Philcomsat corporate life extended

Listed firm Philcomsat Holdings Corp. (PHC) finally got the required approval from its stockholders yesterday for the extension of its corporate life which would have expired today, May 10.

In another stormy special stockholders meeting in Makati yesterday, minority stockholders led by Victor Africa tried to block the ratification of a board approval that sought to extend PHC’s corporate life by another 50 years.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, whose daughter Katrina is a minority stockholder in Philippine Overseas Telecommunication Corp. (POTC), also moved to block the ratification by raising anew allegations of mismanagement by the group of PHC president Manuel Nieto Jr.

POTC fully owns Philippine Communications Satellite Corp. (Philcomsat). Philcomsat in turn owns about 80 percent of PHC.

However, PHC vice president Philip Brodett, who presided over yesterday’s meeting in lieu of the ailing Nieto, said the issues raised by Enrile had already been addressed and that the sole agenda of the special stockholders meeting yesterday was to ratify the extension of PHC’s corporate life.

In a heated exchange during the meeting, Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Commissioner Ricardo Abcede also slammed Enrile’s filibuster, reminding the senator that he was not a stockholder in PHC and had no business disrupting the meeting.

The PCGG threw its support for the government nominee, PHC acting chairman Enrique Locsin, who voted the 80 percent Philcomsat stake in PHC to ratify the extension.

The government owns 35 percent of POTC by virtue of the sequestration of two crony firms that own the block, making it the single biggest stockholder in POTC and Philcomsat.

Yesterday’s meeting appeared to have finally settled the issue of the extension of PHC’s corporate life.

The special stockholders meeting was originally scheduled last April 18. But the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a cease-and-desist order (CDO) against Nieto’s group which prevented them from holding the meeting.

The Nieto group again tried to hold the special stockholders meeting last May but was once again ordered by the SEC to move the meeting to yesterday.

The SEC lifted the CDO on Monday after the Nieto group appealed its case to the Commission. The Nieto group said the Commission exceeded its jurisdiction when it ordered the PHC to cease and desist from holding its April 18 special stockholders‚ meeting.

The said the country’s Corporation Code mandates that the extension of corporate terms and the calling of special stockholders‚ meetings are a prerogative of the corporation.