‘Serge of the Light Brigade’

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
11/21/2011



Between the Lopez group’s reported P1.6-billion DBP (Development Bank of the Philippines) loan write-off and the fully paid P600-million “behest” loan of Bobby Ongpin that supposedly yielded P1.4 billion in earnings for the bank from speculative trades in the stock market, which was the more disadvantageous to the taxpaying public?

First, it should be clear that all three — the DBP, as well as the Lopez and Ongpin groups — clearly violated the purpose and spirit for which state “development” banks are organized — that is, to provide loans for economic and developmental activities (as opposed to those that are commercial or speculative in nature). And since it was a case of the latter, it is equally clear that the Lopez group has caused more grievous damage to the ones who are ultimately supporting the DBP — the public and the taxpayers. If the Ongpin group had lost its shirt in its speculative play on the loaned funds, I’m sure that it would also have sought help from its patrons for a write-off of that loan.

These are cases of “socialism for the rich,” where losses are privatized to the ordinary and mostly poor taxpayer.

Still, whenever the oligarchs and financial sharks clash, good things can only happen for the people. In the case of the DBP “behest” loan controversy, what began with a tiff between the alleged kingpin of the DBP, who got to put his man there allegedly for P300 million in campaign donations to you-know-who, and the alleged Arroyo crony, who made massive loans for “insider trades” in Philex Mining shares, has now dragged other oligarchic groups into the picture.

While a number of these cases are still successfully muted in mainstream media, we are hoping the same kinds of behest loans and write-offs in other state-owned banks, from the time of Cory Aquino to FVR and GMA, can also be exposed by still hidden whistleblowers — because there certainly is a lot more being kept under the boardroom rug. What we’re now seeing is but the tip of the iceberg.

The DBP controversy had already claimed one life, that of DBP lawyer Benjamin Pinpin who killed himself last August, despondent over threats of legal action from the DBP board in connection with the bank’s P660-million loans to businessman Bobby Ongpin.

The Zamora camp, apparently fronting for the PeNoy administration, traded barbs with Ongpin for the past three months, charging the latter with obtaining the “behest loan” using FG Mike Arroyo’s clout in the last administration.

The issue had since been raised to the Senate, reflecting the escalation in the war; at which point the Ongpin camp fired its major salvo through the columns of Conrad Banal and Neal Cruz, exposing the even more shocking loan scandals — the DBP write-offs for the Lopez businesses, as well as the Special Purpose Asset Vehicles (SPAVs) for the Ayala and Yuchengco banking groups.

Dragged into the fray, the Lopez group hastily issued a rejoinder charging that the two Inquirer columns are but a PR muddling campaign from Ongpin’s camp.

True or not, I believe the public is still happy that this apparently very well-kept dirty secret has been brought out into the open; and, indeed, it tends to show the Lopez group’s alleged predilection for alleged shenanigans that result in billions of losses for the Filipino taxpayers under the guise of its “legitimate” businesses.

The Lopezes’ defense is that their P1.6-billion loan write-off can be justified by their losses in the privatized water system they invested in (Maynilad), as well as in their other interests such as Central CATV, Bayantel, and Benpres Holdings. Question is, why was credit earmarked for development channeled to undeniably commercial projects, whereby losses were passed on to the taxpayer?

The DBP-Ongpin imbroglio is a blessing in disguise for the Filipino people. It’s a chance to awaken the nation to the essentially corrupt character of our ruling elite, particularly the oligarchs.

The episode has provided a unique educational opportunity by focusing the nation’s eyes on the favorite (i.e. crony) family corporations of the Yellow era that have always been behind the Yellow movement, whether through funding coups such as Edsa II or perpetrating stinky Peace Bonds-type deals.

On a broader level, it highlights the captive status of government financial institutions, like many other agencies, invariably doing the bidding of the oligarchs and conspiratorially hiding their shenanigans from the public.

With a little more explaining, the public can be made to understand that all capital really comes from them and that the ruling class only usurps these national assets for itself through its control of government.

When the Lopez group got caught in the mire, a senator married to a Lopez who heads the Senate committee on energy, charged into the scene. That’s when I harkened back to my first prize win in a high school speaking contest for “Charge of the Light Brigade” by Lord Alfred Tennyson as I saw “Serge of the Light Brigade” charge into the investigation of Bobby Ongpin.

Strangely, in spite of being in hot pursuit of that gargantuan loan, Serge Osmeña doesn’t seem to show any concern for the DBP’s losses from the Lopez group’s much staggering loan write-off. In fact, he now even raises another allegation: That Ongpin owns another company named GAS (Global Air Services) that borrowed $90 million to buy the Mertro Rail Transit (MRT), a charge that the former Trade minister flatly denies.

Well, now that another scandal is brewing, will the oligarch groups that have joined the buying spree on the MRT come forward as well? Abangan…

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