GSIS fires back, files criminal raps vs Meralco parent
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/11/2008 6:25 PM
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In the continuing battle between the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the state pension fund fired another missile by filing a criminal complaint against First Philippine Holdings Corporation (FPHC), parent company of Meralco, on Thursday.
The GSIS said the case is merely a reply to the case filed by FPHC before the Ombudsman last Tuesday, where the company accused the state pension fund and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officials of connivance in attempting to stop Meralco's stockholders meeting last May.
GSIS lawyer Estrella Elamparo said the accusations presented by FPHC in its case are baseless. She said the company only wants to harass and irritate the GSIS.
Elamparo added that if the FPHC case pushes through, it would set a precedent for other people to harass public officials through similar cases.
Respondents in the case were FPHC chairman Oscar Lopez, Meralco chairman Manuel Lopez, ABS-CBN chairman and CEO Eugenio Lopez III and other members of FPHC's board of directors.
If found guilty, they face a jail term of one to six months.
For its part, the FPHC said the GSIS should at least wait for the Ombudsman's ruling on the case filed Wednesday.
Aside from the cases filed at the Ombudsman and Department of Justice, there are still two pending cases on the Meralco and GSIS squabble at the Supreme Court which all stemmed from the battle for control of the power distributor. Timi Nubla, ABS-CBN News
abs-cbnNEWS.com is the online news department of ABS-CBN Interactive Inc., a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. ABS-CBN and Meralco are both part of the Lopez Group of Companies.
