4 thrift bank execs face estafa charges

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) are pursuing estafa charges against four executives of closed thrift bank Homeowners Savings and Loans Bank (HOSLB).

"We are pursuing the case (against the officers of HOSLB)," PDIC senior vice president Rose Casiguran said.

The prosecutors of the Department of Justice (DOJ) recommended in a resolution last Aug. 22, the indictment of chairman Victor B. Garcia, president Patricio Notada, the manager of the main office of HOSLB Gamaliel Ledda Jr. and credit investigator Arthur William A. Roquel for 29 counts, each, of estafa through falsification of commercial and/or public documents.

However, Casiguran said the HOSLB officers filed a motion for reconsideration to answer such allegations.

Casiguran said they are just awaiting the decision of the DOT as to whether it will approve or deny the motion for reconsideration filed by the HOSLB officials.

"We will collaborate to serve as private complainant against these officers," she said.

The four executives were charged allegedly for conspiring to extend "fictitious loans" for a total amount of P186 million.

HOSLB was closed and placed under PDIC last Feb. 11, 1999 after Monetary Board, the policy making body of the BSP, ordered its closure through Resolution 159.

Prior to its closure, the 28-year-old HOSLB had 15 branches and money shops located in the provinces of Pangasinan, Bulacan, Pampanga, Antipolo, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Iloilo, and Capiz.

The thrift bank had an estimated total P1.5 billion in deposit liabilities when it closed down.

Victor Garcia took over the management of the bank after his father, the founder of the bank, Virgilio M. Garcia, passed away in 1963.