Opposition lawmakers seek probe on 'DBP bullying'

MANILA, Philippines - Opposition lawmakers are seeking a congressional inquiry into the suicide of a lawyer of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) who they claimed was a victim of the “bullying” by officials of the Aquino administration.

House minority bloc led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the suicide of DBP lawyer Benjamin Pinpin was “the tragic outcome of the bullying behavior of the present board of the DBP, led by its chairman Jose Nuñez” in connection with an investigation into so-called behest loans.

“This bullying prompted the employees to take the extraordinary precaution of hiring their own lawyers, and drove one of them, a young lawyer, to even take his own life,” the congressmen said in a statement.

The DBP also claimed yesterday that the P660-million loan extended to businessman Roberto Ongpin by the previous board members of the bank was a behest loan.

The lawmakers said the alleged beneficiary of the loan, Ongpin, has been persuasive in his defense that DBP officials have been unable to respond.

“They (DBP officials) should have been as cautious before hurling their threats in the first place, as they are now, when the emptiness of their position and the virulence of the methods are exposed to the public,” the statement said.

The members of the minority bloc said they will file a resolution calling for an inquiry “into this sordid matter.”

In a press briefing yesterday, lawyer Dada Ongkiko Acorda, spokesperson for the new DBP board, said that the loan coming from the bank was accorded to a private entity, which resulted in “lost opportunity trading gains” for the DBP.

Acorda said that based on the position of the Commission on Audit (COA), ”some kind of a behest loan deprived DBP of opportunity trading gain of P412 million resulting from the sale of DBP’s Philex shares to Ongpin’s Delta Ventures Resources Inc. in November 2009.”

The DBP said that the alleged anomalous loan transactions with Ongpin “exposed the institution to BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) sanctions.”

In an April 11, 2011 letter, the BSP called the bank’s attention “to the violation of banking laws and rules in these anomalous transactions and warning DBP of the sanctions, which are imposed for said violations.”

Acorda claims that the two credit committees of DBP, the DBP Board, DBP’s internal auditors and the Commission on Audit (COA) were unanimous in their finding that the loans were under collateralized.

“Kung bawal na ang wang-wang (siren) sa kalye, bawal na rin ang wang-wang sa bangko ng gobyerno (If sirens are banned on the streets, sirens should also be banned from government banks),” said Acorda, referring to the sirens used by top government officials to evade traffic at the expense of other motorists. – Paolo Romero, Ted Torres