4 execs of Cagayan bank face fund raps

TUGUEGARAO CITY - Regulators have filed a criminal case against four executives of a shuttered Cagayan-based rural bank for allegedly misusing funds meant for the renovation of the bank’s offices.

Four officials of the Philippine Farmers Bank Inc. were charged with syndicated estafa by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) and the BangkoSentralngPilipinas (BSP), according to a statement yesterday.

The case stemmed from the officials’ “irregular and suspicious” cash advance worth P30.22 million supposedly to renovate the bank’s branches in the cities of Dagupan, Cabanatuan, San Fernando in Pampanga, Lucena, Mandaue, Ozamis, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, and Valencia in Bukidnon.

Charged were Ronaldo Alaya-ay, owner and chairman; Rene Tongco, president; Teofilo Garcia Jr., vice president; and Aimee Santelices, head of the treasury department.

Also included in the charge sheet was Tito Ogarte, president of Primebuilder Corp., which was hired as contractor. The PDIC said it was later learned that Ogarte was Alaya-ay’s “personal driver.”

“Based on the results of the investigation of BSP and PDIC, (the bank) booked the amount of P40.7 million as capital expenditures for the renovation and purchase of furniture, fixtures and equipment for its branches,” the statement said.

“Of this amount, P30.22 million was found to be irregular and suspicious because no actual renovation was undertaken for the bank’s branches. The said capital expenditures were allegedly used as a ruse to misappropriate the funds of the bank,” it added.

The findings, according to the PDIC, were supported by the sworn statements of the bank’s branch managers.

The Philippine Farmers Bank Inc. was shut down by the BSP in 2009 and since then has been put under PDIC’s care.