Shooting ourselves in the foot

If you can't bring down a government, you can bring down a bank. In recent weeks, cellphone owners have been bombarded with text messages -- jokes ridiculing President Estrada, purported plots to oust him. The text messages may have succeeded in annoying the touchy President and his supporters, but he's still ensconced as the nation's duly elected top official.

Now the text messaging experts have zeroed in on a new target: banks. This week the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas was forced to shut down Urban Bank following heavy withdrawals. It's not the first time that a bank suffered from a bank run and had to be shut down in this country. Like any business, banks run the risk of failure. But Urban Bank's shutdown was followed by more rumors, again spread through text, about troubles purportedly afflicting five other banks. The BSP had to intervene to help stop a bank run on at least two of the banks.

To be sure, the liberalization of the banking sector has made competition stiffer and will likely force more banks to merge, restructure or fold up. But if a bank is going to be shut down by the BSP, it should be for a better reason than a depositors' stampede triggered by a false alarm. Fear and greed move capital. Financial investments are skittish and highly vulnerable to rumors and speculation. If someone wants to kill a bank, texting can be a potent tool. Rumors of a bank run can be self-fulfilling as depositors rush to save their money.

Malacañang and the BSP are scrambling to reassure the public that the banking system is stable. Take their word for it; the relatively sound banking system saved the country from the worst effects of the Asian crisis. The government continues to implement reforms to strengthen the system and protect people's hard-earned money. Now it's taking only a few pranksters armed with cellphones to destabilize this system.

It's possible that the text messages are deliberately meant to bring down the target banks. The National Bureau of Investigation has been tasked to catch the culprits. How the low-tech NBI can crack this newfangled high-tech crime is a mystery, but the go-vernment is left with few options. Whoever is behind this text messaging campaign is doing the country a great disservice. How we love to shoot ourselves in the foot.