The Megawide [MWIDE 5.42 ?3.39%] press release said that the warrants of arrest that were issued by the Regional Trial Court of Lapu-Lapu City against the directors of MWIDE’s subsidiary, GMR MEGAWIDE Cebu Airport Corporation, were merely “a procedural step” for the prosecution to “acquire jurisdiction over the persons”. MWIDE said that it “addressed” this procedural step by “the posting of bail’.
In a separate article, MWIDE claims that the due process rights of its directors were not recognized, saying that the “timely filing” of motions of defense were ignored before the warrants of arrest were issued by the court. The warrants of arrest name Megawide President and CEO Edgar Saavedra, Manuel Louie B. Ferrer, Director Oliver Y. Tan, and Jez G. Dela Cruz, among others.
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MWIDE’s share price is down around 15% from the time the indictments were first announced until now, when the warrants of arrest were revealed by MWIDE’s press release. I honestly have to give it to MWIDE’s communications team, as I do not think I’ve read a more disarming press release written about warrants of arrest being issued for a company’s owner and key executives and directors.
“Tis but a flesh wound!” Regardless of how skillfully the events were phrased, though, these are serious waters for any person to navigate. What seemed like a classic case of harassment-by-legal-system has turned into something that can’t be ignored so easily, and that may have serious implications for MWIDE’s CEO, MWIDE, and its prospects going forward. Very interesting timing, considering MWIDE’s affiliate company, Citicore Energy REIT [CREIT pre-IPO] is still waiting for PSE-approval to conduct an IPO in the immediate future.
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