Government nominee in Philcomsat, POTC asks PCGG to resolve board row

The government nominee in sequestered firms Philippine Overseas Telecommunications Corp. (POTC) and Philippine Communications Satellite Corp. (Philcomsat) has asked the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to resolve the board problems hounding the two companies.

Enrique L. Locsin, Philcomsat president and concurrently POTC vice chairman, said in a letter to the PCGG that the board squabbles in the two companies "have caused much damage and prejudice to the interest of the government."

The problems began when a group of minority shareholders led by Victor Africa and Erlinda Ilusorio-Bildner formed their own board in POTC and Philcomsat after the majority shareholders of Philcomsat held a special stockholders meeting in August 1998 to install the nominees of then President Joseph Estrada to the board.

The special stockholders’ meeting was ratified in February 1999.

He revealed that despite the Supreme Court temporary restraining order, the Africa-Bildner group held its own board election in September 2000 and elected themselves into office on the claim that they held enough shares based on a 1998 compromise agreement between the PCGG and the late Potenciano Ilusorio which reduces the government’s stake in POTC from 40 percent to 35 percent.

Philcomsat is a wholly-owned subsidiary of POTC.

"We wish to clarify that the undersigned and the members of the board of directors of POTC and Philcomsat duly elected on Aug. 5 and 9, 2004, respectively, are still the lawful directors and officers of POTC and Philcomsat. The duly-elected boards have not been replaced or removed from office, and certainly not by the group of Victor Africa, et al.," Locsin told the PCGG.

Locsin added that there is a pending case now before the Sandiganbayan which seeks to prevent the Africa-Bildner group from representing POTC and Philcomsat and exercising the powers and authority of the duly elected directors and officers.

The SC recently handed down its decision upholding the Ilusorio-PCGG compromise agreement but did not render any ruling on the actions taken by the Africa-Bildner group.