DOJ summons BF, BSP executives

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) summoned yesterday top executives of Banco Filipino Savings and Mortgage Bank and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to a preliminary investigation on charges filed by the two parties against each other as an offshoot of the bank’s closure last month.

In a subpoena, the investigating DOJ panel chaired by Senior State Prosecutor Rosanne Balauag ordered Banco Filipino officers and stockholders represented by Maxy Abad, Francisco Rivera and Mary Lou Vasquez and BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr., deputy governor Nestor Espenilla Jr., deputy governor and general counsel Juan de Zuñiga Jr., and Monetary Board members Juanita Amatong, Alfredo Antonio, Ignacio Bunye and Peter Favila to appear in a hearing set on May 5 at 10 a.m.

The DOJ also required Banco Filipino president Teodoto Arcenas Jr. and director Perfecto Yasay Jr. to appear in the hearing.

The complainants and respondents were told to answer the charges filed by the other party and submit counter-affidavits in the consolidated complaints.

Balauag will be joined by assistant state prosecutors Bernardo Parico and Agapito Fajardo Jr. in resolving the case.

In their complaint, Banco Filipino officials accused BSP and Monetary Board officials of violating Section 3 (e) of RA 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act).

Through lawyer Harry Roque Jr., they alleged that BSP violated the anti-graft law when it denied the grant of emergency loans needed by the bank under an emergency situation and when it eventually ordered the closure and receivership two weeks ago.

The complainants said the bank’s closure ordered by BSP last Mar. 18 was “done with manifest partiality, evident bad faith and gross inexcusable negligence to the damage and prejudice of Banco Filipino, its stockholders and depositors.”

The BSP ordered last March 18 the closure of the Aguirre family-owned bank for insolvency after its liabilities overwhelmed its assets by P8.4 billion. It also placed Banco Filipino under the receivership of the state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC).

The decision, BSP officials said, would provide immediate relief to the bank’s 177,652 depositors.

Banco Filipino officers alleged that such closure “constituted gross inexcusable criminal negligence considering that the emergency loans applied for were designed to address possible withdrawals from the bank on the next banking day after it was applied for.”

They also argued in their complaint that their bank has been under the BSP’s comptrollership, which means all their policies were approved by BSP.

Banco Filipino had filed two criminal cases against the BSP before the Office of the Ombudsman for extortion and for violations of the General Banking Act.

The BSP, on the other hand, filed counter charges and sought the indictment of Banco Filipino directors for alleged willful refusal to file audited financial statements from 2002 to 2007.

It also accused Abad, Arcenas Jr., and Yasay Jr. of falsification and issuance of false statements to hide the true financial condition of the bank, willful refusal to report loans, 26 counts of violation of BSP laws and directives and willful refusal to cease the conduct of unsafe, hazardous and unsound bank practices.

“The criminal charges that the bank officers are now facing gives the public a glimpse of the unsound banking practices that inevitably led to Banco Filipino’s closure. More than half of the bank loan’s portfolio was allocated to the directors, officers, stockholders and other related interest of the bank,” BSP alleged.