Transcript of Interview of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile

On the alleged insider trading at the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP)

Q Sumulat daw po sa inyo ang SEC?

SP Matagal na yung sulat na yun sa akin, because I wrote them and asked them if they had any information about the transaction, and they wrote me back. I could not remember the letter anymore. I gave copies of the letter to the Committees.

Q Based on the letter, may report daw ang SEC na based on the investigation, lumalabas na may insider trading nga?

SP That's correct. We have also looked into the operations of some of the companies that have been organized for Mr. Ongpin by certain people. There are so many of them, whether these companies were used, or being used to trade listed shares of stock in order to manipulate their prices because some of them were thinly capitalized as we call in corporate law. Twenty thousand pesos, forty thousand pesos. If they are engaged in business, how can you engage unless you are selling bibingka? Or patupat, or lumpia? Sotanghon?

Q Kung lumalabas po na may insider trading, ibig sabihin may participation din si Manny Pangilinan?

SP Walang kasalanan yun because he is the buyer. The buyer has nothing to do with insider trading, sya ang nabahala, because he bought shares at a very high value.

Q The fact na siya lang yung mineet ni Ongpin, hindi ba suspicious na?

SP Hindi. They knew that Mr. Pangilinan was buying shares. Mismo doon sa advertisement ni Ongpin, sinabi niya na he knew that Mr. Pangilinan was buying shares to attain a forty percent control of Philex, so he knew that there is somebody inside that organization, among the stockholders of Philex, who is open to buy shares. So, as a director, he knew that. He was a director and officer of Philex. Mr. David was also a director of Philex. They knew that. The way I understood what happened was that according to the affidavit of Mr. Pangilinan, somebody approached him for Mr. Ongpin. As a buyer, he entertained the approach and Mr. Ongpin himself negotiated with Mr. Pangilinan for a price that was not yet known to the public, and he was asking for P27 per share to lock-in a price. Mr. Pangilinan agreed to lock in a price at P21. Once you lock-in a price, and the price in the market is low, you can go to the market and anywhere else and buy at a lower price in order to make a killing.

Q Ano po ang liability ng involved sa insider trading?

SP Babalik yung kanilang kinita.

Q Yun lang ang penalty?

SP Meron, nasa Securities and Exchange Commission yun. Meron ding sanction yun.

Q Sa statement sir ni Senator Osmena kahapon, Mr. Pangilinan has until today to recover whatever?

SP Under the law, the management of the company whose shares had been traded by an insider ought to file a case to recover the profits, but that can be done by any stockholder. What we call a derivative suit.

Q Hindi lang po si Pangilinan?

SP Hindi lang si Mr. Pangilinan

Q Sa ongoing investigation, there is no need to call Pangilinan?

SP What do they want to elicit from him? We are not a criminal investigation body. We have already the affidavit, we can already prepare a report based on the statement of Mr. Pangilinan about his participation.

Q Yung affidavit hindi daw officially transmitted to the Committee?

SP It was transmitted to me. I transmitted it to the Committee. How official would you want it?

Q So it's enough, sir? The affidavit is enough?

SP They have to write a formal letter. Hindi na kailangan yun.

Q Mahina ba?

SP I can testify that it was submitted to me, because I was the one who asked Mr. Pangilinan to just tell us the truth about the transaction. We did not pressure anybody. Just the factual, I said. Just bare facts. Do not make any conclusion. What happened.

Q Mahina ba yung mga arguments ni Mr. Ongpin?

SP Hindi ko na sasabihin, bahala na ang husgado dun. Don't expect a person who is accused of something to say I am guilty.

On the case being filed against former COMELEC Commissioner Abalos for electoral sabotage

SP The mere filing of a case does not mean that you are deprived of the right to bail. You know the deprivation of the right to bail in capital offenses, what we call offenses that carry capital penalty, like life imprisonment or death, but we do not have the death penalty is open to question if it is not strong. If the evidence is simply to file an information, the evidence required is the establishment of a probable cause. Now, somebody challenges that basis of information and they file a petition to bail, then you scrutinize the strength of the evidence of the government and determine whether the evidence is strong to warrant the deprivation of liberty or to overturn the right of the accused to bail. Ako, pag ganyan, maingat ako dahil akala mo, kapag plunder na, or election sabotage, nakakulong ka forever. The burden of proof is in the prosecution to establish a strong case. Eh kung mahina yung kaso nila?