Piki sues Lopez majority bloc for contempt of court
Federico “Piki” Lopez has asked a Mandaluyong court to cite several members of the Lopez majority bloc and their lawyers for indirect contempt over alleged violations of court orders tied to the family’s escalating corporate feud.
In an order dated April 16, the Regional Trial Court Branch 209 directed respondents Rafael Lopez, Martin Lopez, Michael Jack Garcia, Salvador Tirona, lawyer Enrique Quiason and lawyer Maria Amina Amado to comment on the petition within 30 days.
The contempt petition stemmed from a March 26 special board meeting of Lopez Holdings Corp., where Piki alleged that the respondents had violated an earlier temporary restraining order (TRO) and writ of preliminary injunction.
According to the filing, the respondents passed a resolution treating the official nominees of Lopez Inc. to First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) as merely one of several competing lists.
Piki alleged that another nominee list had supposedly come from a minority shareholder but was actually submitted by Maria Teresa Lopez, the mother of respondent Martin Lopez.
The petition argued that the move impaired his authority to exercise the voting rights of Lopez Inc. in Lopez Holdings as the duly elected president. Lopez Inc. owns 54.74 percent of Lopez Holdings.
Piki asked the court to impose fines or imprisonment on the respondents and order them to stop submitting Maria Teresa’s nominee list to FPH.
The filing also sought the nullification and withdrawal of any prior submission allegedly made in violation of the TRO and injunction.
In the petition, Piki claimed the feud began after a Feb. 27 special meeting of Lopez Inc.’s board, where Rafael had allegedly pushed to remove him as president.
The camp of Rafael and Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III cited concerns over governance issues linked to First Gen Corp.’s transactions with Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc., including claims involving “poison pill” provisions.
Piki argued in the petition that his removal threatened governance stability across key Lopez companies, including Lopez Holdings, FPH, First Gen and Energy Development Corp.
The petition further claimed the conflict reflected a broader struggle for control over the profitable branch of the Lopez Group following setbacks in the broadcast operations of ABS-CBN in recent years.
Piki had also earlier sought a Securities and Exchange Commission probe into certain ABS-CBN executives over alleged governance and disclosure-related issues linked to the wider dispute.
The court had earlier issued a TRO and later a writ of preliminary injunction barring the enforcement of resolutions removing Piki as president of Lopez Inc., while the intracorporate case remains pending.
