This feels like deja vu.
Markets fluctuating wildly due to rumors of another global recession, stock prices freefalling in unprecedented levels, wary investors holding on to paper losses while hoping everything will be all right — this looks like 2007-2008 all over again.
Did the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila unload more than 1 million shares of Philex Mining Corporation (PX) in April and May 2011 and sold them directly to Chairman and CEO Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP)?
Documents from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) seem to show that they did. A cursory look at the latest list of the Top 100 stockholders of Philex confirms that the Catholic Archbishop of Manila is not anymore a major stockholder of the company and that MVP has replaced the Church’s spot as the top 15th shareholder.
For most of us, it’s a given that the Catholic Church is rich. Obvious proof of that are their sprawling acres of land, large Church-owned structures and buildings, and millions of pesos of cash collected from mass goers every week.
What a lot of people do not know, though, is that part of the Church’s wealth is its multi-billion peso investments in several Philippine companies. In fact, reports submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) show that the Church and affiliate Catholic groups are top stockholders in companies such as the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Philex Mining Corporation (PX), San Miguel Corporation (SMC), Ayala Corporation (AC), and Phinma Corporation (PHN), among others.
Philippine Church invested in banks, mining, construction, etc.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila, for example, owns more than 300 million shares of BPI and is the bank’s 4th largest owner.
How much are these shares worth? As of May 2011, this is valued at more than P17 billion. Yes, that’s seventeen billion pesos, with a B.
