MANILA, Philippines - Senator Serge Osmeña said the new Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) board did not pressure its lawyer Benjamin Pinpin to execute an affidavit against the former board in connection with the allegedly anomalous P660 million loan given to a businessman Roberto Ongpin's company.

Osmeña, chairman of the Senate Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies Committee, made the statement almost a month after a December 6 closed-door meeting between senators and the late lawyer's family and friends.

"No, there was no coercion… They (Pinpin family) allowed me to make the statement that, ‘yes, please tell the public that the new DBP Board is absolutely blameless'," Osmeña said.

Pinpin worked at DBP’s Office of the Legal Counsel. He committed suicide in August 2011, leaving a note revealing how upset he was at being investigated for the Ongpin loan.

There were allegations that the new DBP board, headed by Jose Nuñez, pressured Pinpin to write an affidavit implicating the old board and officers in the behest loans.

"The family related to us, for over 2 hours, what went on in the mind of Benjie, what bothered him. Wala siyang kasalanan,” Osmeña said.

The senator quoted Amalia Pinpin, the lawyer’s wife, as saying that Benjamin confessed to "feeling extreme pressure" regarding the loan to Ongpin's company Delta Venture Resources Inc (DVRI).

"He just felt that his friends would ostracize him, ‘yung mga kasamahan niya dun would ostracize him kasi they all promised to bunch together, but then he executed an affidavit to clear his name,” Osmeña said, quoting Amalia.

According to Amalia, her husband had been questioning the waivers granted by the old DBP board, led by former president Rey David, regarding the DVRI loan.

"He obviously felt that there was something wrong, because he was complaining to his wife Amy about the waivers. You know, there were 10 waivers, he was bothered because Benjie felt that he covered up when he did not object to so many waivers because that was not standard whenever they grant loans. At the same time, he said that if he told members of the board that, hindi naman nila siya pinapansin…His wife felt he was helpless about the entire thing," the senator said.