Amounting to over P3M: Bank teller faces charge for taking clients’ money

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — A teller of a bank in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental is now facing civil charges for perjury and falsification of private documents for allegedly withdrawing the money of about 30 clients without their knowledge.

Alfonso Agravante, who is nowhere to be found, allegedly withdrew more than P3 million from the account of Alfonso Pico Sr., a retired teacher now based in Canada, an ABS-CBN report said.

Pico, 77, went home to Kabankalan last May to attend the burial of his sister, only to find out that his two bank accounts with the bank branch in the city containing almost P3.7 million had only P5,000 left.

It was discovered later that Agravante, who used to live with the Picos, had allegedly ran away with Alfonso’s savings. Agravante, whom they entrusted their bank book with, allegedly withdrew money from Pico’s account.

When they filed a complaint before the bank management, they found out that the passbook given to them (Pico) by Agravante was allegedly fake. They also discovered that 30 others were reportedly victimized by Agravante.

Barcelisa Mellendez, 82, was also surprised that someone had been regularly withdrawing from the account of her daughter who is based in the US.

The allowable amount that she can withdraw from the account per month is only P4,000 but when she updated the account, she found out that someone had been withdrawing hundreds of thousands of pesos.

She entrusted Agravante with the account of her daughter since he was close to her family but later on it was found out that the bank book presented to her by the said teller was also fake. It was also estimated that around P1 million was withdrawn by the bank teller from the account of her daughter.

BDO officials met with Pico and Mellendez along with other complainants. They were promised that the bank will pay them but to how much and when, they said they have no idea yet.

The victims were asking the management of BDO to file criminal charges against Agravante so he cannot leave the country.

Banco De Oro-Manila, through its media relations officer, Marist Nagera, said in a press statement last Tuesday that BDO is “currently investigating the matter.” It added: “The interests of our clients is our utmost priority. Rest assured, we will address all their concerns.”

Meanwhile, bank officer Joan Luego of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said it would be best if the complainants come to them and send their complaint by letter or email to the financial consumers affairs department so they can properly act on the matter. (FREEMAN)