Closed banks will return depositors' money - PDIC

MANILA, Philippines – Following the recent closure of nine rural banks all over the country, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) said on Saturday that all the banks' assets would be preserved to pay off their creditors and depositors. The state-led deposit insurer would be able to pay all the valid claims of 120,000 accounts amounting to P12.5 billion, PDIC executive vice president Imelda Singzon said on Saturday in a radio interview. "Matatag naman ho ang PDIC, ang tinatawag na deposit insurance fund ay inalagaan ng maigi kasi nga dapat laging prepared lagi sa ganitong situations na hindi natin alam kung ano mangyayari," she said. [Translation: "The PDIC is strong, the deposit insurance fund was well taken care of because we always have to be prepared in situations like these when we don't know what would happen."] The recently shuttered banks are the Dynamic Bank (formerly known as Rural Bank of Calatagan), Rural Bank of San Jose, Laguna-based San Pablo City Development Bank, Rural Bank of Parañaque; Rural Bank of Bais in Negros Oriental, First Interstate Bank in Tacloban City, Pilipino Rural Bank, Bank of East Asia, and Philippine Countryside Rural Bank in Cebu. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has reportedly been monitoring these financial institutions even before the global financial crisis took place. Its findings showed that the said banks have been capital-deficient since July 2007. Singzon said that the PDIC, which is tasked with the responsibility of recouping the bank's unpaid obligations, would be able to cover almost 98 percent of the insurance. "Yung mga depositors ho, ang kailangan nilang abangan ay ang anunsyo na ilalabas ng PDIC kung ano 'yung mgs days ng pgbabayad [The depositors just need to wait for the announcements that the PDIC will come out with regarding the payment days]," she said. As a first step, depositors call their agency or go to their bank. About 400 PDIC people are now in the nine banks that were closed, she said. The PDIC staff would examine the records carefully, then assess them afterward in order to avoid fraudulent claims. "Kinakailangang suriin ang bawa't record, inaalam natin ang documentation, meron din pong mga fictitious, sa mga bangkong nabanggit nag-start pa lang kaming mag-examine ng mga records, pag wala yung records mahihirapan po talaga tayo diyan," she said. [Translation: "We need to examine the records, documentation because sometimes there are fictitious claims. As for the banks mentioned, we will start to examine their records immediately, but without such, it will definitely be much harder."] Once at the bank, the depositor will have to submit a claim form with his or her passbook, two valid IDs, and proof of deposit. "Kung wala pong problema sa dokumento, mababayaran agad [If there are no problems they can be paid at once]," she said. She said that claims less than P5,000 may be taken home in cash while those higher than that will have to be released through checks. She said they are giving priority to the depositors with smaller accounts. "Inuuna lang talaga ang maliliit [We prioritize the smaller accounts first]," she said. On the other hand, those accounts amounting to more than P250,000 will have to stake a claim for the assets of the bank. "Maghintay lang po sila after madispose namin  ang assets ng bangko, kung maging pera yun after a while, pwede silang mabigyan ng parte dun sa macoconvert namin into cash [They have to wait until we've disposed of the bank's assets, that will turn into money after a while and we can give them a part of what's converted into cash]," she said. However, she did warn the large depositors that this will take time to process, having to go through the liquidation court. The Rural Bank of Parañaque will start paying depositors starting December 22 at 1 p.m. until December 24 at 12 noon. Further queries may be directed to the PDIC, with hotline numbers 841-4630 and 841-4631. - GMANews.TV