PSE probes 3 foreign brokerage firms over PLDT fiasco

MANILA, Philippines —  The Philippine Stock Exchange, through the Capital Markets Integrity Corp. (CIMC), is investigating at least three foreign brokerage houses to determine if there was insider trading prior to telco giant PLDT’s disclosure of its budget overrun last year.

“There are about three foreign brokers (that CMIC is looking at),” PSE president Ramon Monzon told The STAR in an interview.

The three foreign brokerage firms sold substantial PLDT shares during the period under review.

Monzon said CMIC hopes to secure this week the complete record of transactions from the brokers and come out with the results of its investigation hopefully by the end of the month.

Although Monzon said on the surface there seems to be no insider trading, the PSE and CIMC will forward the report to the Securities and Exchange Commission if there are any findings, and PLDT will be slapped with penalties under the Securities Regulation Code.

Monzon said CMIC, PSE’s independent subsidiary, is looking at the transactions on PLDT shares from November to Dec. 16 last year

PLDT, chaired by Manuel V. Pangilinan with Al Panlilio as president and CEO, said last year it incurred a  budget overrun of P48 billion over the last four years.

Pangilinan said PLDT’s ongoing review has so far  uncovered no fraud, no anomalies, no evidence of overpricing, and no unrecorded transactions in relation to the overrun.

“The bulk of the P48 billion capex overspend involves the procurement of network equipment necessary to provide stronger connectivity to subscribers, specifically 5G cell sites for our mobile network and fiber rollout. There will be no write-off of these assets,” Pangilinan had said.

As a result of the budget overrun, PLDT is currently facing class action suits in the US filed by investors for trading losses they allegedly incurred.

But PLDT said it has not been served documents in relation to the supposed class action suits.

PLDT had earlier assured analysts and fund managers that it is addressing the matter by negotiating with vendors and has likewise assured investors that business remains healthy.