Depositors seek to rehabilitate closed bank
BINMALEY–A group of depositors of a rural bank here that was placed under receivership by the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) agreed to bond themselves to revive the bank.
The group, known as People’s Bank of Binmaley Uninsured Depositors Association (PBBUDA) headed by Armi Bangsal-Lorica, an entrepreneur, is leading efforts to rehabilitate and reorganize the bank through the conversion of their uninsured deposits into equity.
People’s Bank of Binmaley (PBB), founded by Lorica’s grandfather Julio Javier in 1964, was taken over by Fidel Lo Cu in December 2003 with the infusion of P37.5 million in fresh capital.
The group accused Cu of allegedly mismanaging the bank.
The group’s members are among the depositors who could not be paid since their deposits exceeded the maximum P250, 000 deposits to be covered by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC).
Lorica had written President Gloria Arroyo to intervene for them by persuading the BSP and the Philippine Deposit and Insurance Corporation (PDIC) to consider their “deposit-to-equity” proposal.
PBBUDA will also ask the PDIC to provide it financial statements covering deposits of all depositors to support its proposal.
Lorica’s group has partnered with an investor, who she did not identify, who, she added, is willing to put up the needed P270.76 million as additional capital to the PBB if the proposal is approved by the two agencies.
Deputy BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla had informed the group that the uninsured depositors of closed bank are free to put up a rehabilitation program and need only to get the nod from the PDIC.
He added, however, that the conversion of deposits into equity is not enough to constitute the rehabilitation of a closed bank as there are other creditors, including the BSP, which should also be considered.-LM
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