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THE
Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed the findings of the
Sandiganbayan that the proposed amendments filed by
Oriental Petroleum Mineral Corp. in the matter of
alleged dictator-extorted shares in the corporation “are
substantial and would delay the adjudication of the
case.”
“The
proposed amendments carefully considered the original
complaint, particularly the addition of defendants John
Does or whoever succeeded private respondents as
officers and directors of the board of Oriental, and the
proposed new factual allegations common to all causes of
action. We agree with the Sandiganbayan that the
proposed amendments are substantial.”
It
added, “Moreover, respondent court took into
consideration the fact that the 19 defendants have
already filed their answers. To entertain the amended
pleading will put back the case to square one.”
Thus did
the Court junk the petition filed by the stockholders of
the country’s first oil exploration firm seeking to
compel the Sandiganbayan to admit its amended complaint
in a bid to regain from the Presidential Commission on
Good Government (PCGG) more than four billion shares it
alleged were extorted by the late dictator President
Marcos and his cronies through “systematic abuse of
power.”
The SC
noted that Section 3, Rule 10 of the 1997 Revised Rules
of Civil Procedure has accorded the trial court “sound
discretion” to grant or deny the admission of any
proposed substantial amendments to a pleading.
The
rule, the SC added, expressly provides that the proposed
amendments are refused admittance if it appears that
these are substantial and were made to delay the case.
The
amended complaint was filed by stockholders Vivian
Locsin, Yao Shiong Shio, Oscar Manuel, Ramon Linan, Paz
Flores and Sixto Racelis after the Sandiganbayan issued
a resolution on June 21, 1989, denying their prayer for
a preliminary injunction seeking to enjoin the PCGG from
confiscating the shares in favor of the government.
The
antigraft court had said the right of the petitioners
over the shares “are not clear to justify a restraint
upon the PCGG in acting on the shares,” which the
petitioners admitted to be ill-gotten.
The
petitioners filed an amended complaint on October 18
alleging additional facts in order, they said, to supply
missing data which had resulted in the denial of their
petition for the issuance of the writ of preliminary
injunction.
On March
21, 1990, the Sandiganbayan rejected the bid of the
petitioners for it to admit the amended complaint
prompting them to elevate the case to the SC.
They
alleged that Oriental and its stockholders were victims
of the late Marcos and his cronies who allegedly
extorted three blocks of Oriental stocks totaling to
4.512 billion shares at various times either without or
inadequate or unlawful considerations.
These
shares were allegedly transferred to Independent Realty
Corp, Performance Investment Corp, Mid-Pasig Development
Corp., Piedra Petroleum Corp., and Fabian Ver.
With the
sequestration of the disputed shares, petitioners
alleged that the PCGG took control of the board of
directors and the management of Oriental. They claimed
that the PCGG nominees set in motion “a grand scheme to
raid and systematically plunder Oriental.” |
