Management team another option — bankers

A group of rural bankers is suggesting that the members of the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) allow the courts to form a management team.

Last month, the Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction barring the 2006-2007 elected officers and directors of RBAP from holding office. Prior to the preliminary injunction, two temporary restraining orders (TROs) were issued but has since lapsed.

"A court-appointed management team could be best option at this moment," Jose Lustre, president of the Rural Bank of Jaen (Nueva Ecija) and former RBAP president, suggested. "I am only speaking for myself."

Lustre further suggested that the courts could appoint former presidents of the association as members of the temporary management team. Based on its by-law, the RBAP is suppose to elect the 2007-2008 officers and directors in May next year.

Lustre said that it was important that the industry has a voice in the absence of a functioning set of officers and directors.

Also at stake is the corporate life of the association as the RBAP has already turned 50 years, and the corporate life ends in August 2007.

Another banker from Central Luzon, who asked not to be named, said that the management team should also be empowered to appoint the electoral board, which was the critical issue raised in the court order. The same banker suggest further that the management team would also take care of the day-to-day activities of the secretariat.

Maria Rosario T. Salvana, who filed the case with the Court of Appeals, said that the case was not inimical to the interest of the RBAP. Salvana is a director of the RB of Cotabato.

"I decided to file the said case in order to cleanse the RBAP of the culture of unrighteousness which has become prevalent in our association," Salvana added in a letter.

In her petition, Salvana also recommended that a three-man management committee be appointed by the courts. – Ted Torres