Tales of coercion

The Philippine Long Distance and Telephone (PLDT) Co. is scheduled to hold its monthly board meeting tomorrow at the heels of the controversy stirred by the privilege speech by opposition Sen.Panfilo “Ping” Lacson. The 13-man board of the PLDT, headed by its chairman Manuel “Manny” Pangilinan (MVP), will be meeting for the first time after the country’s biggest telecom firm was unwittingly, or wittingly, dragged into this controversy.

In his privilege speech at the Senate two weeks ago, Lacson claimed that former ambassador and businessman leader Alfonso Yuchengco was allegedly coerced into selling his family stockholdings in PLDT during the administration of deposed President Joseph Estrada. Yes, he is the same Yuchengco who used the “presidential coercion” argument to claim ownership of Prime Holdings (33%) of the Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corp. (PTIC).

This was first during the term of former President Ferdinand Marcos who supposedly took the shares from Yuchengco. This ownership was resolved by the Supreme Court (SC) in 2006 in favor of the State, through the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCCG). This block was later sold to First Pacific at a premium to market price. Then too, Yuchengco continued to serve as chairman of PLDT.

Fast forward. Narrating about his parting ways with Estrada while he was still the director general of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Lacson revealed an incident involving Tito Yuchengco who was purportedly “harassed” by elements of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF).

A day after the privilege speech of Lacson, an unsigned statement to the press supposedly coming from Yuchengco was released by the latter’s lawyers, the Angcangco, Cruz, Villaraza Law Office, or better known as “The Firm.” In that brief statement to media, Yuchengco confirmed Lacson’s revelations, in particular about his being forced to sell his family’s interest to MVP’s Metro Pacific.

Yuchengco said in his statement that he had lost his shares “through sheer intimidation and serious threats to my business, myself and my family.” He corroborated Lacson’s privilege speech that his son Tito was also threatened with arrest on trumped-up drug charges.

The elder Yuchengco issued this statement while still in the US, his lawyers disclosed and won’t be back until after two weeks. That was two weeks ago. So by this time, it’s possible that the 86-year old Yuchengco has either returned to Manila or is on the way back here. Or, he could change his mind into extending his stay in the US while this controversy remains too hot a potato to handle for now.

None of the Yuchengcos have so far come out publicly to validate that press statement as genuine and true confirmation issued by the former ambassador. In the meantime, it won’t certainly be business as usual when the PLDT board of directors sits down again after those rather serious accusations were hurled.

The incident allegedly occurred sometime in August, 1998, 11 years ago. Why the delayed revelation? From that time to the present again, Yuchengco continues to do business with PLDT, namely through his flagship companies Malayan Insurance and the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC). Yuchengco’s daughter, Helen Dee, still sits in the PLDT Board.

These were precisely the points raised by Ray Espinosa, PLDT board director and legal counsel who worked out the purchase agreement of the PLDT shares between the Yuchengcos and the Metro Pacific Group of MVP. The purchase agreement of the PLDT Group with the Yuchengcos was completed and signed on Nov. 24,1998 or two months after the alleged ”coercion” incident.

As the principal architect of that purchase agreement, Espinosa spoke from his personal knowledge of the commercial transactions negotiated between PLDT and Yuchengco Group. As far as he knew, Espinosa attested to the fact there were no other parties involved, much less any behind-the-scenes involvement of Estrada in this business deal between his client and the Yuchengco Group.

But as it turned out, these allegations of “coercion” were not only thrown at Estrada in the privilege speech of Lacson. The same alleged “coercion” incident, in fact, actually first came out in the biography book of Yuchengco that he commissioned. Yuchengco’s book, entitled “To Leave a Good Name,” was published way back in 2005.

In his book, Yuchengco claimed the “coercion” incident happened when about 10 armed men, together with Albert del Rosario, then connected to the buying party of the PLDT stake, allegedly went to his office to harass him into selling his shares. Del Rosario has vehemently denied that he was involved in that incident.

Aside from the allegations of ‘coercion” coming all the way from Malacañang Palace as detailed in that book, Yuchengco also made other criticisms of Estrada from having so-called “midnight Cabinet” to signing government contracts and other documents while already drunk. Estrada filed a P20 million libel suit against Yuchengco. Should he win this libel case, Estrada vowed to donate the proceeds of his damage suit to the victims of Yuchengco’s failed Pacific Plan.

From what I gathered in coffee shop talks, MVP has quietly kept to himself his sentiments on the issue. But people close to him are the ones flabbergasted over such claims of “coercion” that supposedly happened more than a decade ago. “If the Yuchengcos cannot stomach him (MVP) and his company, why are they still on the PLDT board? And they’re, in fact, enjoying the profitable operations of the company under MVP,” loyalists of MVP pointed out.

If these hawks among the MVP loyalists would have their way, it’s but fair for the PLDT boss to ask Helen Yuchengco Dee to resign from the board. While he has the reputation of being a shrewd corporate genius, MVP is rather a gentleman businessman and certainly would do no such thing to ask a woman executive like her to resign just because of sheer irritation over her father’s tales of coercion.