Duterte vows to go after Lopez-owned firm, 6 others over debts

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte on Wednesday vowed to go after a Lopez-owned firm and six other companies that allegedly owe debts to the government as he accused their owners of benefiting from corruption in government.

 

Duterte lamented that the government has condoned the debts of Benpres Holdings, which has been renamed Lopez Holdings, and six other companies to state-run Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

 

“I would go after the elite. I will not name the person but their companies then, Benpres and about six other companies, they have debts to the DBP… They used the money of the people to finance their business but they will keep the revenues,” the president said.

 

“And yet, they were not able to pay and it was condoned by government… I said I would go after the elite in this country because they are the ones really who’s benefiting from all of these things,” he added.

 

The Lopez family also owns broadcast giant ABS-CBN, which Duterte has accused of biased reporting.

 

“Malakas 'yan silang mag-atake (They can criticize vigorously), they have the media outlets and all. But sila talaga 'yung nakikinabang sa corruption ng gobyerno (they are benefiting from the corruption in government),” the President said.

 

“They refuse to pay the right taxes. They refuse to settle their debts,” he added.

Duterte also announced a plan to sell the Mile Long property in Makati to fund the government’s housing program. Mile Long is a property in Makati occupied by Sunvar Realty in 1982.

 

Sunvar is owned by the Rufino and Prieto families, also the owners of newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer. The president has accused the Inquirer of publishing “garbage” stories that were intended to discredit him.

 

The Prietos have since announced they are selling their stake in the Inquirer.

 

“Mile Long is up for sale. The price, we’ll let the government experts determine it but I’m selling it and I’m using the money to fund the housing projects of the National Housing Authority,” Duterte said.

 

Duterte claimed the Rufinos and Prietos got the prime lot, which the government said is owned by the National Power Corp., because of sweetheart deals with previous administrations. 

 

He also accused the two families of economic sabotage for allegedly refusing to pay rentals collected from the  property.

 

The Office of the Solicitor General asked Sunvar to vacate Mile Long this month. The company promised to vacate the property to comply with the legal process.

 

“I’ve been telling everybody, if you are squatting on government property, please return it on time to me,” Duterte said.  

 

“There is a law - it’s called Economic Sabotage — and, if your acts or your act fits into that law, you can be very sure that I will file a case against you. It is non-bailable. You will rot there for the time that I am President or even thereafter,” he added.

The Revised Penal Code does not define the crime of economic sabotage although there are laws that classify certain acts as economic sabotage.

 

RA 10845, which deals with agricultural smuggling and which was enacted in 2016, defines "any act or activity which undermines, weakens or renders into disrepute the economic system or viability of the country or tends to bring out such effects."

 

Economic sabotage is also mentioned in letters of instruction and presidential decrees by ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Among those laws are PD 173, which considers faking Land Transportation Office documents and plates as economic sabotage, LOI 1359 (hoarding and other crimes), PD 1689 (estafa or swindling) and PD 2018 (illegal recruitment).

 

PD 1689  penalizes with life imprisonment "swindling (estafa) committed by a syndicate consisting of five or more persons formed with the intention of carrying out the unlawful or illegal act, transaction, enterprise or scheme" if the fraud  "results in the misappropriation of money contributed by stockholders, or members of rural banks, cooperative, "samahang nayon(s)", or farmers association, or of funds solicited by corporations/associations from the general public."