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cgob.jpg (2553 bytes) TESTIMONY OF MS. CLARISSA G. OCAMPO ON
22 DECEMBER  2000 AND 02 JANUARY 2001
BEFORE THE PHILIPPINE SENATE
(SITTING AS THE IMPEACHMENT COURT)
 

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MS. OCAMPO: I pulled it out. And then I had the President sign it. Because after I had all the trust documents signed, I saw one envelope that... Then I remember that there was something that I had to have executed for the bank. So I opened it, pulled out the document and had the President sign and I saw the name "Jose Velarde".

SEN. OSMENA (J): Okay. Then document "YYY", did you prepare this document? It is signed by you.

MS. OCAMPO: Yes, Your Honor.

SEN. OSMENA (J): But this document does not bear any signature of the owner of the account, whoever he may be?

MS. OCAMPO: Some of the pages.

SEN. OSMENA (J): No, no. "YYY" alone.

MS. OCAMPO: This is just the introduction. It actually discusses what kind of document is to be signed.

SEN. OSMENA (J): I just want to know specifically that this document was signed by you.

MS. OCAMPO: Yes, Your Honor.

SEN. OSMENA (J): This is a form document or a ... No, this is not a form document. Is this a form document?

MS. OCAMPO: Yes, it is for that period. We change this from time to time depending on the market conditions.

SEN. OSMENA (J): And the numbers C-163 and P/8 No. 10178056-1 was typewritten by you?

MS. OCAMPO: This was computer-generated.

SEN. OSMENA (J): It was computer-generated under your responsibility?

MS. OCAMPO: Yes, Your Honor.

SEN. OSMENA (J): Thank you very much, Mr. Chief Justice.

THE PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Your Honor.

We recognize the Honorable Senator Loren Legarda-Leviste.

SEN. LEVISTE: Thank you, Mr. Chief Justice. I just would like to propound a few questions to the witness.

Can you please tell us, Madam Witness, who instructed you to go to Malacanang?

MS. OCAMPO: Atty. Fernando Chua instructed me and Atty. Curato to go to Malacanang.

SEN. LEVISTE: Atty. Curato, according to your testimony, is an officer of the bank?

MS. OCAMPO: He is the head of our Legal Department.

SEN. LEVISTE: Of Equitable PCI Bank?

MS. OCAMPO: Yes, Your Honor.

SEN. LEVISTE: And Atty. Fernando Chua is not in any way connected with Equitable PCI but is connected with the President, is that correct?

MS. OCAMPO: He is the representative. He was the representative of the President apparently because he is the contact person.

SEN. LEVISTE: And did you receive your direct instructions to go to Malacanang from Atty. Curato or from Atty. Fernando Chua?

MS. OCAMPO: Your Honor, Atty. Fernando Chua.

SEN. LEVISTE: He called you and requested you to go to Malacanang?

 

MS. OCAMPO: Yes, Your Honor.

SEN. LEVISTE: Who requested you to prepare these documents and to bring them to Malacanang on February 4?

MS. OCAMPO: This was actually...the transaction, Your Honor, was discussed. And on the basis of the kind of transaction, then we decided, Atty. Curato and I, that this is the kind of documentation that we will do for the transaction. So, we prepared the documents.

SEN. LEVISTE: Did you have any idea that you were to meet the President?

MS. OCAMPO: I was going to Malacanang, I didn't have that...Well, of course, I was going to sign the documents. I only found out an hour before the signing.

SEN. LEVISTE: Were these documents prepared before you went to Malacanang? Meaning, were they typewritten before you went to Malacanang?

MS. OCAMPO: Some of the form documents were already ready. We just generated the numbers and directed... the letter of instruction to invest in Wellex was prepared. It is not a pro forma. And the all others are form documents.

SEN. LEVISTE: So, let us just focus first on the Investment Management Agreement or Exhibit "UUU". The numbers P500,000,000 were already typewritten on the agreement, on the first page before you went to Malacanang, is that correct?

MS. OCAMPO: This one was already typewritten.

SEN. LEVISTE: How about your name and Manuel Curato's name, were these already typewritten?

MS. OCAMPO: Only my name, Your Honor, was typewritten.

SEN. LEVISTE: Mr. Curato's name was typewritten, I assume, after the signature was made?

MS. OCAMPO: Yes, Your Honor.

SEN. LEVISTE: Was the name "Jose Velarde" typewritten already on the Investment Management Agreement before you went to Malacanang?

MS. OCAMPO: No, Your Honor. We typed it after.

SEN. LEVISTE: So, in the space provided for under the "Principal", "By:" and there is a name "Jose Velarde" typewritten with the signature "Jose Velarde", was this blank when you left the bank and when you inserted it in the envelope and this is the same document which you brought out in Malacanang for the President to sign?

MS. OCAMPO: Yes, Your Honor. It was blank.

SEN. LEVISTE: So, in the Investment Management Agreement, only the P500,000,000 typewritten words and numbers and your typewritten name was there?

MS. OCAMPO: Yes, Your Honor.

SEN. LEVISTE: "Manuel Curato" and "Jose Velarde" were not there?

MS. OCAMPO: Not yet.

SEN. LEVISTE: When were these typed?

MS. OCAMPO: After they were signed already by the President under the name "Jose Velarde" and Atty. Curato had witnessed, then we went back to the bank and I had it typed.

SEN. LEVISTE: So, the signatures of Jose Velarde and Manuel Curato came first before the typewritten names under their signatures?

MS. OCAMPO: Yes, Your Honor.

SEN. LEVISTE: You had no idea that you would meet "Jose Velarde" or that a person would sign the name "Jose Velarde" in this Investment Management Agreement?

MS. OCAMPO: No, Your Honor.

SEN. LEVISTE: How about the signature cards under Exhibit "VVV-1", was this prepared before you went to Malacanang?

MS. OCAMPO: Only the account name which is C-163 and the Trust Accout No. 10178056-1 were typed.

SEN. LEVISTE: Did you have an idea upon-before you left the bank upon going to Malacanang who would sign or open this account?

MS. OCAMPO: No, I didn't have an idea.

SEN. LEVISTE: Can you just explain to us what C-163 means?

MS. OCAMPO: This is the name that we assigned to the trust account because it is highly confidential. So in Trust, we have a register of confidential account numbers. So when we prepare our transaction "media" then we use the name. Since it is a very confidential account so I will not say Jose Velarde in my action sheet, which is the transaction "media". I would say, C-163.

SEN. LEVISTE: Yes. And in the other exhibits "WWW," this was, I assumed, prepared again before you left the bank, this was signed by Jose Velarde. However, there are other documents where the signature of Jose Velarde cannot be located. Can you kindly explain once again, why Jose Velarde did not sign in the "Conforme" in the other exhibits, while in the other exhibits Jose Velarde had signed in the blank beside the "Conforme"?

MS. OCAMPO: As I have mentioned earlier, Your Honor, I was informed by Atty. Fernando Chua that the principal, the President, does not want to sign too many documents and too many pages. So I decided to actually pull out a lot of the documents, like for the Investment Management Agreement there were six, so I just decided to just have him sign three and down the line. But for this document which has eighty pages, so I just felt that he may not want to sign all the pages and so I just identified what would be relevant to his transaction. So I asked him, like for the... the first page that he signed was Direct Credit Extensions...

THE PRESIDING OFFICER: Would you indicate the exhibit number, Madam Witness?

MS. OCAMPO: Exhibit "YYY-6", Your Honor. I had him sign this because he would-there would be funds coming in from interest payments by Wellex, so this amount will then be invested. So I assumed that he would like to invest these funds in loans. So I had the President sign this particular page. I assumed, like for the next page which is marked "YYY-8", for conservatism, I assumed that he would not want to invest in equities, so I did not have him sign the list of stockbrokers. So I decided which particular pages are relevant or are important because of the investment outlets that he would like to get into for the interest payments that would come from the loan.

SEN. LEVISTE: Was it, therefore, your judgment or your decision that prevailed in making Jose Velarde sign the signature in the "Conforme" in these exhibits?

MS. OCAMPO: Yes, Your Honor.

SEN. LEVISTE: And for this, which have been furnished us, you-the-bank would have the original-signed copies by Jose Velarde?

MS. OCAMPO: These are the - we have already provided, Your Honor, the originals.

SEN. LEVISTE: Yes. You said that you were surprised to see the President sign the signature "Jose Velarde". What did you do after you saw the President signed "Jose Velarde"?

MS. OCAMPO: Actually, I ... what can I do? I actually waited. He signed all the documents. But for my comfort, when I pulled out the debit/credit authority and it was consistent, it was also Jose Velarde, so I just felt that it was consistent with the bank and the bank had already reviewed the transaction and this is an account that was referred to me for handling by the Chairman, so he can identify or he knows the principal, he knows the transaction.

SEN. LEVISTE: After you had made the President sign Jose Velarde, according to your account, did you discuss this with the Legal Officer-in-Charge, Atty. Manuel Curato, and the representative of the President, Atty. Fernando Chua?

MS. OCAMPO: Atty. Curato was there and we just looked at the debit/credit authority, it was consistent; and he agreed to proceed with the transaction. We did not discuss it with Atty. Chua. It was between Atty. Curato and myself. What was important was that on the bank side, it's not like it was the first time that the President had opened an account with the bank and the thrust was to decide whether we were going to accept it. There was already that existing account with the bank and then the name that was used is consistent.

SEN. LEVISTE: You had mentioned in your testimony that Mr. Laquian, the former chief of staff of the President, was also present during that time.

MS. OCAMPO: Yes, Your Honor.

SEN. LEVISTE: Were there any comments that transpired between you and Mr. Laquian after you were surprised to see the President signed "Mr. Jose Velarde"?

MS. OCAMPO: No, we did not talk. He was just seated on the right side of the President. And he was just there.

SEN. LEVISTE: The signing time, it took all of how many minutes?

MS. OCAMPO: Just very briefly, 10 minutes. Because there were too many-like I pulled out a lot of the documents.

SEN. LEVISTE: And when these 10 minutes transpired, was there any conversation among Mr. Laquian, yourself, Atty. Chua and Atty.Curato?

MS. OCAMPO: We were just very quiet because we took the cue from the President. He was actually very quiet. I was explaining to him the nature of the documents before he would sign and he did not comment. So, we just proceeded with the signing.

SEN. LEVISTE: Did the President ask you any questions?

MS. OCAMPO: No, Your Honor.

SEN. LEVISTE: Upon having left Malacanang, you mentioned that you discussed things with Atty.Curato?

MS. OCAMPO: Yes.

SEN. LEVISTE: May we know what was the first question, if you had indeed have some apprehensions about this?

MS. OCAMPO: Well, I asked him: "This is Jose Velarde, can we proceed?" And then he agreed. Because, as I mentioned, it is already the account in the bank.

SEN. LEVISTE: Yes. And that is all that transpired on this account between you and Atty. Curato?

MS. OCAMPO: To my recollection, yes.






         

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