Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment has denounced the forcible takeover of Okada Manila by a group of 50 private bodyguards and police officers led by bilyonaryo Tonyboy Cojuangco.
Tiger Resorts claimed that Cojuangco, together with Dindo Espeleta and abogado Florencio Herrera III, stormed the casino hotel to reinstate Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada, who was ousted from the company five years ago, on the pretext of a court order but without showing a copy of the said document.
Cojuangco’s hostile takeover came just a little over two weeks after the Supreme Court issued a status quo ante order (SQAO) reinstating Kazuo as chairman and CEO of Tiger Resort.
In a statement, Tiger Resorts said Cojuangco’ “forcibly” hauled its board members out of the casino-hotel on May 31, including Hajime Tokuda, chairman of Asiabest Group International, the publicly-listed subsidiary of Tiger Resorts.
Tiger Resorts said Okada only held one share of stock in the company before his ouster and the SQAO did not authorize the violent takeover of the casino hotel.
“The SQAO is a temporary or provisional order, while the assigned division of the Supreme Court is still studying the case and has yet to decide on the merits of the case. With the use of brute force, the unterlopers have kidnapped Mr. Hajime Tokuda and as of this time brought him out of the hotel. In the process, they also harmed and caused serious injuries against the other officers of the company, and their lawyers who were present,” Tiger Resorts said.
Abogado Estrella Elamparo, senior partner of Divina Law, Tiger Resorts’ counsel, said: “This violence must be condemned and is a serious criminal offense. What they did to Mr. Tokuda is no less than kidnapping. They are acting like hoodlums under the command of the sham board.”
Tiger Resorts filed a motion for reconsideration of the SQAO with the SC a day after it issued its decision.
Tiger Resorts is standing by its decision to boot out Okada upon the instructions of its parent company, Tiger Resort Asia Ltd. (TRAL), which is a Hong Kong company and not under the jurisdiction of Philippine courts nor subject to the SQAO.
Tiger Resorts said it was “indirectly wholly owned” by Universal Entertainment Corp. (UEC), a Japanese publicly listed company.
The Tokyo District Court, Tokyo High Court and Japanese Supreme Court have already effectively decided with finality that Okada’s removal was valid.
Tiger Resorts noted that the Japanese courts have jurisdiction on the dispute between Japanese citizens over control of its parent TRAL.

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