A decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission, now being used by Dr. Alfredo Bengzon to justify his return to The Medical City, has provoked a revolt among the leading doctors in the hospital, TMC management said in a statement Sunday.
A message now circulating on social media shows that under Dr. Bengzon’s management, TMC suffered from “a long-delayed, costly IT project that could not deliver on its commitments, a heavily, one-sided onerous contract in Clark, and an investment in Guam that suffered tremendous cost over-runs and could not be made profitable.”
In its August 13 decision, the SEC had nullified the shares given to investors who had infused millions of pesos to help The Medical City purchase new equipment and expandits network. Dr. Bengzon, who only has 0.1% of TMC shares, is using the SEC decision as a basis to take over the hospital and assume his previous post of CEO. The Board of The Medical City, however, issued a statement pointing out Dr. Bengzon’s lack of legal basis since ‘the SEC decision may not be enforceable.’
The Board also said that ‘the SEC has no jurisdiction to resolve the issues of validity of contracts and of the presence or absence of fraud in contracts, as these issues pertain to the originaland exclusive jurisdiction of the commercial courts.”
In their posts, doctors wrote that ‘it is not the time to risk losing the institution’s growth momentum.’ While they thanked Dr. Bengzon for his service, the doctors wrote that the ‘best interests of our hospital, our patients, and our country’ would be served by having the current management team stay in place.