Go-ing deeply into debt

Edwin Go, son of Equitable PCIBank’s Antonio Go, is now in Manila to raise money. He has recently been banned from engaging in any banking practice in the US. Our top West Coast Eye-Spy provided us documents of the many lawsuits filed against Edwin in San Francisco for his failure to pay debts amounting to millions of dollars. The documents reveal that Edwin and wife Helen Chen had been on a borrowing spree from banks and even private individuals starting with a loan of $600,000 they obtained from Trans Pacific National Bank (TPNB) in February 2001. To cover for the loan, the Gos deeded a real property located along California St. as security. Since that time, however, Go and wife have failed to settle their obligations, periodically renewing the maturity date of the loans until the bank finally filed a case (CGC-045-434638) against them. The San Francisco County Superior Court ordered the couple to pay the bank over $730,000 plus attorney’s fees early this year. That’s not the end of the story though, as Go and wife also borrowed $200,000 from Kent and Shirley Lim in March 2002, with the promise to pay the full amount plus all unpaid interest at eight percent per annum by Dec. 31, 2003. Go failed to pay the Kents and despite oral and written demands from the latter to pay the amount in full, Go gave a partial payment of $15,000 in May last year. Just like in the TPNB case, the San Francisco County Superior Court ordered the Gos to pay the Lim couple some $237,000 plus inclusive of unpaid interest on the loan and legal fees. Interestingly, even before Edwin and wife could settle the earlier debts, they again went ahead with another loan, this time form Cathay Bank for $645,000 in August 2003, payable in January 2004. Predictably, Go again had the loan agreement extended to May 2004, offering as security a real estate property located along Front St. Despite repeated demands, Go failed to settle his obligations, for which Cathay filed a lawsuit (case number CGC-04-434615) in September last year and also asked the court to place in receivership the said real estate property. Recently, Edwin borrowed $60,000 from a copra trader scion of a real estate family. The trader was advised to kiss his money goodbye. A closer look at the legal documents indicate that other members of the Go family – listed as John Does – are involved in these cases. Apparently, the Go relatives lost a great deal in a China investment. If Tony Go was heard to have said that he’s not lifting a finger to bail his son out of these cases, why is Edwin now being nominated to the board of the Equitable PCI Bank (EPCIB)? Probably to replace somebody who was just disqualified by the SEC. We just hope the bank’s shareholders, especially GSIS and SSS, don’t end up carrying the bag for Edwin.

A plot as ‘pure’ as can be

Manila Golf Ear-Spies revealed that the "Hyatt 10" surprise resignation was actually planned in several meetings reportedly among Senate President Franklin Drilon, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, DTI Secretary Juan Santos, including GMA’s new Appointment Secretary Dodie Limcaoco (a known Cory man) at the Manila Golf Club. The meetings were supposedly held over several Fridays. The cover for the clandestine meetings was supposedly provided by Philippine Infrastructure Corp. (PIC) president Noel Kintanar (who also paid for the meetings) under the guise of discussing PIC activities. Kintanar, who is also president and board director of the Philippine National Construction Corp., also used the meetings to provide information to Drilon on different infrastructure projects, including the controversial North Luzon Railways project. Another name mentioned by the Spybiz source is that of Finance Undersecretary Emmanuel Bonoan, said to be Purisima’s man because of their previous stint together at SGV. Bonoan’s role is allegedly to complicate the crisis through the EVAT, by forcing business entities to implement it. Purisima and Kintanar reportedly take their orders from a well-known Mindanao businessman. It was allegedly the troika of Purisima, Bonoan, and Santos who bamboozled the other Cabinet secretaries and advisers to submit their very public resignations and call for GMA to resign. Come to think of it, those who have kept on eye on Purisima’s career say he has a quite a track record for staging coups. He was rewarded with the vice-chairmanship for his key role in the ouster of Gloria Tan Climaco as SGV chair in the mid-1990s.

Spy tidbiz: Mbc board disagree to agree

The Makati Business Club (MBC) Spy-Ring reported that there was an alleged shouting match between Executive Director Bill Luz and Trustee Ronnie Concepcion yesterday on the issue of supporting the MBC manifesto calling for GMA to resign. Concepcion reportedly changed his mind and wanted the constitutional process to take its course. In the meantime, some of the trustees said they weren’t in agreement with the manifesto in the first place. It seems the MBC trustees were in disagreement to agree on the manifesto that MBC chair Dick Romulo was so eager to announce.

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