Ping: I acquired BW shares legally

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Panfilo Lacson yesterday clarified that he legally acquired his shares of stock from Best World (BW) Resources and lost money when the value per share fell, contrary to allegations that these were only given to him.

Lacson was reacting to reports that Dante Tan, chairman of BW Resources, had instructed a stock brokerage firm to transfer 300,000 of his company shares to him when he was still Philippine National Police (PNP) chief.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) issued statements that the BW stock manipulation scandal had links with the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, in 2000.

Dacer supposedly knew how Lacson and former President Joseph Estrada allegedly benefited from the BW scandal and had documents to prove this. Dacer’s knowledge could have been the reason why he was killed.

Lacson just shrugged this off, saying the DOJ must make up its mind on his alleged motive to have Dacer killed.

At first, Lacson said his critics insisted he wanted Dacer neutralized because the public relations man opposed his appointment as PNP chief but now, they said it was the BW scandal.

Tan allegedly ordered AT De Castro Securities Corp. sometime in July 1999 to transfer the stocks to Lacson. At the time the instruction was given, BW shares cost P30 to P35 each. The share’s value rose dramatically in the next few weeks, reaching a staggering P130 by November.

It was the sharp spike in BW share prices that sparked suspicions that the stock was being manipulated and that buyers made huge earnings from it.

It was not immediately established if Lacson received the shares and such transactions are supposed to be reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Lacson admitted that he bought BW shares because he was investing in the stock market as a legitimate and legal way of earning money.

He did not say the exact number of shares he bought but stressed he has documents to prove that he “bought and sold” his shares not when the prices were high.

In an interview with radio station dwIZ, Lacson said if he had inside information, he would not have sold his shares at the time he would incur losses.

Lacson said he was ready to answer the charges and present his documents as long as the DOJ would be able to make up its mind on the angle they would pursue just to link him to the Dacer-Corbito case.

He disclosed that he also bought shares of stocks from other companies, sometimes earning millions of pesos and sometimes losing, depending on the market condition.

He said he sold his BW shares properly and that he had nothing to do with Estrada’s supposed shares, too.

Lacson added he paid the right amount of taxes for his every transaction and that the government must stop muddling the issue to pin him down.