Ongpin mounts proxy campaign to regain control of Belle Corp.

Ousted Belle Corp. chief executive officer and former Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin is gearing up for a full scale war to reclaim his seat and recover control of the property and gaming firm from the camp of Willy Ocier and his father, Benito Tan Guat, who last year staged a successful mutiny against Ongpin's camp.

Ongpin's legal counsels have sought the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) approval for Ongpin's camp to solicit proxies from Belle shareholders in time for the company's annual stockholders meeting on June 23.

Despite his unceremonious ouster from Belle Corp. last year, Ongpin still has a 51 percent stake in the company, and if he is successful in his proxy solicitation campaign, he will be able to wrest the leadership from the Ocier/Tan Guat group, and bring back on board his own nominees.

Francis Lim of the Abello Concepcion Regala and Cruz Law Offices, head legal counsel of Ongpin, said he has already filed a proxy statement with the SEC which is a requirement under the law for parties seeking to solicit proxies for the company's election of board of directors or officers.

Ongpin and his deputy, Jaime Gonzalez, who was chairman of Belle Corp., named themselves and two others as their nominees to the board: Francis Ed. Lim and Bonifacio A. Alentajan.

In a letter to the SEC's money market operations department, Lim said the group led by his clients are "seriously concerned about the future direction of Belle under its present management whose election to the board of directors has been questioned in a case pending with the SEC."

Lim added: "Since the present management group illegally took over control of Belle's board during the 1999 annual stockholders' meeting, the stock price of Belle has dropped approximately 75 percent, indicating that the company's shareholders and the investing public are likewise concerned about the company's future."

Lim said Ongpin and his group "are planning to aggressively solicit proxies to ensure their election to the board of Belle."

Lim said his clients are confident of winning this time around.

"Upon its election, the group will be able to fiscalize the deliberation of the board and to represent the voice of the minority shareholders in ensuring that their interests are considered and protected."

The Ocier/Tan Guat camp maneuvered the ouster of Ongpin's camp from the Belle board last year. Observers said the Ocier/Tan Guat faction were fed up with the way Ongpin ran the firm, including making investments which were hardly consulted with the board, and most of which turned out to be lemons. The board under Ongpin's helm, they said, also hardly held meetings, thus, many of the members felt they were left out in critical decision-making concerning the company's investments.

Belle last year suffered a net loss of P3.29 billion which it blamed largely on inept investment decisions made by Ongpin and Gonzalez. Belle said it had to write off several of these bad investments and had to spend quite a sum for litigation expenses.

Belle president Gregorio Yu said the company had began getting rid of its "excess baggage" or non-performing assets to be able to pare down maturing debts of about P7.5 billion last year.

Yu, upon assuming Ongpin's post, said the game plan of the new board was to restart sales of its core products and sell non-core assets in its bid to improve its liquidity.

For starters, Belle sold last Oct. 5, its Television Eighteen Private Ltd. (TV 18) interests, an Indian television station to Riverina Investments Inc., a corporation based in Mauritius. Belle sold its 208,000 shares for $435,000.

Yu said Belle is also looking for a strategic partner for its telecommunication arm, Philippine Global Communications Inc. (Philcom) which signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to restructure its outstanding short-term obligations amounting to P787.4 million.

Earlier, Eric O. Recto, Belle senior vice president and chief financial officer said the firm's new board of directors is also reviewing the operations of its other subsidiaries including APC Corp. and Sinophil Corp. to be able to determine what areas need to be restructured. Its other businesses include real estate or property development, Tagaytay Highlands, Tagaytay Midlands and Spa and Lodge.

Recto said the proceeds from the sale of Belle's non-core businesses as well as from new share subscriptions will be used to pay its maturing obligations.