DOJ issues hold order vs Legacy owner, et al.

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued a hold departure order (HDO) against Legacy owner Celso delos Angeles, his son Martin Nicolo and 19 other Legacy officers and employees in relation to the syndicated estafa charge filed by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC).

PDIC president Jose C. Nograles said the corporation’s legal affairs sector continues to investigate the Legacy-affiliated banks and gather evidence for subsequent cases to be filed.

The HDO was based on the syndicated estafa charge filed by the PDIC alleging that delos Angeles et. al. conspired to siphon off funds of the Rural Bank of Carmen in Cebu solicited from the public by way of deposits through fictitious or simulated loans. RB Carmen is a Legacy-affiliated bank under receivership of the PDIC.

In its complaint, PDIC stated that Delos Angeles created 39 fictitious loans amounting to P16.85 million in RB Carmen, and diverted the proceeds to his son, Martin Nicolo, and to other Legacy related corporations. The 39 fictitious loans were erased from the books of RB Carmen after Delos Angeles himself purchased the fictitious/simulated loans in consideration for the Calanggaman property, a 9.8-hectare island located in Calanggaman, Tinabilan, Palompon, Leyte.

Delos Angeles later assigned the Calanggaman property and RB Carmen was made to appear to have sold the Calanggaman property to Edifice Realty and Development Corp. for P32 million payable in 15 years.

Per SEC records, Edifice is 99 percent owned by Resource Providers and Manpower Services, Inc. while the remaining one percent is owned by Delos Angeles and his family. Resource Providers and Manpower Services, Inc. is, in turn, 98.94 percent owned by delos Angeles and the remaining 1.06 percent by his son, Martin Nicolo and nominee lawyers.

Another syndicated estafa case was filed by the PDIC against delos Angeles, his wife and son; and seven other Legacy Group officers for allegedly conspiring to misappropriate Nation Bank’s funds using a farmland in Negros Occidental known as the Hacienda Busay through fictitious or simulated loans.   Nation Bank is one of the 12 Legacy-affiliated banks placed under PDIC receivership in December 2008.

Delos Angeles’s wife is one of the incorporators of Hacienda Busay, Inc. while his son, Martin Nicolo, is the majority owner of CGA Holdings Inc. which owns the majority shares of Hacienda Busay Inc. 

PDIC had filed with the DOJ another request for issuance of a hold departure order against Delos Angeles et. al. in relation to the Nation Bank – Hacienda Busay case.

Syndicated estafa is a non-bailable offense and is punishable with lifetime imprisonment.