Lucio Tan: The Saga of his Feud with Mariano Tanenglian and the Filipino Chinese Community

Lately, we have been hearing various reports about the feud between Lucio Tan and his brother Mariano Tanenglian. There are numerous editorials and articles published online and in print about the incident that gave rise to this series of fateful events.

Unfortunately, this means bad publicity for Mr. Tan. Bloggers and journalists alike (both in the Filipino and Filipino Chinese Community) are striving to let Filipino society know the truth about Dr. Lucio Tan.

This blog will contain articles that have been published in a Chinese Journal or an English Journal in the Philippines...

We will let readers be the judge...

Another Blog which contains interesting footnotes about Lucio Tan but is written in a rather vulgar language is in

http://www.soulcast.com/post/show/158790/Lucio-Tan,-cancer-and-cirrhosis-maker,-heads-clean-air-drive%3F

It does tell the truth as society knows it...

These are the posted articles detailing the events that led to what transpires today...

Journal Online

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Guessing game

AS the old adage goes, blood runs thicker than water. But in a family business, blood ties can often turn out to be a double-edged sword.

Members of the Chinese and business community are wondering why a business tycoon humiliated his own brother in front of several people at their office in Greenbelt, Makati City.

The younger brother holds a sensitive post at the airline company and many attest that his secret recipes and unique practices in managing the family business brought in more profits for the firm.

Last week, the business mogul left their employees in shock.

Reason: He barred his younger brother from reporting to his work. He even ordered six armed security personnel to block his path and ensure that he could not enter the building.

To avoid further scandal, the younger executive left the building silently.

The following day, the business magnate sent somebody to inform his younger brother that he could return to his work without any problem

The top businessman quickly changed his mind about terminating his brother's services after

somebody from the "higher-ups" warned him that he is inviting trouble had he axed him without solid grounds.

The "adviser" told the Tsinoy Taipan that his move is unlawful and that he must correct his actions to prevent court encounters with his brother.

Many are wondering why the top businessman listens to members of the so-called "Bulong Brigade" around him than to believe and recognize the ability of his own brother.

For a family business to succeed, they said it is important that potential conflict between family emotions and the goals of the business are dealt with otherwise they can pull a business apart.

Insiders said members of this Bulong Brigade are experts when it comes to fabricating stories and destroying one's character.

Suffice it to say, they succeeded on their intention that's why they are enjoying top positions in the company.

The grapevine also revealed most of them literally came from rags. They hit the big time not by hard work but by pulling other people down. And family members of their Big Boss are not excluded.

Clue: the businessman was one of the colorful figures during the past administration. His picture with the country's former influential official while waving at the doorway of the airplane he owns landed in front pages of the leading newspapers.

At that time, he was a hot item because of the charges hurled against him by the government.

The Daily Tribune

Bank executive denounces six guards for poking guns at him

02/25/2009

A Makati bank executive has accused a bank security chief and six guards of coercion after heand his driver were barred from entering the bank’s car park to attend a stockholders’ meeting.

In his four-page complaint lodged before the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office, Mariano Tanenglian, stockholder of the Allied Banking Corp. and resident of 105 Dapitan St., Quezon City, said the incident took place at the entrance of the bank’s car park on the corner of De la Rosa and Gallardo streets, Legazpi Village, Makati City last February 4 around 10:15 a.m.

Tanenglian said security chief Christopher Dobles, head of the Corporate Security Department of the Allied Bank Center on Ayala Avenue, stopped him and his driver Ladislao Oriendo from entering the building for unknown reason.

He said when he asked why he was being barred from the premises, the guards drew their guards and surrounded his car. They then ordered him and his driver to leave the area, he added.

The complainant identified the security guards through their respective nametags on their uniform as T. Navarro; E. Valespin; M. Barangan; E. Pascua; G. Domingo and C. Sidayao.

When he asked who gave them the order to bar them from entering the bank premises, the guards replied they had an instruction from a certain Mr. Dobles.

Tanenglian claimed that when his driver informed the security guards that his passenger was a high-ranking bank official, three of them, holding long firearms, allegedly poked their guns at them.

Tanenglian asked for a written order of a prohibition to enter the bank, but the guards failed to show any paper supposedly coming from one Mr. Dobles. He said when they insisted to allow them to go through, the guards raised their firearms in a threatening and intimidating manner as if ready to shoot them.

Tanenglian instructed his driver to turn back and instead proceeded to a Charter House near the bank where he later summoned Mr. Dobles for an explanation.

Manila Bulletin

Manila Bulletin Article - Security Guards Rapped By Bank Exec

A Makati bank executive accused a bank security chief and six guards of coercion after he and his driver were barred from entering the bank's car park to attend a stockholder's meeting.

In his four-page complaint with the Makati City Prosecutor's office, Mariano Tanenglian, stockholder of the Allid Banking Corp. and resident of 105 Dapitan St., Queszon City, said the inident took place at the entrance of the bank's car park at the corner of Dela Rosa and Gallardo Streets, Legaspi Village, Makati City last February 4 at about 10:15am.

Tanenglian said security chief Christopher Dobles, head of the Corporate Security Department of the Allied Bank Center on Ayala Ave., stopped him and his driver Ladislao Oriendo from entering the building for unknown reason.

He said when he asked why he was being barred from the premises, the guards drew their guns and surrounded his car. They then ordered him and his driver to leave the area, he added.

The complaint identified the security guards through their nametags on their uniform as T. Navarro; E. Valespin; M. Barangan; E. Pascua; G. Domingo, and C.Sidayao.

When he asked who gave them the order to bar them from entering the bank premises, the guards replied that they had instruction from a certain Mr. Dobles.

Manila Bulletin

Allied Bank security chief insists top management banned Tan brother from entering family owned building

By KRIS BAYOS

March 19, 2009, 12:00am

It was the top management of Lucio Tan’s bank in Makati City

that has officially banned his younger brother from entering the family-owned corporation since January.

This is what Allied Banking Corporation’s security chief Christopher Dobles disclosed yesterday as he submitted his five-page counter affidavit to refute the charges of grave coercion filed against him and six security guards by Mariano Tanenglian.

Saying there is no basis for Tanenglian’s complaint, Dobles maintained that he is in no position to question the debarment instruction of the top management he received “sometime in January 2009.”

“I did not find anything wrong with the instruction given to me. After all, the top management may very well bar any individual from entering the private premises of the bank. As an officer, I have no right to question who are being allowed entry into the center. I have no discretion to choose who should be granted access,” Dobles said.

He, however, failed to name the top executives who ordered Tanenglian’s debarment or even produce the memorandum pertaining to the instruction.

Tanenglian’s complaint came after he was allegedly “forced, threatened and intimidated from entering” the car park of Allied Banking Corporation at the corner of Dela Rosa and Gallardo streets in Legaspi Village last February 4.

Despite being a stockholder, treasurer and member of the board of directors of the corporation since 1977, Tanenglian, then aboard a white Mercedes Benz (XPT 868), was blocked by allegedly heavily armed security guards who raised their firearms in a threatening and intimidating manner “as if they would not hesitate to use their firearms if we would proceed.”

“The ‘raising of firearms,’ if at all true, could have easily attracted the attention of the people in the vicinity, including the driver of the car behind Mr. Tanenglian’s. But as eyewitnesses declared, nothing of that sort ever happened,” Dobles said.

Aside from Dobles, the other respondents in the case include security guards Emilio Pascua, Tranquilino Navarro, Eduardo Valerio, Marvin Barangan, Reymar Domingo, and Concepcion Siddayao.

“If Mr. Tanenglian felt offended that he was not allowed to enter the Center, he should have promptly raised the matter with the top management. Fact is that he has not up to now officially contested the action taken by the bank… he has not made any formal complaint to the bank to question his being banned from entering the center,” Dobles added.

In the meantime, Dobles said the instruction to bar Tanenglian is still standing, prompting the latter to instead hold office at

his office at Fortune Tobacco corporate building in Marikina City.

“The security guards and I are answerable to the management and are duty bound to follow legitimate instructions… Given the personal circumstances of Mr. Tanenglian, the security guards have surely accorded him the respect due him and were far from exhibiting the offense of grave coercion,” he added.

Lucio Tan Group Shares for Sale

Share holdings in group of companies comprising the conglomerate popularly referred to as the "Lucio Tan Group of Companies", to include but not limited to the following: Fortune Tobacco Corp., Asia Brewery, Inc., Allied Banking Corp., Philippine Airlines, Philippine National Bank, Eton Properties, Foremost Farms, Inc., Himmel Industries, Inc., are FOR SALE.

Interested parties may inquire further details by submitting a letter of interest with an intention to buy for initial interviews by the owners. Please address all communications to P.O. Box 332, Greenhills Post Office, San Juan, Metro Manila. Please include your corporate/personal profile with the latest financial statement of the interested party together with contacts and references.

Manila Standard Article

The Squeeze on Lucio Tan

THE Lucio Tan camp was jolted out of their Easter Monday mode by a notice on the classified ads page of the Inquirer on the same day, announcing that an unspecified bloc of shares in Fortune Tobacco, Asia Brewery, Allied Bank, Philippine Airlines, Philippine National Bank, Eton Properties, Foremost Farms, and Himmel Industries are available for sale.

The initial suspect was Ray Quiroz, a former Lucio Tan lawyer pursuing a criminal complaint against a number of Allied Bank guards.

But after an initial check, the unusual suspect turned out to be another former Tan lawyer, Natividad Santos, widow of lawyer Florencio Santos, from whom, according to the grapevine, the taipan acquired the Marikina property in the Sixties that is now home to Fortune cigarette factory.

Before the surprise newspaper ad, the Santos widow had approached and apparently been rebuffed in her efforts to sell back the minority shares to the Tan companies at her asking price, despite her and her late husband’s closeness and long service to the taipan.

How close? The Santos couple were even named as co-respondents in the several sequestration cases filed by the Aquino government against the Tan companies.

Inquirer.Net

Lucio Tan: We’re not selling out

By Doris Dumlao

Philippine Daily Inquirer

First Posted 02:52:00 04/14/2009

Filed Under: Company Information, Stock Activity, Litigation & Regulations

MANILA, Philippines—Chunks of shares in various companies under the Lucio Tan group have been anonymously placed on the block, prompting the tycoon to declare on Monday that there were no plans to sell or dilute his majority stake in any of the companies.

Industry sources told the Philippine Daily Inquirer Monday that the selling party was the family of the late lawyer Florencio Santos, a longtime friend and business associate of Tan who had been a minority stockholder since the companies were founded.

Put up for sale were shares in some of the country’s biggest companies like Fortune Tobacco Corp., Asia Brewery Inc., Allied Banking Corp., Philippine Airlines, Philippine National Bank, Eton Properties, Foremost Farms Inc. and Himmel Industries Inc.

An advertisement that appeared in the Inquirer Monday on Page B8 and titled “Lucio Tan Group Shares for Sale” fueled a lot of speculation on the identity of the seller and the motivation behind the sale.

Forbes magazine has placed the net worth of Tan’s family at $1.4 billion.

One thing for sure

“Owners of the absolute majority shareholdings in the Lucio Tan Group of Companies led by business tycoon Lucio C. Tan are not selling or disposing of their shares,” the group said Monday in reaction to the advertisement.

“We do not know who among the minority shareholders placed the ad announcing their desire to unload their shares. But one thing is for sure: It’s not Mr. Lucio Tan. The shares he owns directly and those he holds by virtue of proxies assigned to him by other majority shareholders are not for sale,” the statement added.

Most of the companies listed in the ad were included in a civil case filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government against the Lucio Tan group at the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court after the EDSA people power revolt in 1986 that toppled the Marcos regime.

The sequestration order has been lifted but the ownership dispute is still being contested in the Sandiganbayan. The heirs of Ferdinand Marcos are staking a claim on the Tan companies.

The PCGG has been running after Tan since 1987.

Industry sources confirmed that the shares consisted of a “minority” block but could not give an estimate of the number of shares for sale in each of the companies and the market price.

But other sources said the heirs of Santos, who had been part of the Lucio Tan group since the inception of most of its companies, had expressed intention to unload the shares when their patriarch died a few years ago.

One PAL board seat

The family, for instance, holds one board seat in Philippine Airlines represented by the patriarch’s son Cesar Santos.

The patriarch and his wife Natividad are among the respondents in the ongoing civil suit filed by the PCGG, which alleges that the companies were among the ill-gotten assets acquired during the Marcos dictatorship.

Substantial enough

Analysts said that while the shares may not be large enough to create a dent in Tan’s controlling stake in the companies, they may be substantial enough in peso terms to be placed on the block.

One analyst said the seller may have put the shares on the block in order to get the best price. The Lucio Tan group may end up buying these shares anyway, the analyst said.

Other analysts said the shares might have been already offered to the Lucio Tan group—as shareholder partnerships usually require a right of first refusal—but there may not be enough incentive for the group to rush into buying the shares.

Manila Standard

ALLIED BANK RESHUFFLE - Lucio Tan’s brother removed as director

By Doris Dumlao

Philippine Daily Inquirer

First Posted 01:15:00 04/24/2009

Filed Under: Board of Directors (Appointments and Changes),Banking, Stock Activity, Financial & Business Services

MANILA, Philippines -- Taipan Lucio Tan's brother Mariano Tanenglian will cease to be a director of Allied Banking Corp., which will soon be merged with Philippine National Bank.

Allied Bank disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday that the nomination of Tanenglian as director of the bank was withdrawn at the meeting of the bank's corporate governance committee.

Reynaldo Maclang, currently president of Allied Bank, was nominated to take Tanenglian's place.

No reason was provided for the withdrawal of Tanenglian's nomination although this came on the heels of market speculations about an alleged rift between the brothers.

Tanenglian owns shares in some of the companies under the Lucio Tan group, which has interests in airline, banking, property development, tobacco and liquor manufacturing.

Allied Bank is set to be merged with PNB within 2009, creating the country's fourth largest bank in assets.

Under the merger structure, PNB will issue 457 million new shares at P55 per share in exchange for 100 percent of Allied Bank's common and preferred shares. It will issue 140 new shares for every Allied Bank common share and 30.73 shares for every Allied Bank preferred share. The deal valued lock, stock and barrel of PNB at P36.6 billion and of Allied Bank at P25.2 billion.

After the merger, the Lucio Tan group will end up with 80.7 percent control while the remainder shall represent the public float.

Manila Standard

Allied Bank removes Lucio Tan’s brother

THE nomination of Lucio Tan’s younger brother, Mariano Tanenglian, as director of Allied Bank has abruptly been withdrawn for unexplained reasons.

In lieu of Tanenglian, 68, Allied Bank has nominated its president, Reynaldo Maclang, 71, as replacement, the bank’s corporate secretary, Ma. Cecilia Pesayco, told the Philippine Stock Exchange the other day.

It was not immediately clear if Tanenglian would still continue to be the bank’s treasurer. He has been a bank director and treasurer since 1977, when Lucio Tan, then an up-and-coming tobacco tycoon, acquired the ailing General Bank and Trust Co., renaming it Allied Bank.

Allied Bank, which has a pending application to be merged with and subsumed under the Philippine National Bank, another Lucio Tan bank, is scheduled to hold a stockholders’ meeting on May 20.

Tanenglian’s removal came amid his insistence, despite pleadings from his brothers, to pursue the criminal complaint he filed against the chief of Allied Bank security and his men.

Tanenglian filed a grave coercion complaint before the Makati Prosecutor’s Office against Allied Bank security chief Christopher Dobles and six security guards after Tanenglian’s car was blocked and he was prevented from entering the Allied Bank building on Feb. 9.

Dobles, who claimed he was just following management’s order, was even promoted to senior vice president after Tanenglian not only pursued the complaint but even had the case publicized in the local Chinese press.

Tan and Tanenglian both live in the sprawling family compound in Quezon City’s Biak-na-Bato St.

Despite their being neighbors, Tanenglian, apparently hurting from the Allied Bank incident, never bothered, according to the grapevine, to visit his 74-year-old brother after the latter had to stay at home for several days in early April after he slipped and fell while getting off a helicopter.

Manila Standard

PNB, Eton boards drop Lucio Tan’s brother

By Victor C. Agustin

THE feud between taipan Lucio Tan and his younger brother Mariano Tanenglian appears to have widened, with both the Philippine National Bank and Eton Properties Philippines disclosing yesterday that Tanenglian had been stricken off from the list of board nominees.

According to a Lucio Tan Group official, Tanenglian will also be dropped from the board of the other publicly listed companies of the taipan, like Philippine Airlines, Tanduay Holdings and MacroAsia.

Rumors of the falling-out between Tan, 74, and Tanenglian, 69, have been swirling in the Chinese community since February, after Tanenglian, an Allied Bank director and treasurer, sued the Allied Bank security chief and his men for grave coercion after Tanenglian’s car was stopped and the guards prevented him from entering the Allied Bank building in Makati.

The stopping of Tanenglian was an “unfortunate misunderstanding,” said Harry Tan, another Tan brother who is trying to patch up relations between his two elders.

He said Allied Bank, which was undergoing an internal audit at that time, was simply carrying out a Bangko Sentral directive on DOSRI (directors, officers, shareholders and related interests) loan examinations.

The feud has largely been kept out of the mainstream media, but the first public confirmation that the amicable settlement was going nowhere was when Allied Bank was forced to make a disclosure on Wednesday, because of the looming deadline, that it was withdrawing Tanenglian from the board nomination in the May 20 stockholders’ meeting.

Tanenglian, who was installed director and treasurer in 1977, when Tan acquired what was then known as General Bank and Trust Co., is being replaced in the Allied Bank board by its president, Reynaldo Maclang.

Tanenglian was apparently caught unaware of his being dropped from the Allied Bank board.

When asked for comment Thursday, Tanenglian’s counsel Ray Quiroz said, “He [Tanenglian] said he was not aware of any scheduled stockholders’ meeting.’’

In addition to the publicly listed companies, Tanenglian is also the treasurer of more than two dozen Lucio Tan companies including Asia Brewery, Foremost Farms and Fortune Tobacco.

Manila Standard

Tan’s brother dropped from Tanduay board

By Doris Dumlao

Philippine Daily Inquirer

First Posted 12:07:00 04/29/2009

Filed Under: Company Information, Board of Directors (Appointments and Changes)

MANILA, Philippines—Tycoon Lucio Tan's brother Mariano Tanenglian will be dropped from the board of a third publicly listed company, rum-maker Tanduay Holdings Inc.

Tanenglian's nomination to the 11-member Tanduay board was withdrawn by the company's nomination and compensation committee in a meeting on Tuesday, based on the company's disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Domingo Chua was nominated to take Tanenglian's place as a director in the country's dominant rum producer.

Aside from being in the board, Tanenglian sits as vice chair and treasurer in the company. He is also widely expected to be replaced in these posts after the new board is elected during this year's annual stockholders meeting of Tanduay.

The board of Tanduay, which is chaired by Lucio Tan, has the following other incumbent directors: Wilson Young (president); Lucio Tan, Jr.; Michael Tan; Enrique Chua; Andres Co; Peter Ong (independent director); Carlos Alindada (independent director); Harry Tan; and Teddy Ong.

It was reported last week that Tanenglian's nomination to two other publicly listed companies under the Lucio Tan group--Allied Bank and Eton Properties-- was likewise withdrawn amid talks of a falling out between the brothers.

Manila Standard

Will Kapitan buy his brother out?

Now that the falling-out between taipan Lucio Tan and his sibling Mariano Tanenglian has become public, especially following the latter’s removal from the board of key companies under the Lucio Tan group, industry sources said the likely direction down the road would be for the tycoon to buy out the latter’s shares in his companies.

But the talk of the town is that Tanenglian wants a steep price for the shares under his name—which was why he was initially the prime suspect when that mysterious newspaper ad appeared announcing the sale of shares in companies under the Lucio Tan group.

But while Kapitan has the cash to buy out (or buy back), the question is, will he do so? Doris C. Dumlao

GMA News

Lucio Tan's Brother to Testify Against Him

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoYfoiT1unA

Manila Standard

Lucio Tan’s nightmare

05/20/2009

LUCIO TAN, irascible lately because of brother Mariano Tanenglian, had finally consented to an urgent medical procedure last week.

According to the grapevine, the taipan underwent a minor surgery at the St. Luke’s Medical Center to repair a torn ligament caused by a recent slip, caused when he tripped while alighting from a helicopter.

With the 74-year-old billionaire knocked off for a few hours while under the knife, thoughts about the future of his empire and orderly succession, according to the grapevine, were foremost in the minds of his key lieutenants and his extended family.

The future of the taipan’s airline, banking, beer, cigarette and real estate empire has become especially muddier when Tanenglian, instead of a get-well card, sent public notification by way of the PCGG that he was seriously considering turning state witness, effectively joining the Marcoses, against his elder brother.

(Tanenglian, 69, had earlier been heard telling Binondo friends and colleagues that Lucio is not his blood brother. And that is the printable part.)

Tanenglian’s counsel Raymundo Quiroz declined to give any reason, assuming that he knew, what exactly his principal’s beef and objective were in this increasingly public feud.

“Mutual destruction,” countered someone within the Lucio Tan camp.

Tan, according to the grapevine, made no secret his dislike of Tanenglian’s wife, which added corrosive and combustible effects in the light of the findings of an internal audit that an estimated P60-billion loss in trading, fuel hedging, and metals hoarding led directly to Tanenglian’s treasury operations.

Incidentally, Allied Bank is holding its stockholders’ meeting tomorrow morning, and the Lucio Tan camp awaits with bated breath if Tanenglian, the bank treasurer for 32 years until March, would show up and insist on attending the annual exercise.

Highly unlikely, according to Quiroz, adding that his principal did not want to create a spectacle or a repeat of the February incident where Tanenglian’s car was stopped and prevented from entering even the Allied Bank driveway.

Then again, Quiroz was not so sure next week, when the more publicly traded Philippine National Bank, Tanduay Holdings and Eton Properties hold their respective annual meetings at the Century Park Hotel.

ABS CBN News

05/29/2009

The lawyer for former First Lady Imelda Marcos has accused government lawyers of colluding with lawyers of business tycoon Lucio Tan to dump the government’s P51 billion lawsuit against his assets.

In an ambush interview at the Sandiganbayan, lawyer Robert Sison urged Congress to start an investigation into "irregularities" in the handling of Civil Case No. 0005 by lawyers from the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and officials of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).

“This is a good opportunity to start a congressional inquiry to determine possible collusion between Lucio Tan and some influential people in government,” he said.

Sison appeared before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division last Wednesday to plead for the grant of a 10-day travel permit to Mrs. Marcos for her scheduled eye surgery in Singapore.

He expressed puzzlement on the decision of the OSG and the PCGG to remove erswhile government lead counsel Catalino Generillo from CC# 0005 when the latter has been doing a good job.

Generillo earlier succeeded in putting Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos on the witness stand and reportedly secured a commitment from Mrs. Marcos to testify next to corroborate her son’s statements.

In his testimony, Bongbong said his father made a diagram showing the extent of their family’s holdings in a number of Tan’s companies including Fortune Tobacco Corp., Asia Brewery, Allied Banking Corp., Foremost Farms, Himmel Industries, Grandspan Development Corp., Silangan Holdings, Dominium Realty and Construction Corp. and Shareholdings Inc.

Mrs. Marcos had earlier made a claim that her late husband owned some 60 percent of Tan’s assets in the said companies.

Sison explained that the Marcos family has been cooperating with Generillo to prove that Tan was simply holding Marcos interests in trust.

“The PCGG will try to prove that the Marcos stake in Tan’s companies was ill-gotten while we will try to convince the court that it was legitimately acquired. That is where we part ways,” he explained.

“I can’t understand why this case seems to have become OSG, Lucio Tan and PCGG vs. Imelda Marcos. Also, why is it that Atty. Generillo who was working earnestly removed at the request of (Lucio Tan’s lawyer) Atty. Mendoza?” he added.

Sison was referring to a November 17, 2008 letter of Mendoza addressed to PCGG Commissioner Narciso Nario questioning the appearance of Generillo as lead counsel in Tan’s case.

Mendoza invoked the Supreme Court pronouncement in the case of Gonzales vs. Chaves that "the Republic and all its instrumentalities, particularly the PCGG, must be represented in all actions by the OSG."

On December 3, 2008, the OSG declared it is taking over the prosecution of all PCGG cases and urged the commission to fire its lawyers.

Last May 21, PCGG Commissioner Ricardo Abcede announced in a press conference that Generillo’s appointment will no longer be renewed.

Five days later, Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera filed a manifestation before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division saying that Generillo’s deputation as government counsel ended on November 20, 2008 and was not renewed. The OSG likewise served notice that Generillo has no authorization to speak to the media about the details of the case.

The PCGG's and OSG's moves came after Generillo questioned the statement of the government that is is preparing to make a formal offer of exhibits in the case.

He said several issues remain unresolved like his motion to disqualify Mendoza for conflict of interest as a former Solicitor General and the appeal for the admission of the testimony of former Genbank executive Joselito Yujuico.

Generillo also stressed that Tan’s younger brother, Mariano Tanenglian, is serious about testifying for the government case but a formal offer of evidence by the government would effectively bar his testimony.

Sison agreed with Generillo.

“I cannot understand why the court did not rule on the motion for disqualification against Mendoza and why it required the PCGG to file a formal offer of exhibits despite the pendency of the motion for reconsideration on the resolution on the motion to expunge the Yujuico testimony. Hanggang hindi nare-resolve yung mga issue na yun, there should be a suspension of the formal offer,” Sison said.

“If Mariano (Tanenglian) musters enough strength to testify in court, we will turn the tables on them (Tan). If you hear what he has to say, Mrs. Marcos need not even testify anymore. Tanenglian has first-hand knowledge of all transactions between Pres. Marcos and Tan,” he said.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Lucio Tan objects to prolonging graft trial

By Edson C. Tandoc Jr.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Posted date: May 29, 2009

MANILA, Philippines—Lawyers of business tycoon Lucio Tan objected, on Thursday, to the government motion asking the Sandiganbayan for more time to present witnesses in its case to go after his alleged ill-gotten assets.

In a motion filed with the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division, Tan said that since the Supreme Court remanded the case to the Sandiganbayan in 1999, the prosecution had 64 hearing dates to present evidence.

Tan said the prosecution "has had more opportunity than deserved to substantiate the complaint. If plaintiff has not done so until now, it only had itself to blame."

He also said that the prosecution never exerted any effort to ensure the appearance of its witnesses, thereby delaying trial. This "not just prejudices the defendants but, more importantly, amounts to a manifest disrespect of the Honorable Court."

The prosecution had asked the court that it be allowed more time to present at least seven witnesses, including Tan's own brother Mariano Tanenglian.

The government seeks to prove that Tan's assets form part of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses so it could seize them in favor of the state.