SEC prohibits PSE members from trading Tibayan stocks

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued an order prohibiting member-brokers of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) from executing trade orders of the Tibayan Group of Companies as part of efforts to protect the interest of the group’s investors.

The directive was issued by Jose Tomas Syquia, head of the SEC’s Compliance and Enforcement Department, following reports that Tibayan Management Group and TMG International Holdings Co. Ltd., both owned by businessman Jesus Tibayan, are planning to divest their stock investments.

Tibayan Management and TMG are currently under preliminary investigation by the Department of Justice for investment fraud. The investigation was spurred by the criminal complaint earlier filed by the SEC against management and salesmen of the Tibayan Group for unregistered sale of securities in violation of the Securities Regulation Code.

The Tibayan Group’s stock portfolio includes shares of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., Ayala Corp., Ayala Land, Bankard Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands, Centro Escolar University, Equitable-PCIBank, Filipino Fund, First Metro Investment Corp., Globe Telecoms, Jollibee Foods Corp., La Tondeña Distillers Inc., Manila Electric Co., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Philippine National Bank, Prudential Bank, Purefoods Corp., San Miguel Corp., Security Bank, SM Prime Holdings and Union Bank through accounts held with various brokers.

The list of the group’s stock investments had already been submitted to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) for appropriate action.

Syquia said the SEC will not hesitate to enforce sanctions against broker-firms that will be found to have violated the agency’s directive. "For failure to comply with said directive, we shall have no recourse but to take appropriate action against the executing brokers," he said.

The Tibayan Group and its interrelated corporations were found to have sold a different type of security other than their own registered products in violation of the SRC, which requires prior registration of securities with the SEC before they are sold to the public.

The group guaranteed a fixed-income rate to investors, contrary to the operations of a mutual fund where a return is based on a net asset value per share.

The SEC has permanently shut down the operations of the Tibayan Group for "flagrantly" violating the SRC and submitting misleading documents.

The group had swindled the public hundreds of millions of pesos by soliciting their investments in exchange for securities, promising three to 5.5 percent monthly interest for investments worth P50,000 or more.

According to the SEC, the group used numerous front corporations and partnerships to solicit investments from the public, thus circumventing the rule which requires prior registration of securities for issuance to over 19 individuals.

Apart from TMG and Tibayan International, other corporations used by the group to perpetuate their illegal investment solicitation activities are TG Asset Management Corp., Matcor Holdings Company Ltd., Jetcor Equity Company Ltd., Sta. Rosa Mgt. And Trading Corp., Westar Royalty Mgt. and Trading Corp., Starboard Mgt. and Trading Corp., United Alpa Management and Trading Corp., Global Progess Mgt. and Trading Corp., Athon Management and Trading Corp., and Diamond Star Management & Trading Corp.