Philippines-based gaming technology provider PhilWeb Corporation chairman Roberto Ongpin may now heave a sigh of relief after a Philippine court stops the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from implementing his expulsion from the board in connection with the 2009 insider trading scandal.

In a six-page court resolution obtained by CalvinAyre.com, the Court of Appeals granted the request of Ongpin for the issuance of a 60-day temporary restraining order against the implementation of the SEC decision dated July 8, 2016.

The SEC, in its decision, ordered the disqualification of Ongpin from the board of any publicly listed company for allegedly committing insider trading in the sale of Philex Mining shares in 2009. Ongpin currently sits as the chairman of Philweb and mining firm Atok Big Wedge Inc that are both publicly listed.

The Philweb chairman was also slapped with a P174 million (US$ 3.69 million) fine, or P1 million ($21,200) for each of the 174 counts of insider trading, based on Section 54.1 of the Securities regulation Code. The fine was 10 times larger than the original P17.4 million penalty recommended by the SEC’s enforcement and investor protection department (EIPD).