Sarangani bank placed under PDIC

MANILA, Philippines - The central bank has placed the shuttered Sarangani Rural Bank  Inc. under the receivership of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC).

In a statement, the PDIC said it took over the bank on Dec. 6 following the approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monetary Board.

The rural bank is a single-unit firm located in Gen. Santos City in South Cotabato.

The bank had 2,408 accounts with total deposit liabilities of P45.57 million as of end-September this year. PDIC noted 2,407 of these accounts have balances of P500,000 or less, which means they are fully covered by deposit insurance.

“[U]pon takeover, all bank records shall be gathered, verified and validated... [A]ll valid deposits shall be paid up to the maximum deposit insurance coverage of P500,000,” PDIC said.

Depositors of the rural bank are advised to update their address with PDIC representatives at the bank premises until Dec. 12.

Those with valid deposit accounts with balances of P50,000 and below do not need to file deposit insurance claims but those with outstanding loans should file claims to the PDIC.

PDIC said it aims to start mailing payments to those that do not need to file deposit insurance claims by Dec. 16.

Meanwhile, the state deposit insurer said “for depositors who are required to file deposit insurance claims, the PDIC will conduct the claims settlement operations for these accounts from Dec. 17 to 18.”

Based on its bank information sheet as of June 30, Sarangani Rural Bank is owned by Francisco L. Laiz Jr. (21.87 percent), Rosa Ma. L. Gayos (20.08 percent), Josefa L. San Pedro (20.08 percent) and Amanda L. Robosa (20.04 percent). Laiz is the bank’s president and chairman.