All shares delivered by Manila brokers
I REFER to an article that appeared in the business section of the South China Morning Post on April 19 concerning the alleged suspension of our Philippine operation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Manila.
In response to this article we would state the following: (1) While the order to suspend the 13 brokers was issued on April 15 by the SEC, it was never implemented. It was business as usual for Peregrine and the 12 other brokers on April 18. The Philippine Stock Exchange allowed them to trade.
(2) The SEC's move was a result of alleged deliveries and/or non-delivery of stock certificates to the transfer offices, which resulted in delays in the delivery of transaction documents to issuer companies.
At an SEC hearing in Manila on April 18, it was clearly established that all the brokers in question had in fact completed the deliveries as early as February as required.
It was established that it was the Makati exchange's clearing house that failed to on-deliver the documents to the transfer offices as it is required to do.
(3) For its part, Peregrine was first notified by the clearing house, RCBC, of certain defective/non-deliveries only on February 7. These mostly covered transactions entered into during the December 1993 period of high market turnover.
Peregrine immediately settled and corrected any defects on the same day. As such, the clearing house, through its letter on February 28, confirmed that Peregrine had cleared up any deficiencies and/or defective deliveries.
(4) The SEC was informed of these facts on April 15 and thereafter issued an order on April 18 lifting the suspension order concerning Peregrine Philippines.
ALAN K. MERCER group legal counsel Peregrine Investments Holdings
