Legacy owner served arrest warrant at hospital bed

MANILA, Philippines - National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents served a warrant of arrest Monday night against Legacy Group owner Celso delos Angeles Jr. at his hospital bed in St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City.

Delos Angeles has been confined at the hospital for the past several months due to a lingering illness.

The arrest warrant was issued by the General Santos Regional Trial Court Branch 25 for “syndicated estafa,” based on complaints filed by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for alleged misappropriation of P70 million, intended as capital infusion for the Rural Bank of DARBCI, Inc. based in General Santos City.

Delos Angeles personally received the warrant at around 9 p.m. and the processes involved in his arrest, such as the taking of his fingerprints, were done in his hospital room.

Delos Angeles’ co-respondents in the syndicated estafa case were identified as Carolina Hiñola, chief executive officer of Legacy Consolidated Plans Inc.; Namnama Pasetes, chief finance officer of LCPI; lawyers Christine Antenor Cruz-Limpin and Norman Tiongson, both members of the executive committee of the Legacy Group of Companies; and Lydia Villanueva, Pasetes’ assistant.

The BSP said that based on documents and sworn testimonies, Dolefil Cooperative, which owns 49 percent of the stocks in RB DARBCI, obtained a loan for capital infusion into the rural bank.

However, through acts made by Delos Angeles and his co-respondents, the loan was allegedly used to open an investment management account (IMA), from which they withdrew the money or diverted to corporations controlled by them, the BSP alleged.

The syndicated estafa case is the sixth case filed by the BSP against Delos Angeles and the other Legacy officials before the Department of Justice.

The respondents face charges for allegedly fraudulently siphoning off P500 million in deposits and investments from the Rural Bank of Bais Inc., based in Negros Oriental; for allegedly misappropriating P487 million of solicited funds received in trust from depositors/investors of First Interstate Bank (Rural Bank of Kananga, Leyte); and allegedly siphoning P1 billion from the Rural Bank of DARBCI, a rural bank with offices in General Santos City and Cebu City.

While records as of Sept. 30, 2008 indicated that RB DARBCI had P830 million in deposits, its cash position was less than P1 million on the same date.