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Witness claims Estrada intervened in Philippine stock market

Asian Economic News, Jan 15, 2001

MANILA, Jan. 9 Kyodo

A prosecution witness in the impeachment trial of Philippine President Joseph Estrada testified Tuesday that Estrada exerted pressure on local stock and securities officials to exonerate one of his cronies.

Ruben Almadro, an officer of the Philippine Stock Exchange, told the court that the then chairman of the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission, Perfecto Yasay, told him in November 1999, ''I am being pressured to clear Dante Tan and the pressure comes (from) all the way up to Malacanang (presidential palace).''

Businessman Dante Tan is Estrada's close friend who was implicated in a price-fixing scandal involving BW Resources Corp. Tan is BW's major shareholder.

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The country's worst-ever stock market scandal in 1999 caused BW Resources' share price to soar 50-fold before collapsing, wiping out the savings of hundreds of small investors.

Almadro, also head of the stock exchange's compliance and surveillance group, testified that Estrada told him and another stock official that Tan bribed Yasay during a meeting at the palace Feb. 14, 2000.

Almadro, who led the investigation into alleged insider trading in the stock market, said former Philippine Stock Exchange President Jose Luis Yulo was also present in that meeting to report to Estrada the outcome of the probe.

''I was taken aback by what the president said,'' Almadro said. ''I was shocked. Here I was facing the president of the republic, the chief enforcer of the laws, he was telling me that his friend had bribed a public official and yet he did nothing to take action even against the bribe giver or the bribe taker.''

Almadro was called to testify that Estrada betrayed public trust and violated his own oath of office when he unduly intervened in the Securities and Exchange Commission on behalf of a presidential crony.

Yulo and Yasay will also be called to testify in the impeachment trial that started Dec. 7.

In January last year Yasay testified to a Senate committee that Estrada pressured him to exonerate his friend Tan from the BW Resources investigation.

Yasay accused Estrada of making a profit of 800 million pesos (about $15.72 million) from the sale of shares in BW Resources.

Aside from betrayal of public trust, Estrada is also accused of bribery, graft and corruption and culpable violation of the Constitution.

The House of Representatives impeached Estrada on the charges in November last year, making him the first Philippine leader to be impeached.

The impeachment was born from accusations by Estrada's estranged drinking and gambling buddy, Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson, that the president pocketed millions in pesos in kickbacks from illegal gambling and tobacco excise tax.

Singson's expose shook the country's financial markets, driving stocks and currency markets to new lows. It also plunged the country into a fresh political crisis.

Witness claims Estrada intervened in Philippine stock market

Asian Economic News, Jan 15, 2001

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