PSE vows support for Cyber Bay investors

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has vowed to throw in its support for the beleaguered stockholders of Cyber Bay Corp. (former Amari Coastal Bay Development Corp.) after declaring they will all exhaust all legal means to protect their multi-billion peso investment in the 750-hectare Manila bay reclamation project.

During Cyber Bay’s special shareholders’ meeting last Friday, PSE president Vivian Yuchengco said the stock exchange body will do whatever is necessary to assist the concerns of the property firm’s investors especially the small ones, hinting at a possible filing of an intervention case in behalf of the small stock investors.

"The PSE is committed to help all the investors, big or small, of a listed company," she declared empathizing with stockholders which stand to lose their hard earned money.

Yuchengco mirrors the sentiment Cyber Bay small shareholder who felt duped by the swift turn of events. Thousands of them trooped to the annual meeting with sad stories to tell. With their plight, they felt no different from the victims of pyramiding companies such as Multitel who lost their shirts and even their undergarments.

They lamented the fact that they know better than to invest in pyramiding schemes and yet they have been condemned to suffer the same fate of not getting back their investments. They are now urging the Supreme Court not to make its ruling retroactive.

"We have been lectured by the Supreme Court what the law is, but it didn't tell us the lawful means of getting back our money," Carol Sy, spokesperson of the small investors said.

Recall that the Supreme Court in July last year nullified the joint venture agreement between the Philippine Estate Authority (PEA) and the Central Bay Development Corp. (formerly Amari). The joint venture aims to reclaim and develop about 750-hectare of Manila Bay land. The Supreme Court says it is unlawful to do just that.

Small Cyber Bay investors, with the help of their stockbrokers obviously did their homework before letting go of their cash. They said they reviewed and relied on official government representations. These representations, in turn, were supported by existing and presumptively valid laws and legal opinions of high Philippine government functionaries of two administrations, in entering into the contract approved by no less than two Presidents. Small investors thus relied on good faith that they would be afforded by Philippine law as a matter of justice, a fair opportunity to recoup their investment. The Supreme Court decision effectively tells them that they are wrong without indicating, however, how their investments can be recovered.

The small investors said that with the Supreme Court decision, both local and foreign investors face the possibility of losing whatever they sank into Cyber Bay. They added that this sends an alarming message to the world that the Philippine government and its system of laws, including its Chief Executive, is a party whose word cannot be relied upon.

While the original joint venture agreement was approved in 1995 by both the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel and the Office of the President, the amended agreement signed in March 1999, received the approval of various government agencies, including the Office of the President and the Government Corporate Monitoring and Coordinating Committee composed of the Executive Secretary, Secretary of Finance, Secretary of Budget and Management, Secretary of Trade and Industry, the NEDA Director-General, the Government Corporate Counsel, the Presidential Management Staff, and the Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.