Sandiganbayan dismisses graft charges against Ongpin

MANILA, Philippines - The Sandiganbayan has dismissed the graft charges filed against former trade minister Roberto V. Ongpin and former officials of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

The move ends a two-year court battle between the Office of the Ombudsman and Ongpin in connection with the P660-million behest loans anomaly in 2009.

“In a hearing (on Wednesday) for the alleged DBP behest loans of Ongpin, the Sandiganbayan Third Division promulgated a resolution granting the motion to quash of all the accused Rodolfo Ma. A. Ponferrada, Ongpin’s chief legal counsel, told The STAR.

“The office of the special prosecutor will file a motion for reconsideration, within the prescribed period.”

In 2012, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the filing of two graft cases against 22 former officials of the DBP led by former chair Patricia Sto. Tomas. Ongpin and two other officials of private firms Delta Ventures Resources Inc. and Goldenmedia Corp. were also indicted before the Sandiganbayan.

The two cases stemmed from the complaint filed in August 2011 by the DBP represented by its chairman, Jose Nuñez, and its president and chief executive officer Francisco del Rosario Jr., against 28 individuals who allegedly participated in the grant of “behest” loans in the sum of P660 million under relaxed concessions used in the purchase of DBP-owned shares in Philex Mining Corp., all orchestrated in a span of less than a year.

The complainants termed the loans as behest, saying they were granted with extraordinary speed, were undercollateralized and the borrower was undercapitalized.