Depositors of closed rural bank in Batangas file claims

LIPA CITY—Depositors of the closed Sto. Rosario Rural Bank Inc. in Batangas on Friday started filing claims for their money in a branch of a bank here that was taken over by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) last week.

Antonio Errol Ybañez Jr., PDIC corporate executive officer, in an interview, said an examination and inventory of the bank’s records was ongoing after the Bangko Sentral’s Monetary Board placed it under PDIC receivership on Oct. 4.

He said the bank declared a holiday on Oct. 3.

Established on Dec. 18, 1996, the bank had a head office in Padre Garcia town and two branches in Lipa City and San Juan town.

Ybañez said the bank’s deposit liabilities from 5,805 accounts in its three branches totaled P208.15 million.

Joey Lindog, 32, of Marauoy, Lipa City, who was filing claims for P160,000, said he had just opened an account on Oct. 1 and was angry when he learned of its closure on Oct. 4.

He said they chose the rural bank only because his sister was an employee of the bank for five years before she migrated to Canada.

Maria Gonzales, 52, of Anilao Proper, Lipa City, said she was supposed to withdraw her remaining balance of P28,000 from her son’s account but was surprised to learn of the bank holiday.

Ybañez said the time frame of the inventory was still undetermined because it would depend on the cooperation of the bank owners and availability of the bank records.

Antonio S. Lindog, the chair and president of the Sto. Rosario Rural Bank Inc., said the bank information sheet is filed with the PDIC.

Ybañez said Sto. Rosario was the third rural bank in Batangas to be placed under PDIC receivership this year. The first two were the Tagkawayan Rural Bank, with branches in Rosario and Taysan towns, on May 18, and the Batangas Rural Bank, in Taysan and Lipa City, on June 21.

One of the reasons a bank is placed under PDIC receivership is its lack of assets to meet its liabilities.