpin, are asking the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to resume the hearings and resolve the issue of the company's board of directors.

Belle Corp. shareholders led by Nora Bitong of First Resources Management and Securities Corp., Ma. Natalia Cristina Dalupan, Joanna de Guzman, and Leonor Occena, urged the SEC to resolve all pending petitions and motions concerning the composition of the board of directors.

The shareholders also urged the SEC to compel Bell corporate secretary Bayani K. Tan to submit the SEC all documents pertaining to the election of officers, including proxies submitted by stockholders, for the 1999 annual stockholders meeting of Belle, attendance sheets or registry sheets of the June 24, 1999 stockholders meeting, board resolutions or secretary certificates issued by corporate shareholders submitted to the corporation in connection with last year's stockholders' meeting; minutes of the organizational meeting held immediately after the June 24 meeting, and, all resolutions passed by the Ocier-Sy board of directors from June 24, 1999 to the present, among others.

Hearings on Belle Corp. were suspended last year by former SEC Chairman Perfecto Yasay Jr. none of the issues raised was resolved.

The minority stockholders want the SEC to settle these issues and issue a writ of preliminary injunction by June 13.

Ongpin has announced his intention to regain his seat at Belle Corp. and recover control of the property and gaming firm from the camp of Willy Ocier and his father, Benito Tan Guat, who last year staged a successful mutiny against Ongpin's camp.

Ongpin's legal counsels have sought the SEC's approval for Ongpin's camp to solicit proxies from Belle shareholders in time for the company's annual stockholders meeting on June 23.

Ongpin still has a 51 percent stake in the company, and if he succeeds in his proxy solicitation campaign, he will be able to wrest the leadership from Ocier/Tan Guat group, and bring on board his nominees.

Ongpin, and his deputy, Jaime Gonzalez, who was chairman of Belle Corp., named themselves and two others, Francis Ed. Lim and Bonifacio Alentajan as their nominees to the board.

Ongpin's legal counsel, Francis Lim, in a letter to the SEC's money market operations department, said the group led by his clients are "seriously concerned about the future direction of Belle under its present management whose election to the board of directors has been questioned in a case pending with the SEC.

Lim added: "Since the present management group illegally took over control of Belle's board during the 199 annual stockholders' meeting, the stock price of Belle has dropped approximately 75 percent, indicating that the company's shareholders and the investing public are likewise concerned about the company's future."

Lim said Ongpin and his group" are planning to aggressively solicit proxies to ensure their election to the board of Belle," and added that his clients are confident of winning this time around.