POSLAI depositors seek legal aid

Depositors of the dissolved Police Savings and Loan Association, Inc. (POSLAI), which include thousands of active and retired policemen, firemen and jailguards nationwide, are reportedly mulling of seeking legal remedies to get their hard-earned money back.

Affected depositors who still have an active account with POSLAI at the time of the bank’s dissolution are now in a quandary over the fate of their deposits. "What will happen now to our deposits deducted from us every payday? Where do we get the refund?" asked a number of depositors interviewed at random by The STAR.

At the same time, the depositors are also calling on officials at the PNP Finance Center in Camp Crame to unilaterally stop their deductions since the quasi-bank is now closed.

The Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, in its Resolution No. 43 dated Jan. 9, 2003, decided to revoke in accordance with its authority under Section 22 of RA 8367 the license of POSLAI to operate as a non-stock savings and loan association based on findings that the solvency of the quasi bank is imperilled by losses and irregularities.

The said resolution also directed the POSLAI board of trustees and officers to dissolve their association in accordance with law.

"The order of the BSP through its director Candon Guerrero is a very welcome resolution of the Monetary Board. We consider this as a triumph of the retirees which POSLAI has been fooling around for quite a time," said Manila’s Finest Retirees Association, Inc. (MFRAI) president retired police Col. Felicisimo Lazaro.

The MFRAI had took up the cudgels for 23 police retirees in Metro Manila in filing 23 counts of estafa charges against nine POSLAI officers and board of trustees led by retired police Col. Vicente Palmon, Inspector Cesario Tubog, SPO4 Reynaldo Li, SPO3 Radito Perez; retired police officials Felix Pineda, Cesar Baria and Armando Inabangan; and civilian officers Vicente Ray Palmon III and Yolanda Sales. The case is presently being heard at the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 22. All the accused have posted bail of P575,000 each.

Lazaro said the real beneficiaries of POSLAI’s dissolution are the policemen, firemen and jail personnel in Visayas and Mindanao who are still being continuously deducted of their contributions. "These personnel should demand for a return of their hard-earned money or file charges against POSLAI officials in their respective provinces," Lazaro said.

The MFRAI said the Monetary Board’s findings also confirmed the group’s earlier pronouncement that POSLAI’s losses are due to irregularities. "We have been sounding the alarm before. This could not have resulted in a bigger mess if only the Monetary Board has acted with dispatch," the MFRAI said. – Nestor Etolle