Pangilinan resigns as PSE governor

A day after Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) president Ramon T. Garcia accused him of attempting to "outsmart" the entire institution, Metro Pacific chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan severed his ties as a governor in the PSE’s 15-man Board.

In a letter to the PSE Board dated Sept. 17, Pangilinan said he is tendring his "irrevocable resignation" effective immediately.

"Quite simply, I cannot serve in an organization that questions my personal integrity and business ethics, and those of the companies I represent," he said.

Only in his first term, Pangilinan serves as one of eight private sector designates in the previously broker-dominated PSE Board, representing the interest of public companies.

One of the region’s most influential businessman, Pangilinan heads the Hong Kong-based First Pacific empire in the country that include listed firms MPC, PLDT, Pilipino Telehone Corp. and Negros Navigation, along with other units like Smart Communications, Mediaquest, GMA-7 and Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. (FBDC).

"In all my years of exposure with regulatory regimes abroad, I find it unprecedented that the Chief Executive of the Exchange would level such charges publicly against major listed corporations without benefit of a formal inquiry or due process," he said.

On Monday, PSE president Garcia issued a press statement aimed particularly at Pangilinan, accusing him of utter disregard to "honor, principle and ethics in business" by turning back on their original commitment to donate and put up the new PSE headquarters and trading floor at the heart of Bonifacio Global City’s business district.

Pangilinan said while serving as PSE governor, he has deliberately inhibited himself from all matters relating to the relocation arrangements proposed by the FBDC-Capital Consortium Inc. to the Exchange. He added his recent absences from board meetings were meant to allow an impartial forum to consider the issues fully and objectively.

"Sadly, I do not believe the Board has asked for, or has been provided with, the opportunity to see and hear the views of all relevant parties, in particular those of Metro Pacific Corp.," he said.

He added that the First Pacific Group still intends to seek a solution that is "amicable and productive to both sides," nothing that it has never been their conduct to "renege on any of its commitments for so long as those commitments have already crystallized into mutually legally binding obligations."

Earlier, Garcia challenged Pangilinan to "look back, review and reassess the meaningful and significiant details of the agreement," claiming that it was the businessman himself who met with PSE chairman Felipe Yap several months to try to convince the bourse to agree to the changes in their original agreement.

In Feb. 1999, the PSE inked a deal with FBDC-CCI for the transfer of the trading floors and offices of the Exchange to a 4,000 sqm. prime lot in Fort Bonifacio by year 2004. Aside from the lot, the FBDC-CCI group also offered to shoulder the establishment of a P250-million building structure to house the new exchange, inclusive of the free construction design and detailed engineering plan.

But with the continued slump in the real estate sector that has affected the financial position of MPC, the lead firm in the private consortium of the FBDC joint venture, the developers are now taking back their offer to instead focus on more revenue-generating projects.

The MPC-led group has instead offered an equivalent size lot at the northern outskirts of the area and left the PSE to build and develop the building structure on their own.

However, Garcia insisted that the basic terms of the agreement should be respected and honored by FBDC-CCI since these were the reasons why in the first place "made us sit down and discuss details of the agreement."

"You simply do not ask to change an agreement at the last minute because it suits your interest or it is to your sole advantge to do so. Ethical business practice dictates that one party in an active, binding agreement cannot just simply seek amendments out of convenience," Garcia said.