BUSINESSMAN Roberto V. Ongpin on Thursday vowed to continue bringing new investments to the Philippines despite the high-profile investigation involving his alleged anomalous loans from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) during the previous administration.

In a statement, the former trade minister during the Marcos administration said he would continue to ask big overseas businesses to invest in the Philippines.

“I brought in so much investments into this country and I will keep doing it no matter how much they try to shoot me down,” said Ongpin, who runs listed firms Alphaland Corp., Philweb Corp. and Philippine Bank of Communications.

Ongpin is also part-owner of a company that controls a majority stake in the San Miguel Corp. conglomerate. He is also a local partner of the London-based fund management giant Ashmore group, which is estimated to have $2-billion investments in the country.

A case has been filed against Ongpin by former and current DBP officials with the Office of the Ombusman.

The new DBP board alleged that the P660-million loan extended to Ongpin by the previous board of the state-owned lender was highly questionable, describing it as “behest,” an allegation that Ongpin had denied.

Besides the DBP loan, Ongpin said he also borrowed over P3 billion from five other banks to buy shares of Philex Mining Corp. under his Delta Venture Resources Inc. in 2009, the statement said.

The loans were legal, secured and paid ahead of maturity, Ongpin was quoted as having said.

The businessman also pointed out that the DBP earned P4 million in interest income from two loan transactions on top of the P1.3 billion from trading Philex shares.

“The loans the DBP made to me were loans they wanted to give me and one of the most profitable loans they gave,” Ongpin said in an interview with the ANC, or ABS-CBN News Channel. “The loan was fully paid. It was never in default.”

“For them to focus on this loan is really beyond me. They started sometime in February this year, basically intimidating and coursing their executives into trying to pin me down. Don’t ask me why. Somebody up there doesn’t like me. I have no clue,” he told Pia Hontiveros in an interview on ANC’s Strictly Politics.

In his statement on Thursday, Ongpin lamented that the case filed against him and 27 others, was obviously meant to distract the public from the suicide of former DBP lawyer Benjamin Pinpin on August 2. The incident apparently prompted President Aquino to order the Department of Finance to look into the handling of the investigation by the new DBP board.

“It’s a very sad situation. It’s really sad because it’s a smokescreen to divert attention from the suicide of this man, who they coerced to write an affidavit…. It’s clearly a smokescreen,” Ongpin said in the statement.

Alex Poblador, Ongpin’s lawyer, earlier said his client was willing to face the investigation to clear his name and expressed confidence that the case filed with the Ombudsman will be dismissed for lack of merit.

In the Senate, senators are summoning former and current members of the board of the DBP to appear next week at an independent inquiry into the alleged P660-million DBP “behest loan” to Ongpin.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson made the disclosure as the Office of the Solicitor General, acting as government counsel, was reported to have recommended the filing charges against DBP officials linked to the Ongpin loan deal.

“There is a pending resolution here in the Senate. Starting next week we will conduct public hearings on behest loans,” Lacson told reporters as he acknowledged the existence of the pending case at the Ombudsman.

In the Senate blue-ribbon committee, Lacson said, “Eventually we will ask for the appearance of Mr. Ongpin, [former DBP president] Reynaldo David and others involved.”

Lacson hinted that DBP officials, who approved the “behest” loan to Ongpin could be recommended for indictment for failing to protect the interest of the DBP, a state-owned financial institution.

“They could be sued. They had a participation in the approval of the loan [to Ongpin]. There might be no due diligence… it might be disadvantageous to the DBP, which is a government financial institution,” he said partly in Filipino.

Lacson likened the DBP “behest loan” to the case of the anomalous purchase of used helicopters at brand-new prices by the Philippine National Police. “It was like the PNP procurement, there was no due diligence,” he said.