The Department of Justice extended the deadline for business tycoon and former trade minister Roberto Ongpin to answer the earlier charges filed against him by a former employee for serious illegal detention, grave coercion and robbery.
This was after he failed to attend yesterday’s preliminary investigation of the said cases.
Ongpin’s counsel said that he was not able to attend the hearing and submit a counter-affidavit because he was abroad.
If after this extension, Ongpin still fails to submit his counter-affidavit, the case will be declared submitted for resolution, according to the DOJ.
His former employee, Eduveges Batalan, filed the complaint against Ongpin and several others, claiming that he was abducted and held against his will, upon Ongpin’s orders. Batalan said he was brought to Balesin Island resort, which is owned by Ongpin, from February 4 to 7 this year.
Ongpin’s lawyer Rodolfo Ponferrada had earlier denied the charges, claiming that they were false, erroneous and “contrived accusations of a disgruntled employee.”
Ongpin is ranked 9th in the Forbes’ list of 40 Richest Filipinos in 2011 with a net worth of $1.B billion. He ranked 21st in the previous year with $300 million net worth. He was a former minister of trade and minister of industry during the administration of the late president Ferdinand Marcos.