Trader blames bank for loss of her bank deposit

A woman trader lost P20,000 of her bank savings after her automated teller machine card was "captured" by an ATM machine in a bank in Arroceros, Manila last June 1.

Delia Par, 46, of Blk. 2K, Lot 9B Emerald Hills, Victoria Homes, Tunasan, Muntinlupa City sought the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to determine the "criminal negligence," if any, of the officials of the Landbank YMCA branch on Arroceros.

In a letter to NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco, Par narrated that she went to the Landbank YMCA branch at about 11 a.m. last June 1 to verify the balance of her savings account at the BPI Bank in Muntinlupa City.

After verifying that she still had a balance of P20,232.50, her ATM card was " captured" by the machine.

She said she immediately reported the "capture" to the bank’s security guard and employees, but was told that the machine could not be opened to retrieve her card until the close of office hours at 6 p.m. So, she whiled away her time at a nearby mall and returned to the bank minutes before the opening of the ATM machine.

To her dismay her ATM card was not found inside the machine. She said she immediately called up her bank, and almost collapsed when told that P20,000 had been withdrawn from her account.

Par believes the Landbank officials were responsible for the loss of her card and her money due to the negligence of the bank’s officials to immediately open the ATM machine.

She also reported the incident to the Manila police and furnished cartographic sketches of two bank clients who followed her after the capture of her ATM card. – Nestor Etolle