The officers and directors of HDI Admix Inc., HDI Stopovers Inc., and HDI Adventures Inc., will have to explain themselves before judicial authorities for their alleged violation of the Anti-Dummy Law (or Commonwealth Act No. 108). These firms breached the constitutional requirement for mass media to be 100-percent Filipino-owned.
A complaint for was filed last July 2019 against the officers and directors of these local mass media companies for being partly-owned by Singaporean entities. The law prohibits foreigners from intervening in the management or administration of any nationalized activity.
In the said Complaint, it was stated that, “The Respondents are responsible officers of the above mentioned Corporations engaged in the business of mass media despite knowing that they have partnered with foreign entities and/or foreign nationals”.
One of the companies, HDI Stopovers Inc., has an existing lease agreement with the MMDA to lease out advertising spaces on the MMDA waiting sheds all over Metro Manila.
If found culpable, the officers and directors of these companies may be punished with 5 to 15 years of imprisonment. Furthermore, the companies’ franchises and authority to operate may also be withdrawn and dissolved by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This is return, will affect their on-going contracts and transactions with the respondent’s unsuspecting clients and partners.
The respondents in the Complaint are also facing charges of Qualified Theft before Quezon City courts.