Scandals spread everywhere are not old news anymore, especially when it comes to famous people. Here and there, one would hear about rumors pertaining to a celebrity, whether or not these rumors are proven. Most of the time, people would just speak about a certain rumor without even double-checking if they got their facts straight. These mistakes are usually because they do not take the time to hear every side of the story.
Joseph Calata, owner of Calata Corporation, is dealing with a price manipulation scandal that was accused against his 10-year-old company. Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone made the appeal about the said accusation, which the Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) answered immediately.
The trades hiked from P7.50 to P24, giving the company a market cap of P4.32B. Nevertheless, at some point of the trading, the company fell to P5.65, almost 26 percent, and declined as low as 32 percent earlier in the session, which led to the accusation of a stock manipulation. There were also assumptions that some of the stocks might have been sold to dummy accounts.On the other hand, Joseph Calata strongly asserted that it was not Calata Corporation that was under investigation but the shares and the shareholders.
"Ang naging problema, parang ang notion ng mga tao si Calata ang ini-investigate hindi. Dahil kung ini-investigate si Calata, dapat kinakausap na kami, nilalapitan na kami. The problem was, the people's notion was that it was Calata who was under investigation. And because if Calata was the one being investigated, they would've talked to us and approached us." Calata said in an interview with ANC.
Jose Fabella, Calata Corporation's Corporate Secretary confirmed the statement of Calata during their first annual stockholders' meeting for the company. Fabella said that they have not received a copy of the said probe at all proving that they corporation is indeed not under an investigation. In fact, Calata added that they were the ones who sent a letter to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to look into the reason behind the unusual price swings. However, these sorts of movements are already beyond the control of the corporation.
"We've always believed that the price of a listed company should be market driven. So when there is trading in the Philippine Stock Exchange, the company does not or will not interfere in the performance of the stock price." added Fabella during their stockholders' meeting.
That being said, it clearly proves that the corporation is just a victim of whatever that is happening within the trades of the company since the price trades are not in the hands of Calata Corporation, which is why the company itself is not under investigation but the shares and the shareholders are.
