CBCP fights back, hits businessman for swindle

The businessman whom Church officials accused of "bleeding dry" an Internet venture associated with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is "out to milk the Catholic Church" again, a prelate said yesterday.

Pedro Quitorio III, CBCP media director, said businessman Eman Lim has allegedly padded the list of creditors of the failed Internet venture CBCPNet so that the Church would pay for debts which Lim supposedly incurred.

The monsignor made the charge two days after he assured CBCPNet creditors that their new Internet venture, called CBCP World, would assume CBCPNet’s debts "as a moral obligation."

CBCP World was incorporated by Quitorio along with former CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Bataan Bishop Honesto Ongtioco and their new private partner Transpacific Broadcast Group International (TBGI).

Quitorio said it was impossible for CBCPNet to have incurred debts of P327 million, as claimed by a newspaper report, because some of the debts mentioned were incurred prior to CBCPNet’s incorporation in November 2000.

"Hindi lahat ito utang ng CBCPNet (These are not all debts of CBCPNet)," Quitorio said, noting that most of the debts mentioned were incurred by Lim and his wife Mardie in 1998 and 1999.

The monsignor also clarified that while Cruz had earlier estimated that the failed venture’s debts would reach P190 million, the actual debts have yet to be determined by an independent audit.

Quitorio admitted that he and the two other prelates were left in the dark about corporate matters from the inception of CBCPNet since Lim handled all the paper work, including the capitalization structure of the company.

According to the incorporation papers, Eman Lim was the president while Mardie was the treasurer. They were also the majority owners of CBCPNet, the monsignor explained.

The prelates also learned later that CBCPNet allegedly did not have a bank account — an apparent violation of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations — and all its supposed revenues were diverted to an account of Twins Inc., a company owned by the Lims.

When the prelates discovered that CBCPNet had no bank account, no financial statements, no collections and mounting expenses, they called a meeting of all creditors, Quitorio said.

The creditors agreed that another company, eventually named CBCP World, should be formed to shoulder CBCPNet’s debts and the creditors were also the ones to choose TBGI over five other bidders as the new partner to replace Twins Inc., he added.

Quitorio said the creditors themselves also agreed that forming the new company would be the fastest way to recoup their losses since the prelates could assure them of a "captive market."

At the same time, the monsignor denied reports that CBCP World would pressure Catholic schools to avail of their services.

"They are free to avail themselves of any service," Quitorio said.

Meanwhile, Globe Telecoms, one of CBCPNet’s creditors, said it has not set any deadline for the prelates to settle debts amounting to P35 million.

Globe Telecoms assistant vice president for public relations Jones Campos said that while they would pursue their own collection effort, they have no plans to file charges against the prelates or the CBCP.