Closure of Cebu bank surprises depositors

CEBU CITY—Depositors of Rural Bank of San Fernando (Cebu) Inc. were stunned to discover on Friday that the bank had shut down.

“We were really shocked,” said a female employee of the engineering office of the San Fernando Municipal Hall. “Some were even placing deposits, and there was no warning the bank would close,” she said.

She cited the case of a retiree who had just deposited P2 million in the bank when it closed.

“We trusted the bank,” she said.

The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) took over the bank on Friday after the Monetary Board placed the bank under receivership in an order issued on Thursday.

The female municipal employee said she had heard rumors about the bank closure and went to the bank at 10:30 a.m., and saw at least 100 depositors gathered outside the bank, many of them local businessmen, vendors and retirees.

The employee said she had P10,000 in bank deposit, money she saved from her salary for the education of her children.

Junjun Tapuyao, an employee of the San Fernando Treasurer’s Office, said he had more than P4,000 in the bank. Just last week, he said, he deposited extra money from his meager salary without knowing the bank would shut down.

The PDIC, in a statement on its website, described  Rural Bank of San Fernando as a single-unit bank with 3,341 accounts and total deposits of P83.41 million as of Dec. 31, 2012.

The PDIC said 99.76 percent of accounts had balances of P500,000 or less, which are fully covered by deposit insurance.

The bank’s latest information sheet dated  Dec. 31, 2010, stated that it is majority owned by Milagros A. Villasor (34.72 percent), Guillermo A. Villasor Jr. (8.37 percent), Edwin A. Villasor (7.34 percent), John Robert A. Villasor (7.15 percent), Patrick A. Villasor (6.99 percent), Catalina T. Cuenco (6.87 percent) and Josefina T. Cuenco (6.26 percent). Its chair and president is Milagros A. Villasor.