PDIC fast tracks releasing of Legacy victims' claims

CEBU, Philippines - State-owned Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) is going to fast track the release of the remaining accounts for claims to the depositor-victims of the Legacy bank accounts.

PDIC president Jose Nograles announced that the agency is now working double-time to release the total validated accounts of P12 billion to paid to depositors.

Of the total P14.4 billion insured accounts of the total 135 thousand depositors of ill-fated Legacy Bank, PDIC had already released P6.6 billion as of April 8 this year.

He said P7.9 billion is up for release in the next months. These are already accounts that have undergone proper validation.

“The experience we had in dealing with the Legacy Group controversy was a special case. It was not a regular bank closure. We had to process 2,000 boxes of documents for verification. We all learned from what happened and the best practice we had in dealing with it is something we can share to foreign deposit insurers,” he said.

Of this recorded total insured accounts, about P3.7 million worth of claims had remained un-released, while a total of P1.2 billion claims is put on hold because depositors or claimants failed to comply with necessary requirements, such as Identification Cards (IDs).

About P346 million is declared as denied claims, of which claimants still to prove their identity further in order to get the deposit insurance.

Nograles said the speed of releasing the claims will depend on the depositors’ move to comply with necessary requirements. He however, hopes that PDIC will be able to unload this problem soon.

“We have to process 135 thousand accounts, in 40 locations across the country,” Nograles said.

Also, about 58,793 Legacy depositors with deposits worth under P5,000 were already paid by PDIC, totaling to P33.7 million. These depositors did not have to go through filing, and comply other necessary requirements, Nograles aid.

PDIC has engaged the services of forensic experts from private accounting firm Punongbayan & Araullo to investigate the fraudulent schemes initially unearthed by PDIC in the course of its investigation. These schemes were utilized by Legacy banks to defraud the public and the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF). The DIF is the funding source for payouts of valid deposit insurance claims. Initial reports indicate that fraud may have been heavily committed on the asset side of the banks’ transactions involving siphoning of funds.