RUMOR-DRIVEN: It is not reassuring to have a rumor-driven administration running affairs of state and running after its political enemies.

The Dominican Republic denied yesterday that Rep. Gloria Arroyo sought political asylum in that Caribbean country, contrary to rumors spread by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima in her best effort to smear the ailing congresswoman most hated by her boss President Noynoy Aquino.

Some tweeters asked if De Lima will now apologize. She has no time for swallowing her pride as she is still busy frantically checking other countries where GMA may have sought asylum.

If only for his health, political and physical, somebody should remind Mr. Aquino that there is a limit to what unbounded hate and vengeance can do — and that karma is just waiting around the bend.

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FOCUS: Meanwhile, those dreaming of becoming multimillionaires in quick 1-2-3 fashion could pay attention to the trade secrets being exposed in the Senate inquiry into the bank loans of Forbes-lister Roberto Ongpin.

Watch and learn tomorrow from the third hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the P660-million loans that the Development Bank of the Philippineshad granted to the Ongpin-led Delta Ventures Resources Inc.

Do not be distracted by the expected victory today of congressman Manny Pacquiao over the Mexican pug Juan Manuel Marquez, the legal fireworks and the rumormongering on the travel plans of Gloria & Mike Arroyo, and the hunt for the killer(s) of Ramgen Revilla.

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STILL AROUND: Cronyism and its attendant behest loans were formalized into business norms during the Marcos dictatorship, when government financial institutions functioned like personal ATMs of the cronies.

Cronyism did not wane with Marcos’ death in exile. Behest loans appear to be still with us, inflicting more financial fraud costs than the usual bank robberies, syndicated estafa cases and big loans going sour.

After the 1986 Edsa Revolt that swept Cory Aquino to power, the behest-plagued loan portfolios of the GFIs, including the DBP and the Philippine National Bank, were restructured.

But some senators, notably Sen. Serge Osmena, are now asking if history is repeating itself.

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FORBES LIST: By the way, Roberto Ongpin has come out of nowhere to claim the 9th position in Forbes magazine’s list of the top 40 richest Filipinos for 2011, with a net worth of $1.3 billion.

Ongpin was, in fact, the highest topnotcher in percentage terms with his wealth having jumped more than fourfold, and with no big conglomerate to his name, quite unlike his contemporaries on the list.

With nothing but his stocks in listed Atok-Big Wedge mining, Ongpin bested the likes of Metrobank’s George Ty who came in as 10th richest Filipino in the Forbes 2011 ranking, and Tony Tan Caktiong, the founder, chairman and CEO of Jollibee who came in at 11th.

Ongpin’s nephew and right-hand man, Eric Ongpin Recto, was listed 25th richest Filipino on the same list with a net worth of $200 million.

We have no hint if Ongpin would make his long-awaited appearance tomorrow in the Senate investigation of his DBP loans.

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KEEP FOCUS: The senators should keep their eye on the ball and focus on the issue at hand.

The Senate, supposedly in aid of legislation, is looking into alleged anomalous large-scale financial transactions involving behest loans and sweetheart deals done under a cloak of confidentiality with state banks and financial institutions during the previous administration.

A Senate resolution filed by Sen. Panfilo Lacson cited alleged anomalies involving government banks and financial institutions that, he said, appear to be in breach of banking laws and anti-corruption laws.

One of the deals to be looked into is the acquisition in 2009 of a controlling interest by the government — through the DBP and the Land Bank of the Philippines — in the Metro Rail Transit Corp. that cost taxpayers $180 million or roughly P7.5 billion.

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GODFATHER?: Many senators are interested to know if there was anomaly in the loan transactions between DBP and Ongpin, if those were behest loans or sweetheart deals. Ongpin had said they were not.

The DBP is a development institution supposed to contribute to nation-building, not to the enrichment of lucky individuals through speculative trading in the stock market.

Taxpayers cannot understand why a development bank capitalized by them engages in property trading, buying and selling millions of shares in the stock market, and playing godfather in mega corporate takeovers.

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VALUED CLIENT: Aside from the Philex shares it sold to Ongpin’s Delta Ventures, which it bought partly using DBP’s loans, DBP had sold its shares in Petron and Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to other companies in which Ongpin also figured.

The DBP had invested and sold its shares in the three companies that were the subject of take-overs. Meralco was taken over by Manuel V. Pangilinan after he won a tug-of-war with Ramon Ang. San Miguel took over Petron through the Ashmore Group, which Ongpin also represented.

And then, there were the Philex shares that were eventually sold to the Pangilinan group, earning a handsome profit for Ongpin and allowing Pangilinan to take control of the mining company.

The Senate hearing has found that DBP had also lent money to Global 5000, another company of which Ongpin is part, to buy the Petron shares. It was also learned that the DBP handles the loan and equity businesses of Alphaland, a real-estate company Ongpin controls.

Ongpin must be a valued client of DBP.