DBP won’t manage P11-B assets of AFP-RSBS after all

The Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) denied it has agreed to manage the P11-billion assets of the bankrupt pension fund of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Last week, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. announced that DBP has been chosen as the trustee of the AFP Retirement Savings and Benefit System (RSBS) assets, majority of which are in real estate and related undertakings.

However, in an interview, DBP president and chief executive officer Reynaldo David refuted Esperon’s claim.

"I don’t know anything about it. No one has talked to me yet," David said.

In spite of this, the military leadership has already ordered the RSBS to turn over its assets to the state-run bank for disposal.

A major chunk of the P11-billion assets, or about P9.62 billion, are invested in real estate and property firms while P1 billion are uncollectible loans.

A loan is considered uncollectible or nonperforming if it has remained unpaid for more than 90 days after becoming due.

RSBS declined to divulge the amount of the fund’s total loans. It also refused to identify the delinquent borrowers.

In an unaudited report, RSBS recorded a 94-percent decline in net income for 2005 to P14.6 million, from P223.98 million the year before.

From 1998 to 2000, RSBS recorded a net loss. In 1998, the fund has a loss of P759.59 million; P994.52 million in 1999 and P416.16 million in 2000.

The pension fund recovered in 2001 and had a net income of P38.92 million. RSBS more than tripled this figure the year after and earned P106.86 million. The upward trend continued in 2003 as it had a net income of P127.75 million.

RSBS officials, although claiming full transparency, still refuse to release the agency’s complete financial statements.

The fund also has yet to account for about P400 million of the total assets.

Some soldiers have noted that they had not received any financial reports from the fund even if they religiously remit five percent of their salaries to the RSBS.

The military announced the closure of the RSBS by the end of the year after an investigation found some officials to have mismanaged the multibillion-peso fund.