Policemen bring arrested Legacy exec to Ormoc

CEBU police brought to Ormoc City a former Legacy group official who was arrested in Tagbilaran City,  Bohol, on Monday evening.

Alexis Petralba, 46, of Mambaling, Cebu City, was escorted by policemen aboard a fastcraft past 9 a.m. Wednesday for Ormoc City.

Petralba was described as the liaison officer and a chief implementor of high-investment schemes designed by Legacy owner Celso de los Angeles.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) ordered Legacy’s 13 rural banks closed just before the Christmas of 2008, for being insolvent and for engaging in unsafe and unsound practices.

Petralba was charged with syndicated estafa. An arrest warrant was issued by Judge Clinton Nuevo of Ormoc City RTC branch 12.

Petralba’s family stayed in Gochan, Mambaling, Cebu City, but when police first conducted surveillance, he was no longer staying there, said Supt. Leopoldo Cabanag, deputy chief of the Regional Intelligence Division (RID 7).

Police traced Petralba to the house of his sister in Dampas, Tagbilaran City in Bohol.

Last Monday, police went there and asked Petralba’s sister to surrender her sibling to avoid trouble.

The P14-billion Legacy Group scam had victimized many depositors and clients throughout the country.

The Legacy group declared a bank holiday in December 2008 when its rural banks could no longer sustain operations.

The Central Bank is the complainant in various syndicated estafa and falsification cases against officers of the Legacy group. /Correspondent Jhunnex Napallacan