Nograles seeks probe of BSP

Speaker Prospero Nograles said yesterday the Bangko  Sentral ng Pilipinas should be investigated by the House of Representatives following allegations that the BSP has the policy of bailing out big commercial banks and shutting down rural banks, where the poor avail of loans.

Nograles issued the statement in support of the revelations of Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, an administration ally, who complained of alleged malpractices in the banking sector.

The speaker directed the House committees on oversight and banks and financial intermediaries “to get into the bottom of reports of alleged malpractices in the banking sector as revealed by Villafuerte.”

Reports that around P10 billion had been “misdeclared by the BSP by understating its annual dividend that is supposed to be remitted to the National Treasury is very disturbing and Congress should exercise its oversight function to get into the bottom of this report.”

Nograles also wants to find the truth behind BSP’s liberal practice of bailing out big commercial banks using billions of funds while shutting down rural banks that have been providing credit facilities to millions of farmers in the countryside.

“These banks which are our only connection to our poor farmers are being shut down by the BSP while infusing billions to help these big commercial banks,” Nograles said as he supported the Villafuerte resolution calling for a congressional inquiry on the BSP.

It has been reported to Nograles that a total of 468 rural banks have ceased operation upon orders of the BSP for failing to meet its capital adequacy ratio requirement. These banks ran aground because their clients who are mostly poor farmers failed to pay back their loans because of the worsening economic conditions. — With Christina Paguinto, Jose Miguel Reyes