Investigating DBP’s loans
| C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S |
 |
| Jonathan De la Cruz |
It is good that Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. has ordered the current Development Bank of the Philippines management to look into a number of so-called “questionable” loans granted by the previous DBP management in line with the provisions of the revised DBP charter and existing banking laws.
That it took time before other such loans are looked into and made public is understandable. After all, there are strict legal strictures under which banking information can be declassified lest we send the entire banking system tumbling down, which would be the most irresponsible thing. In any event, Malacañang has instructed the DBP management to finally release the details of four other problematic loans. For a time there, it seemed as if the administration was singling out former Trade Secretary Roberto Ongpin’s DVRI group’s P660 million loan which was allegedly granted in haste to buy the bank’s shares in mining firm Philex which was in turn flipped for a hefty profit to the group of PLDT chairman Manny Pangilinan. Of course, DBP profited from the entire transaction, i.e., it collected a transaction fee and its shares were bought above the stock price of the day. It also got back in money earlier than scheduled. But even as the undertaking could have qualified as a fast track success for the previous DBP management it left a number of questions unanswered..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111005com4.html
0 comments
Post a Comment