Banks "must review" procedures

CEBU, Philippines – Bogo Police Chief Inspector Alvin Balio advises bank managers to go over and review proper procedures in releasing cash to avoid another swindling incident.

Being new in the job is not an excuse for a bank manager to simply trust a mere phone call, he stressed.

"I'm sure they have proper procedures when mopagawas og kwarta," he told The Freeman.

The Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) Bogo branch lost P75,000 to a woman who introduced herself as daughter of Bogo Mayor Celestino "Junie" Martinez Jr. Thursday last week.

The swindler reportedly called the DBP and introduced herself as "Dra. Martinez,"daughter of the mayor.

The mayor, in an official statement to the press, said he has five children but none of them is a doctor.

His daughters, meanwhile, are Maria Celeste Martinez-Maniquis who takes charge of their Ticao Island Resort and 400-hectare coconut plantation in San Jacinto, Masbate; Maria Cielo Martinez, a nurse who is based in Manila and is leaving for Australia and Maria Clavel Martinez-Herrera, in charge of four businesses in Manila, Davao City as well as rented houses in Cebu.

His sons are Celestino "Tining" Martinez III, former mayor and former congressman who takes charge of their sugar plantation and fishponds, Carlo Jose Martinez, a lawyer connected with Feria Tantoco Law Offices in Makati, Metro Manila.

"The incident is solely a responsibility of DBP personnel who should have exercised care and prudence in the performance of their jobs," the mayor said in his letter.

Balio said they will call all employees of the bank for an investigation to see if it was an inside job or just purely a lapse of the bank manager Juanita Mata.

"The incident should have been prevented if she confirmed first unsa katinuod and not after she released the money," he said.

Mata, if found liable, could be facing an administrative case. (FREEMAN)