Lopezes backtrack on Piki ouster move

End of family feud?

MANILA, Philippines — Could the Lopez family feud be coming to an end soon?

The Lopez family majority, representing three branches of the clan, issued a statement yesterday indicating its openness to a ceasefire, with the board of holding company Lopez Inc. withdrawing its Feb. 27 resolution removing Federico “Piki” Lopez as president and CEO.

After weeks of back-and-forth attacks between both camps, the 71 percent Lopez majority said the move to withdraw the resolution opens a window for discussions among the family members.

It said the withdrawal also presents an opportunity for the whole family to step back, reconsider their adversarial positions, and look for options that are least injurious to the family, the Lopez Group and the investing public.

“Harm has been done to everybody. Reputational damage is there. Our family has been in a fishbowl with everybody looking in. Agreements have been signed with undeserved financial penalties, especially for the investing public,” the majority said.

The majority said it is open to a ceasefire, subject to a reasonable expectation of a fair compromise and access to information, “but is more than ready to ramp up its efforts to protect its legal and pecuniary interests if there is none.”

The Lopez family majority voted to remove Piki as president and CEO of Lopez Inc. last February in a five-two board vote, for cause and loss of trust after he allegedly entered into P125-billion deals without any authority from the majority.

They also discovered so-called “poison pills” in the said deals that would penalize the Lopez group and First Gen shareholders up to P24 billion, and cross-default loan provisions should Piki be removed from his job.

Twelve Lopez family members earlier confirmed that they authorized their family’s board representative to vote to remove Piki as president, saying the decision was not an easy one and was not led by a single person or faction of the family.

They said that it was Piki who chose to make the issue public, noting that the matter should have stayed private.

Piki, for his part, has filed a complaint before the Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court against his cousins in their capacities as directors of Lopez Inc., and has obtained a court order blocking his ouster indefinitely.

Piki claims that his removal as president was allegedly due to his refusal to infuse P2 billion in reserve funds from Lopez Inc. as fresh capital for the ailing ABS-CBN.