DBP teller gets 8 years over P9 milllion bouncing checks

MANILA, Philippines — A former teller of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija has been sentenced to up to eight years in prison for allowing the encashment of three checks insufficient of funds.

In a ruling promulgated on Jan. 14, the Sandiganbayan upheld a 2017 decision of the Cabanatuan City Regional Trial Court Branch 29 finding former DBP-Cabanatuan teller II Argene Ortiz guilty of violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Citing bank records, the court said the DBP suffered actual, direct and quantifiable losses from the encashment of the checks amounting to P9 million.

The anti-graft court cited testimonies of officials of DBP- Cabanatuan who said the bank was not able to recover the P9 million released by Ortiz to private respondent Eliezer Tumangan.

“Her (Ortiz) conduct caused undue injury to the DBP and accorded unwarranted benefits to a private party,” the anti-graft court’s First Division said.

Aside from prison terms, Ortiz was disqualified from holding public office and ordered to pay DBP-Cabanatuan P9 million in civil liability.

Tumangan jumped bail and remains at large.

In her appeal, Ortiz argued that she was unfairly singled out to bear the blame for what she decribed as “systemic lapses within the (DBP) branch.”

The anti-graft court said Ortiz failed to present documents showing the encashments were cleared by bank officials.