Ongpin plan to file damage suit won’t prosper — Coyiuto

Stockbroker Robert Coyiuto Jr. said yesterday the multi-million peso damage suit being contemplated by the group of businessman Roberto Ongpin will not prosper since he (Coyiuto) is "merely exercising a legitimate right and a sworn duty to uphold the rules of PSE as a stockholder and director."

In a statement, Coyiuto said that in filing the derivative suit last April 25 against Itogon-Suyoc Mines Inc. (ISMI), he was merely defending the existing listing rules of the Philippine Stock Exchange on pre-emptive rights of minority stockholders.

Last year, the PSE Listing Committee which Coyiuto headed had denied the request of ISMI to exempt itself from the Exchange’s Rule on Additional Listing, particularly in the exercise of a pre-emptive rights offering, to allow another listed firm PhilWeb.com to take in a 40 percent stake in ISMI.

The move would enable ISMI to transform itself from a moribund mining company into a progressive information technology (IT) firm with PhilWeb as partner. Ongpin chairs both PhilWeb and ISMI.

"The legal action I have taken is consistent with the stand of the former PSE board to sustain the action taken by the listing of committee on the application of ISMI for exemption," he said.

He added the former PSE Board headed by Felipe Yap had requested the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a reconsideration last January of its ruling which exempted ISMI from the rule. Due to the PSE’s decision, Ongpin had sought the SEC’s opinion on the case and was able to secure favorable ruling.

"The PSE listing committee has consistently applied the mandatory rule on all applicants for listing and up to now we have not exempted anyone from that rule," Coyiuto said.

He said under the circumstances, the remedy of appeal to the Court of Appeals against an adverse ruling of the SEC is available, adding the matter may even be elevated to the Supreme Court.

"The ISMI case is a clear refusal of an investor to comply with a valid and subsisting rule of the Exchange to the detriment of the minority stockholders," Coyiuto said.

Last March 25, the SEC again issued an order denying the PSE’s request for a reconsideration of its earlier decision.

It was at this point that Coyiuto filed the derivative suit against the current PSE Board led by Vivian Yuchengco to restrain it from implementing the SEC order.

"I also believe that the SEC should not interfere with the implementation of the PSE rules on listing. Otherwise, it would render futile the self-regulatory status of the Exchange," Coyiuto added.