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Friday, March 29, 2024

Bengzon to appeal Medical City case

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The camp of former health secretary Alfredo Bengzon plans to elevate the ownership dispute over The Medical City to the Court of Appeals.

It issued the statement after the Pasig Regional Trial Court denied the Bengzon group’s petition for injunctive relief against the group of Jose Gonzales and his Singaporean partners Viva Holdings Inc.

“We are disappointed by the denial of our petition to stop the Gonzales and Viva companies from together consolidating corporate control until the SEC has resolved the serious questions before it,” said Roderico Puno, the legal counsel of Bengzon.

“The Pasig court’s decision is erroneous in matters of fact and law and we are raising this matter to the Court of Appeals,” Bengzon said.

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Bengzon’s camp earlier asked the Pasig RTC to issue a preliminary injunction to prevent the Gonzales-Viva group from continuing their efforts to consolidate the control of TMC at the level of Professional Services Inc. and its subsidiaries.

TMC, operated by the PSI, has been under the leadership of Bengzon for a long period until the  election of Gonzales as the new chairman of the board.

The Gonzales group filed criminal complaints for violation of inspection rights and perjury against Bengzon before the Prosecutors Office of Makati City and Pasig City.

These complaints were dismissed for insufficiency of evidence.

Bengzon’s camp expressed optimism that the Securities and Exchange Commission would soon resolve the legal battle among TMC shareholders.

The SEC in November 2018 charged the corporations of Gonzales and Viva with violations of the country’s Securities Regulation Code, including those that aim to protect stockholders from “fraudulent, manipulative and deceptive act[s] or practice[s]” in connection with securities transactions. 

Lawyers of Bengzon said they were hopeful that in the end the SEC would penalize the alleged fraudulent acts of the Gonzales-Viva group and settle all questions regarding the rightful ownership of PSI shares.

Bengzon, a founding shareholder of TMC, was responsible for rescuing the institution from near bankruptcy in the 1970s and building it up into one of the biggest healthcare institutions in the Philippines. 

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