|
By Likha C. Cuevas-Miel, Reporter
The majority of the Philippine Racing Club Inc.
(PRCI) stockholders decided to push through with their annual
meeting on Wednesday despite the 72-hour temporary restraining order
(TRO) issued by the Makati Regional Trial Court.
The TRO was served to keep the company’s
directors from discussing and ratifying portions of the agenda with
the shareholders.
Solomon Cua, PRCI president and chief executive,
citing the opinion of lawyer Benjamin Santos, a stockholder, told
reporters after the meeting that the TRO was allegedly
“defective” since it was a derivative of a case still pending at
the Supreme Court.
The TRO was filed on behalf of the company by
minority shareholders Jalane Christie U. Tan, Marilou U. Pua,
Aristeo G. Puyat and Ricardo S. Parreño against directors Santiago
Cua Sr., Solomon Cua, Renato de Villa, Tham Ka Hon, Lim Teong Leong,
Lawrence Lim Swee Lin, Exequiel D. Robles, Datuk Surin Upatkoon and
PRC and/or JTH Davies Holdings, Inc.
Cua said that “to make the case look
different” from the one pending with the higher court, the
plaintiffs allegedly added defendants but basically the composition
was still the same as with the earlier case. With this, the majority
shareholders decided to proceed with the meeting for the approval of
the Sta. Ana racetrack swap for ownership in JTH Davies Holdings,
Inc. This allowed JTH to be folded under PRC and undertake the
development of the 21-hectare race track into a mixed-use
development.
Meanwhile, lawyer and PRCI director Brigido
Dulay said in a statement that the move by PRCI’s majority
shareholders and the board was a “wanton disregard for a lawful
order by an established judicial authority” which “reflects the
arrogance” of the Cua camp.
“For more than a year now, we, Filipino
shareholders of the Philippine Racing Club, have clamored for a
strong adherence on the part of the Cua board faction to
time-honored principles, leaving us with no recourse but to seek the
intervention of the courts. Consistently, the courts have supported
our position,” he added.
The group filed a suit against the Cua group in
the lower courts following allegations that the purchase of the
P25-million JTH Davies Holdings, Inc. by the firm and a subsequent
attempt to swap its shares with the ownership of the P12-billion
racetrack were not fully disclosed.
The court imposed a TRO against the faction,
preventing the swap. PRCI intends to move its racetrack out of
Makati to make way for the possible development of its 21-hectare
property. The company has been planning the transfer of PRCI’s
racing activity to its new 71-hectare racetrack in Cavite since
1996.
The Filipino minority shareholders who
collectively own 25 percent of the company represented by Dulay,
also questioned the “apparent surge” of Malaysian shareholdings
in the racing club and this was allegedly done through the back door
and there has been a “questionable surge” as shown by PRC’s
breach of foreign ownership cap reported by the Philippine Stock
Exchange last year.
The Malaysian interest in PRCI is represented by
the Kuala Lumpur-based Magnum Investment Holdings Berhad and its
chair, Datuk Surin Upatkoon, sits in the racing club board.
|
