Ex-DoE chief’s arraignment rescheduled

The Sandiganbayan Third Division has rescheduled the arraignment of former Department of Energy Secretary (DoE) Alfonso Cusi and several other energy executives to 26 June in connection with a graft case involving the Malampaya gas project.

To recall, Cusi and his co-accused face allegations of unlawfully approving the 2019 sale of Chevron Philippines’ 45 percent stake in the Malampaya gas project to Udenna Corp.

Udenna Corp. was founded and is owned by Davao businessman Dennis Uy, who used heavy leverage to finance the accumulation of assets across petroleum, telecoms, logistics, retail, real estate and gaming.

The group’s shipping and logistics arm Chelsea Logistics went public via a 2017 initial public offer (IPO), and the group separately secured a reported $220 million China-linked loan tied to a bigger ambition involving 2GO — part of a debt-and-equity-fueled venture that ran from 2016 to 2019.

A debt-fueled growth was sound under pre-pandemic conditions in which Uy’s model assumed scale would outrun debt service.

The model ran into problems after an interest-rate and liquidity shock hit as Covid crushed fuel volumes and travel, then global rates spiked in 2022-2023.

Flagship Udenna’s liabilities stood at more than P254 billion against total assets of P310.34 billion at the end of 2020, with full-year losses more than doubling to P8.6 billion amid the pandemic downturn.

Udenna Corp. received a foreclosure notice from a BDO-led bank consortium on its $6-billion Clark Global City project after a notice of default was issued 22 July 2022, against subsidiary Clark Global City Corp.

If formalized, it threatened to trigger a series of cross-defaults across the group’s other liabilities, potentially the largest default in Philippine corporate history.

Uy disputed the finding, and later maintained Udenna had never missed a principal or interest payment to the BDO syndicate, saying the actual payment issue was with Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) and had been settled before the 27 July deadline.

By mid-2022, a DITO CME affiliate had also received a default notice from a bank consortium (which Udenna said it later settled), and the telco’s liabilities exceeded its assets by P126.4 billion as of end-March 2022.

Meantime, its fuel unit Phoenix Petroleum, originally the profit engine of Uy’s empire, faced its own liquidity squeeze, with reports in 2023 of halted fuel imports amid “money problems,” delayed financial filings, and ongoing debt talks.

More recently, Phoenix Petroleum, carrying roughly P40 billion in debt, entered a restructuring arrangement with four major banks with sister company Chelsea Logistics signing a deed of undertaking in their favor as part of an intercreditor agreement coordinating the lenders’ rights.

Uy cleared a debt-restructuring hurdle with China Banking Corp. by selling and re-leasing the 12.5-hectare Mactan, Cebu beachfront property for the ongoing Emerald Bay casino project, settling a P3.1-billion bridge loan from 2018 while retaining an option to repurchase the land.

This came as the group also sought a new strategic investor, with talks ongoing with a prospective partner called AppleOne for a possible majority equity stake; PH Resorts posted losses of P4.213 billion in 2023.

Losses continue to mount, with DITO posting P10 billion in losses in a single first quarter, PH Resorts’ 2023 losses, and Phoenix Petroleum’s inability to pay dividends — suggest debt levels may not have eased much without matching revenue growth or asset sales.

Uy has also been shedding non-core businesses — he sold Conti’s Bakeshop & Restaurant and Wendy’s Philippines via Eight8Ate Holdings to entrepreneur Crystal Jacinto in September 2024, part of a broader pattern of trimming the conglomerate to service debt.

According to the original complaint filed by the Office of the Ombudsman on 28 August 2025, the transaction caused at least P1 million in damages to the government.

The postponement of the arraignment follows a motion for a bill of particulars filed by the legal team of accused executive Rowena Joyce delos Santos. The defense argued that the alleged financial injury cited in the complaint lacked detail, using the formal legal request to seek clarification on the broad allegations.

Citing Article III, Section 14 of the 1987 Constitution, the anti-graft court ordered the prosecution to submit a response to the defense motion within five days.

Following the ruling, Presiding Justice Karl Miranda urged the defendants and their attorneys to avoid further delays in the arraignment process.

While Miranda acknowledged that the numerous motions filed by the defense were intended to serve the best interests of their clients, he stressed that such legal remedies should not hinder the administration of justice.