The first letter of Lopez asking Marcos to save MERALCO from bankruptcy
Napabalita sa mga pahayagan kamakailan ang apo ni Primitivo Mijares at Raissa Robles na naglabas ng mga yugto-yugtong libro para siraing muli ang imahe ni dating Pangulong Ferdinand E. Marcos (FEM) na inagaw daw ang MERALCO at tinakot ang mga Lopez. Ang mga ito ay matagal nang pinabulaanan ni Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE) noong 2002 at sinabing ang mga Lopez ang sumulat ng tatlong beses at nagmakaawang isalba ng gobyerno ni Marcos ang MERALCO kung hindi ay mababangkarote ang kompanya.
Isang dahilan marahil ay ang pagpapatayo ni dating Pres. Marcos ng mga planta ng kuryente sa buong bansa at pagtuklas sa mga geothermal natural gas sa Visayas kaya halos kalahati ng mga produksyon ay galing sa gobyerno at malaking kompetensiya sa MERALCO.
Ang mga dokumentong ito ay nagpapatunay na hindi inagaw ni Marcos ang MERALCO kundi ibinenta ito ni Lopez sa gobyerno. Ito ay una sa tatlong sulat ni Eugenio Lopez, Sr. kay Marcos.
The First Letter of Eugenio Lopez, Sr. to Marcos
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Eugenio Lopez
February 19, 1973
His Excellency
President Ferdinand E. Marcos
Malacanang, Manila
My dear Mr. President:
I take this liberty to write this letter on behalf of my brother, Nanding, and myself, including our respective families, on a matter related to your new program of the government.
First, let me say that we share your deep concern for the future of our Republic and agree wholeheartedly with your program to correct the inequities in our society and to give our people a better chance to enjoy a higher standard of living and decent life. We applaud your efforts in this direction and believe that you will succeed in enlisting the full cooperation of your people in accomplishing these objectives.
Nanding and I are also in accord with your concept of democratization of property in the Philippines and believe that ownership of industries vital to the economy should be dispersed as widely as possible. This has been our belief since way back, and, as you know when we organized the Filipino group to purchase Meralco from its former American owners in 1962, we sought to widen the ownership base by trying to bring into the company as many outside stockholders as possible.
In 1964, Meralco Securities Corporation offered its shares to the employees and customers of Meralco. Subsequently, we again offered to our employees the shares of Meralco Securities Corporation. This is why over the years our holding in Meralco Securities Corporation has been reduced to 33%, with the majority of the stock (67%) now in the hands of over 12,000 stockholders.
In the light of Meralco’s spectacular growth during the last ten years, we would have preferred to have this process of stock dispersal accomplished much faster. As early as April/May 1971, we requested Bancom Development Corporation, CCP Securities Corporation and the Private Development Corporation of the Philippines to make a study and propose a plan for our contemplated public offering of Meralco common stock. A survey offerings to…