Yasay: Estrada wanted to blame Sy for BW

Outgoing Chairman Perfecto Yasay Jr. of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) won't go quietly.

He fired another salvo at President Estrada yesterday, this time claiming the Chief Executive wanted him to pin down a broker in the Best World (BW) Resources Corp. stock manipulation case.

Responding to questions raised by Rep. Oscar Moreno (Lakas, Misamis Oriental) during a House hearing on the BW case, Yasay said Mr. Estrada told him directly in one of the now infamous presidential telephone calls that he should hold broker Wilson Sy, and not BW owner Dante Tan, responsible for the stock market mess.

Yasay said the President told him it was Sy who was manipulating the BW stocks and that Tan, a friend of Mr. Estrada, was only a victim.

"He told me it was Sy who really made a killing on BW, and I informed him that we are looking into this," he said.

On the other hand, Mr. Estrada said Yasay is a "congenital liar."

In an interview yesterday with CNN's Liza Barron, he insisted that the only telephone call he made to Yasay was when he asked him to expedite the investigation.

Commenting on Yasay's revelation, Moreno said it was the first time the outgoing SEC chairman mentioned that the President brought up Sy's name in their telephone conversion.

Asked why he was revealing such information, Yasay said it was the first time he was asked about it.

Tan has also pointed to Sy and three other brokers as the ones who manipulated his company's stocks.

The compliance and surveillance groups (CSG) of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has found evidence to indict Tan, his associates and 11 brokers in connection with the BW scandal.

The SEC is recommending to the Department of Justice the prosecution of 11 unnamed brokers in connection with the case.

Sources said six of those who could be charged are Tan, Carmelo Santiago, Cesar Marcelo, Jimmy Juan, Roberto Co and Clement Soo.

During the hearing conducted by the House committee on banks, resigned CSG head Ruben Almadro accused the PSE business conduct and ethics committee, to which his group's investigation report was referred, of trying to absolve three brokers he claimed were involved in the BW mess.

He identified these as Belson Securities, formerly headed by BW president Eduardo Lim Jr.; Aurora Securities and PCCI Securities.

He said the ethics committee had met at least six times and has arrived at a consensus to exonerate the three.

The hearing panel decided to summon members of PSE ethics committee to shed light on Almadro's claim.

The committee members include brokers Trinidad Kalaw, Robert Coyuito, Felipe Yap, and Joey Roxas, and non-brokers Garry Teves and Vicente Jayme.

Meanwhile, a court order which stymied the SEC from proceeding with an investigation into BW marred Yasay's last day at work yesterday.

Yasay, who debated publicly with the President on a television talk show last Wednesday, had vowed he would launch criminal proceedings related to the BW probe before stepping down as head of the SEC.

But Yasay told reporters that the SEC's recommendation to the justice department to start criminal proceedings had been thwarted by an order from the Court of Appeals.

Following the court order, the SEC's four other commissioners voted down a plea by Yasay to press ahead and file its recommendations, effectively putting the investigation in limbo.

"(It) looks to me like I'm fighting a windmill," a dejected Yasay told reporters, adding the matter was now out of his hands.

"Quite frankly, I'm disappointed."

Yasay said the BW probe would now be passed to incoming SEC chairman Lilia Bautista, who takes over on Monday.

Early this week, he said the SEC had established evidence for possible criminal prosecutions against at least 11 brokers and individuals. He declined to name them.

Investigations were launched by the SEC, PSE and the Senate after BW shares shot up close to 5,000 percent during 1999, before crashing.

The PSE probe alleged it had found prima facie evidence of price manipulation against Tan and eight brokers. Tan has denied any wrongdoing.

A petition by a stockbroker led to Thursday's order by the appellate court which said the SEC could not use its probe in any criminal proceedings, if it was based on the evidence gathered by the exchange.

The petition said the exchange probe was "null and void" since it was "in total disregard of due process requirements."

However, the court said the SEC could still investigate the case as long as it does not use the exchange's findings.

Yasay is a 53-year-old lawyer who has battled the country's presidents before.

In 1978, he fled to the United States after a radio program he ran annoyed the president at that time, Ferdinand Marcos. He returned only after Marcos was overthrown in 1986.

On Wednesday, Mr. Estrada called a talk show on which Yasay was a guest and called the SEC chief a liar.

The Chief Executive also said Yasay was conspiring with Sen. Raul Roco.

He said that Yasay went to Roco and planned to hold a committee hearing, where the outgoing SEC chief subsequently revealed details of Mr. Estrada's supposed telephone call.

Some traders believe Mr. Estrada's dislike for Yasay is so intense that he requested government pension funds and other state institutions to aggressively buy up local blue chips to make it look as if investors welcomed Yasay's resignation.

"My most memorable experience at the SEC has been the challenge brought about by my difference of opinion with the President," Yasay told Reuters.

He added: "I have no rancor at all against this president. I have not picked a fight. I can only advise him to heed sound advice from his advisers, because we don't want to project the President as the emperor with no clothes."

Yasay said he would look for work elsewhere, preferably with a multilateral agency, but not in politics.

"I'm basically a shy individual, and politics is not for me," he said.

Career officials at the SEC said Yasay was probably the only chairman who had the guts to fight the so-called "Old Boys Club" at the PSE.

"Insider trading and other acts of fraud are not something new in the PSE. It is a common practice but they have never been apprehended. This is the first time that somebody is rocking their boat," an official said. -- With Jose Rodel Clapano, wire reports