Cases filed vs. Legacy banks; what about RBS?

Finally, here’s some good news. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has filed 116 countsof falsification of public and commercial documents against 18 officers and employees of the rural banks belonging to the Legacy Group, namely the Rural Bank of Parañaque, Rural Bank of DARBCI in South Cotabato, Rural Bank of San Jose in Batangas and the Bank of Asia. The bad news is, Legacy founder and owner Celso de los Angeles was not included in the charge as his name wasn’t listed in those companies. This is akin to filing a case against the bunch of thieves under the leadership of Alibaba without including Alibaba in the charge.

Earlier the BSP filed criminal cases against 16 officials and agents for 49 counts of falsification of public and commercial documents and for false reporting, but just like this new charges filed against those rural bank officers, the Legacy owner wasn’t included in that list. Earlier, I was warned that when I write about the Legacy issue to be careful not to mention the name of Celso de los Angeles because his name apparently doesn’t appear as owner of the rural banks that he supposedly bought from the previous owners.

In short, many of the rural banks that the Legacy Group bought out, remain in the name of the previous owners, who perhaps may have become dummies of Celso de los Angeles. This is something that the BSP has to prove. We hope for everyone’s sake that these charges would end in the conviction of the guilty parties so that it would serve as an example for other scheming businessmen that they just cannot do what they want with the poor depositors’ money.

So okay, charges are being filed against the officers of the rural banks under the Legacy Group, but the Legacy Group isn’t the only rural bank that collapsed. What about the Rural Bank of Subangdaku (RBS)? One of the reasons why RBS folded is due to some “fictitious loans” that then RBS Pres. Paz Radaza pointed out in a previous statement. However it’s been more than a month since RBS closed and still those poor depositors are waiting for Mrs. Radaza to tell us the whole score as to why RBS collapsed with her as president of the bank.

The BSP here in Cebu has remained mum about RBS, much in the same way that they have kept silent on the case of the rural banks of the Legacy Group. Is the BSP here authorized to issue a statement about the RBS case or do we have to wait for higher officials of the BSP to issue one?

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I was truly surprised to read the Sunday front page news of The FREEMAN that declared that a 16-year-oldhad confessed to the killing of Iranian medical student Ashkan Aminian last Jan.22 and apparently the shooting of a Pauline Osorio, a Bigfoot employee. Call them a gang of teeners who are already very much involved in criminal activity. Thanks to good sleuthing by the Cebu City Police, they have cracked the case.

Earlier we wrote that the brother of Ashkan came to Cebu to collect his remains, but a warning note was placed on his hotel door, which brought us into thinking that Askhan’s killing could very well be a love triangle.

But if the police believe that this case is lock tight, then let them file the necessary cases against these youthful criminals. Kudos to CCPO Director Senior Supt. Pat Comendador for the quick resolution to this crime, which has scared many foreign nationals who are studying here in Cebu.

There is a lesson for foreigners to learn from this incident; they should never walk alone in the wee hours of the morning as they open themselves up for potential danger. They must either take a taxi or better, not go out at all if that can be avoided.

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Last Saturday, The Philippine Star came up with a front-page photo of the last FedEx Airbus A310 cargo aircraft departing from the Subic Bay International Airport as the world’s largest cargo delivery service company was moving its entire Asia-Pacific hub operations to Guangzhou, China. FedEx already planned this move five years ago. Because of the world economic slowdown, I mistakenly thought that FedEx might just cancel that planned transfer. But apparently the die has been cast.

The FedEx transfer would directly affect 800 jobs in Subic. There will be those who will be indirect affected by this move. That’s the catering business for the FedEx people who needs to be feed as the operations of FedEx is on a 24-hour basis. While 800 employees may not be much, it adds up to the numerous companies that have already shut down its operations in the Philippines. The challenge for Subic is how to find jobs for those 800 now jobless former FedEx employees.