Depositors hit closure of Benguet rural bank

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Hundreds of depositors decried the sudden closure of a rural bank here last week saying they were not informed earlier so they could withdraw their deposits.

The Rural Bank of La Trinidad here has been placed under the receivership of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) by the central bank’s Monetary Board.

The bank, whose head office is located in this capital town of Benguet, has a lone branch in Dagupan City, Pangasinan.

PDIC officials said available records show the bank had 4,076 accounts with total deposit liabilities of P116.6 million as of end-June.

It said total insured deposits amounted to P98 million or 84.05 percent of the total deposits.

The PDIC officials allayed fears of depositors saying they would be paid starting with those who have P15,000 worth of deposits or less while the rest would be paid on a gradual basis.