Poblador’s group has CA ruling on its side

This is in response to the letter of Erlinda I. Bildner, who styles herself as director/CFO of Philcomsat Holdings Corp. or PHC. (Inquirer, 11/14/11)

The fact that the group of Bildner “has no right or authority to represent PHC” is a declaration made by the Court of Appeals in its Resolution in CA-GR SP No. 102437, not a mere claim of mine. The court made this declaration even as it took into account the ruling of the Regional Trial Court of Makati City in Civil Case No. 04-1049, which was cited by Bildner. In fact, the Court of Appeals said the decision could not be a source of a right because it was not yet final.

Significantly, Bildner admitted that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) upheld the validity of the stockholders’ meeting conducted by our group in 2004. It is illogical to claim that the SEC’s decision was “restrained” by the Court of Appeals and rendered moot by the alleged Philcomsat meeting conducted by the Bildner group in November 2007. Since  the meetings of our board  were upheld in 2004, necessarily, it is only this duly elected board that can validly call any meeting of Philcomsat in the succeeding years.

Bildner does not have any authority to call any meeting of Philcomsat. Moreover, Philcomsat is a sequestered company, not a government-owned and -controlled corporation. The nominees of government still have to be duly installed in the board in a meeting called by our legitimate board.

The claim of Bildner that the appointment of new government nominees in 2007 automatically invalidated the meetings already upheld in 2004 is equally illogical. Again, it is only our board, whose election was upheld in 2004 by the SEC and the Court of Appeals — as admitted by Bildner — that can represent Philcomsat and call meetings of the corporation.

The legitimate board of Philcomsat, which I represent, is not disregarding any orders of the administration. If nominees are appointed to Philcomsat, then they should be installed in our legitimate board.

It is unfortunate that Bildner’s group has been able to mislead the public, third parties and even government agencies as to the authority of their “board.” Please note that our board continues to question the action of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) in allowing the Bildner group’s names to be reflected in the website of PHC. Moreover, the decision of the PSE in allowing this listing, as they have disclosed, is based on the erroneous implementation of the court decisions cited by Bildner, without due consideration of the facts of the case and the recent, above-mentioned circumstances. PSE cannot reverse the findings of the SEC and the Court of Appeals.

The group of Bildner, which includes Inquirer columnist Prudencio Somera, has consistently filed harassment lawsuits against the members of the legitimate board in many venues, and engaged them in a smear media campaign. If they are really confident of their alleged “legitimacy,” then resorting to such tactics would be unnecessary.

—CONCEPCION A. POBLADOR,
chair, Philcomsat Holdings Corp. (PHC);
vice president, POTC and Philcomsat