THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined businessman Roberto Ongpin P174 million for insider trading involving the shares of Philex Mining Co. in 2009.
The SEC found Ongpin, then a minority shareholder of Philex, knew that a huge chunk of shares of the mining company will be sold to Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. at P21 per share. The SEC said Ongpin made a purchase in December 2, 2009, while in possession of a nonpublic material information.
A bidding war then followed for the right to control Philex, now belonging to the companies being managed by Manuel V. Pangilinan.
The SEC came up with the amount after the ledger of the Philippine Stock Exchange showed there were 174 transactions involving 27.98-million Philex shares, out of the 45.96-million shares Ongpin admittedly purchased in the open market, a huge volume at that time for Philex.
“Further, appellant is, hereby, disqualified…from being an officer, member of the board of directors or person performing similar functions of a public company or a publicly listed company,” the SEC said in its decision.
The SEC added that Ongpin should resign or relinquish the position he currently holds in the publicly listed firm.