BSP files cases vs. Legacy group. Is RBS next?

Before we start forgetting that infamous Legacy Scam, I just got an emailed press release that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has filed last week a large-scale estafa charge against Celso G. de los Angeles Jr. and Pilipino Rural Bank’s former Presidents and Board members Alexis Petralba and Wilfredo Novo for conspiring to willfully and fraudulently withdraw and siphon off P262.2 million from Cebu-based Pilipino Rural Bank to the detriment and prejudice of the depositing public and their creditors.

BSP investigators learned that there was an unauthorized diversion of funds made to the current account maintained by Mr. Celso de los Angeles at the Pilipino Rural Bank via a fraudulent accommodation of 3,401 unfunded and returned checks amounting to P262.3 million from Sept. 2007 and Sept. 2008, where Mr. De los Angeles got funds from Pilipino Rural Bank through his current account. This bank declared a Bank Holiday last Dec.8 2008, which had deposits worth P2.27 billion.

With this suit, Mr. Celso de los Angeles is now on the Bureau of Immigration watchlist. But whether this is enough to satisfy those depositors who lost their money, except for what the Philippine Deposit Insurance, Inc. (PDIC) repaid them, we really don’t know. What’s worrisome for many depositors is that news in The Freeman yesterday where the PDIC was reported to have denied a total of 523 accounts in Legacy Banks that totals to some P87.5 million. This would be alright if those accounts belonged to Celso de los Angeles or his bank officers, but what if they were legitimate? They should dig deeper into this case.

According to the BSP report, this case is the 7th case filed by the BSP against the Legacy Group. There are four other cases that are for syndicated estafa from Leyte, Negros Oriental and General Santos City and two other cases for falsification of public and commercial documents filed against 16 officers, employees and agents of the Legacy Group.

While we are elated that the BSP has filed all these cases against Celso de los Angeles Jr. and his merry band of “Bank robbers”, the major problem those poor depositors now face is our snail’s paced Justice system. How long will all those cases languish in our court of laws, not to mention that who knows, some of these cases may end in the Sala of a “Rogue in Robes” that’s what we call our corrupt judges.

With the case of the Legacy Group now filed in our courts, this should free the BSP to now concentrate on the collapse of another Cebu-based Rural Bank, the Rural Bank of Subangdaku (RBS) a bank owned by the Gaisano Family and run by former President Paz Radaza. Mrs. Radaza quit as President of this bank almost simultaneously when it collapsed, leaving thousands of depositors holding empty deposits.

When she was asked to issue a statement on why RBS collapsed, Mrs. Radaza merely said that she would issue a statement in “due time”. Well, it’s already six months since RBS shut down its doors and the time has come for Mrs. Radaza to issue that statement as elections are fast approaching on the horizon. I’m sure she would be hard pressed to explain to the thousand of depositors (most of whom live in Lapu-Lapu City) and therefore her voters why RBS, a bank that was supposed to be so stable collapsed?

Her refusal to issue that statement makes people suspicious that she just might be involved in some kind of hanky-panky with the bank. Already rumors continue to persist that the Radazas withdrew a huge amount deposited in the bank, which may have precipitated or hastened its collapse. Was this withdrawal sparked by their knowledge that the bank was about to go under? If so, then the Radazas used their influence to save their own monies to the detriment of the thousands of depositors who lost their money.

I just hope that the BSP would now focus on investigating RBS because today, no one really knows why this bank collapsed despite the fact that it is owned by the Gaisano family, one of Cebu’s richest families. Surely, there’s more to this collapse than what we read in the newspapers.

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I find it hard to believe that schools and hospitals are not paying their taxes, except for those that belong to a religious organization. My old understanding was that, religious organizations, whether Catholic, Protestant or Muslim, etc. are tax-exempt. But what about non-profit groups? When Mayor Tomas Osmeña demanded the payment of business taxes from the institutions mentioned, then we should support him on this. Everyone pays their taxes regardless whether they are for profit or not for as long as they engage in a business within their respective premises. I would like to hear any comments from the administrations of these named institutions.

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