Legacy Assures benefits for displaced employees

Cebu - The management of the Legacy Group of Companies, which owns the 13 rural banks that shut down last December, assured its more than 500 displaced employees nationwide of their benefits.

Legacy lawyer Inocencio De le Cerna yesterday said the company has promised to pay its obligations to the employees once it settles all its obligations to the depositors.

De la Cerna said of the total number of employees of the Legacy banks that were put under receivership of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation, 200 are from the Visayas, specifically in Cebu.

According to De la Cerna, there are seven Legacy banks that declared holidays in Cebu and were already put under PDIC receivership. These include the Rural Bank of Carmen, Philippine Countryside Rural Bank, Bank of East Asia, Rural Bank of Bais and Filipino Rural Bank.

De la Cerna said the employees of these banks will be paid of their 13th month pay, bonuses and separation fees as soon as the company will finish attending its obligations to the depositors.

He, however, could not say when the displaced employees be paid.

The Legacy banks were forced to go on holidays late last year because of alleged losses they suffered from the effects of the global financial crisis.

Depositors are still waiting for their claims because the PDIC has not yet started releasing claims.

According to PDIC officials, they are still processing all claims and are examining the records of depositors in all banks placed under their receivership. — Fred P. Languido/LPM (THE FREEMAN)