AN official of the Rural Bank of Cebu South in Argao assured depositors yesterday that the bank remains solvent, while a local official urged these clients to stay calm.

Humphrey Acosta, a board member, along with bank president Herminia Dayon and branch manager Junie Rose Sardañas, in a dyLA report, denied they were closing and belied rumors that they were already bankrupt.

When the bank opened for business at 9 a.m., depositors trooped to the bank so they could withdraw their money.

The bank’s officials have gone to the police station to file a report against four persons, one of them a municipal government official, for allegedly spreading rumors about the bank’s closure. The officials have also sought help on what legal actions to take against the four.

“Our bank is very stable,” a bank official, who requested anonymity, told Sun.Star Cebu in a phone interview.

Reports of a bank holiday resulted in heavy withdrawals by depositors starting Thursday afternoon.

Cebu Provincial Board Member Wilfredo Caminero, a former town mayor and one of the bank’s depositors, confirmed receiving a report that the bank’s depositors panicked upon hearing rumors of the bank’s closure.

But Mayor Edsel Galeos allayed the depositors’ fears of a bank holiday, saying that erroneous bank transactions by a Cebu Electric Cooperative (Cebeco) I employee started the negative reports.

Withdrawal

Galeos said that the electric cooperative’s employee allegedly attempted to withdraw an amount higher than his deposits in the bank.

The rural bank refused to release the amount. This was believed to have triggered reports of a bank holiday.

Also, the mayor said the employee made the attempted transaction in the Rural Bank of Cebu South-Dalaguete branch, not its Argao branch.

The mayor said the town accountant was only blamed as the source of the rumor of a bank holiday.

Galeos said he already met with the town’s department heads and discussed the issue. He also appealed to the public to remain calm.

Last Tuesday, the Rural Bank of Subangdaku closed shop.

It was the latest bank that declared a holiday, following heavy withdrawals by its depositors.

Several banks under the Legacy group have been ordered closed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and placed under receivership by the Philippine Deposits Insurance Corp.

The Legacy-affiliated banks are Rural Bank of Parañaque; Rural Bank of Bais (in Negros Oriental province); Pilipino Rural Bank (in Cebu); Rural Bank of San Jose (in Batangas); Philippine Countryside Bank (in Cebu); Dynamic Bank (Rural Bank of Calatagan, in Batangas); San Pablo City Development Bank; Nation Bank (in Bacolod City); and the Bank of East Asia (in Cebu).

Depositors are still waiting for a go signal from the state insurance firm on how they can claim their money from these banks. (GMD)

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(January 10, 2009 issue)
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