CA affirms indictment of Calata Corp shareholders

The DoJ dismissed the complaint against the shareholders in the same year for insufficiency of evidence, and the shareholders moved for their case’s dismissal in the RTC.

The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the indictment of eight Calata Corp. shareholders who were found manipulating trading prices shortly after it listed as a public company, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said.

According to the SEC, the appellate court in a decision promulgated on 10 September granted its petition for certiorari to nullify the resolutions of the Department of Justice (DoJ) on the SEC’s complaint filed November 2012.

The SEC filed the complaint against Gary Lincoln Calixtro Taboso, Michael Ilustre Angeles, Carmelo de la Cruz Bunag, Arnold Ryan Daquis Dellosa, Richie Ramille Isip, Arnold Daquiz Martin, Dennis Philippe Valencia Vistan and Zandro Jose Sigfrido Laki Zulueta with the DoJ-Task Force on Securities and Business Scam.

In 2014, DoJ dismissed the complaint against the Calata shareholders and directed the withdrawal of the criminal case filed against them, even after the DoJ-Task Force found probable cause that the eight shareholders, except for Taboso, violated the Securities Regulation Code (SRC).

A criminal case was filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) against the stakeholders, except Taboso, although the SEC sought the resumption of proceedings against Taboso in 2017 with the DoJ-Task Force.

The DoJ dismissed the complaint against the shareholders in the same year for insufficiency of evidence, and the shareholders moved for their case’s dismissal in the RTC.

The SEC appealed for the reconsideration of DoJ’s resolution, but the motion was denied in 2018. The SEC then filed to the CA a petition for certiorari to nullify DoJ’s resolution, while the motion for reconsideration of the criminal case’s dismissal is pending at the RTC.