MANILA — An official of the Alliance Select Foods International (Alliance) expressed confidence that he would be cleared of charges after the Pasig Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) ordered him and several others arrested for violations of the Corporation Code of the Philippines.
Alliance president Jonathan Dee said he is determined to clear his name in all appropriate legal venues after two shareholder groups in the company filed two cases accusing him and others of refusal to open Alliance’s books for inspection.
“The records will clearly show that there was no violation of the Corporate Code, and that Alliance Food board voted to allow the complainants to exercise their rights on an inspection. Unfortunately, the process was delayed by the actions of the complainants themselves, which we will show in the coming days,” Dee said in a statement.
In a series of earlier decisions, the Department of Justice had already cleared Dee, Alliance board chairman George Sycip and other executives of the company including Marie Grace Vera Cruz, Antonio Pacis and Raymon K.H. See of the charges, with the decisions showing there had been no denial of the complainants’ right to inspect the company books.
“We are confident that the facts will bear out that there had been no violations at all, and this will hopefully lead to a speedy dismissal of the complaints,” said Dee.
Last July 11, Judge Emmanuel Pimentel of the Pasig MTC Branch 69 ordered the arrest of the five executives of the tuna canning firm.
The court found probable cause against Dee, Sycip, Cruz, Antonio Pacis and See for violation of Section 74 and 75 in relation to Section 144, of the Corporation Code over their continued refusal to allow some shareholders to examine the corporation’s books and other records.
The bail for the respondents’ provisional liberty has been fixed at PHP10,000 each accused per case. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
