Did He Or Did He Not Manipulate?

An angry Dante Tan on your television screen seems to make him worthy of a Famas award (do we still have that?) Maybe he is really angry. The question is, over what? He raised a number of peripheral issues. I think he should really be angry if he didn't do all the things the PSE report said he did. You know... like selling over the counter, going into wash sales, etc. in attempts to control BW share prices in the market.

But in Dante Tan's sound bites on television and in the reports printed by the newspapers of his press conference, he did not categorically deny doing the many things the PSE report said he did. Dante Tan merely complained that his side was not heard and the report did not include four other brokers and similar stuff.

But the relevant question is, did he or did he not manipulate the market? The only way to answer that one way or another is to deny he sold all those stocks over the counter, or did those wash sales, etc. If he did all those things as the PSE Report said he did, there is sufficient grounds to believe that he did manipulate or tried to. The high profile PR campaign he has launched is so obviously nothing more than an attempt to cover up by confusing the issues.

Because stock market trading is more than a bit technical, it is so easy to mislead the public on what really took place. But it is difficult to dispute the evidence cited in the PSE Report. The PSE investigators say they made their allegations based on the paper and cyber trail left by the transactions. The SEC must now tell us if doing all those things, which the paper and cyber trail seem to say Dante Tan and friends did constitute market manipulation.

The public is being bombarded with so many conflicting information, thanks to high priced, high pressure PR people. Then there are the lawyers and that weapon called a TRO, which will delay the task of ferreting the truth out of this mess. Our job in media is to separate the grain from the chaff. Unfortunately, that is not happening and will not happen if all we do is to present both sides without proper or informed analysis.

But the foreign fund managers are not to be fooled. News agencies like Bloomberg have complete records of PSE transactions. They have exactly the same information in PSE's central computer, in case some people are planning to tinker with the data now. As such, the fund managers know the score and what the PSE report means. That makes a cover-up or a PR-inspired white wash impossible, useless and damaging to the long-term reputation of the PSE.

That statement attributed to a SEC official that it might take two years to clean up the mess is not reassuring to potential foreign investors. If, as the PSE says, there is prima facie evidence to go after Dante Tan and friends in court, the proper cases should be filed. The investigation can continue and more cases filed later as evidence warrants.

The good news is, a reform ticket has apparently been formed for next week's election for new members of the PSE's board of governors. Apparently worried about the reputation of the Exchange, the brokrers themselves want to initiate the clean-up effort, starting with a clean sweep of the board.

Once the new governors are elected, they should waste no time in instituting the reforms. Some of the recommendations of the PSE group that investigated the BWE caper, can be undertaken without the help of legislation or without waiting for the SEC to order them. Here are some of these proposals contained in that report:

* Strict prohibition on private placements and lock-up of shares, repurchase/buyback.

* Prohibition or strict regulation of the transfer of securities through EQTrades from one client to another without passing through the trading system of the Exchange.

* Passing of a rule that will provide a trading volume cap, and that the following formula for trading volume cap may be applied: Trading Volume Cap = Excess Net Capital x 20

* That done-thru transactions be further studied and appropriate laws/rules be passed.

* Studies be made to limit the number of accounts that a client can open, as this may be abused and used by clients to get around existing rules/procedures.

* That SEC immediately issue clearer implementing rules and guidelines on over-the-counter trades being done through the EQ facility of PCD.

* That all check payments by member-brokers for selling transactions of clients should be made payable to the client only, notwithstanding a client's instructions to the contrary.

These are just some of the proposals. For the complete listing, the report itself can be downloaded from the Internet (abs-cbnNews.com). The point here is, there is so much that can be done to clean up the image of the stock market even before the proper authorities are able to make heads or tails of the BW caper.

I received this e-mail from reader Edgardo Ignacio on cellphone billing procedures. Actually the NTC is clear on the matter of dropped calls (calls less than 10 seconds) except that the phone companies seem to have programmed their computers to rip off the public.

I think, after three rings even if the called party does not answer, the calling party is billed. I think the same thing happens if you hear that voice that the party you are calling cannot be reached. Check your phone bills. PLDT, Globe, Smart are all guilty of this. If you point out the errors to them, they will reverse charges. But only the squeaky ones get oiled. Here is that e-mail.

May I call your attention to the current PLDT billing practice on calls made to a Globe cellphone. It seems that PLDT is charging for every call made even if the other party did not answer the phone. For the past few months I have noted that PLDT was charging us for a number of calls (all one minute duration).

Lately I found out that my son was using our landline phone to "page" someone (since Globe has a caller ID facility). After one ring he then hang up, assuming that since there was no completed call, no charges should be incurred. Technically this could be considered as a dropped call. It would appear that this sort of "paging" is prevalent among the current generation.

I trust that this will serve as an eye-opener for the other parents (who are ultimately paying the bills).

It pays?

I received this text message from a reader from Cebu City.

What is the difference between corruption in the US and corruption in the Philippines?

In the US, they go to jail. In the Philippines, they go to the US.

(Boo Chanco's e-mail address is [email protected])