Lawyer arrested for fake Stradcom claim

MANILA, Philippines - A lawyer who claimed to be a corporate secretary of Stradcom Corp., the Land Transportation Office (LTO) information technology contractor, was arrested Friday for allegedly falsifying public documents declaring his clients as Stradcom’s top officials.

Jer Samson was arrested by Quezon City police officers, armed with an arrest warrant issued by Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Judge Juris Dilinila-Callanta.

Assistant city prosecutor Nanette Austria found probable cause to charge Samson in court for filing a fake 2010 General Information Sheet (GIS) of Stradcom with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in December 2010, allegedly as the firm’s corporate secretary.

Samson cited in the “falsified” GIS that a special stockholders’ meeting was held on Dec. 1, 2010, wherein they elected Yujuico as chairman of the board, Sumbilla as president and chief executive officer, and other new Stradcom officials.

Austria, in her decision released last April 18, stated that an examination of the GIS sheets from 2005 to 2010 “will show the name of the directors, officers and shareholders remain the same and there was no instance that the corporation ever held a special stockholders’ meeting.”

She added that neither Samson nor his clients submitted counter-affidavits or evidence to refute the allegations.

The “falsified” GIS was used by a group led by Samson’s clients, Bonifacio Sumbilla and Aderito Yujuico, as they tried to take over the LTO facility operated by Stradcom on Dec. 9, 2010, injuring several Stradcom employees and disrupting LTO operations nationwide for several hours.

Stradcom spokeswoman Margaux Salcedo said the filing of criminal charges and Samson’s arrest should put to an end to Sumbilla and Yujuico’s claim that they are the “legitimate” owners of Stradcom.

The GIS submitted by Samson to the SEC “was clearly falsified when it indicated a new set of officers, directors, stockholders. Sumbilla and his group fraudulently represented themselves as Stradcom officers. The court decision has clearly shown that it did not recognize any of these false representations,” Salcedo said.   

“With this court ruling, we are confident that the people behind the brazen takeover last year will be answerable to law. We hope we can also put all the intra-corporate dispute issues to rest and end public confusion,” she added.