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Friday, September 16, 2005
P10M ‘lost’ to Abineses
By Minerva B. Gerodias
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Santander “lost” more than P10 million that the Abines family allegedly deposited in an unauthorized bank when they were still in power, defying a ruling from the Central Bank of the Philippines.
The amount was placed in the Rural Bank of Santander Inc., which is not an authorized government depository, and is now closed after it declared bankruptcy years ago.
The Abineses owned the rural bank.
The Provincial Attorney’s Office will file complaints before the anti-graft office against former mayor Priscilla Abines and her successor, her son James Arnold.
Lawyer Frank Malilong, the legal counsel and spokesman of the Abines family, told Sun.Star Cebu that he has yet to know the details of the case.
Malilong assured, though, that they will face it in court.
Provincial Attorney Marino Martinquilla said they are preparing the complaints against the two former mayors.
Other town officials who were involved in the transaction, such as the former town treasurer, may also be included in the case.
Martinquilla said Priscilla and James Arnold committed two violations.
First, they deposited funds that totaled over P10 million, despite the Central Bank of the Philippines’ refusal to consider the rural bank as an authorized depository.
Second, they deposited the money without authorization from the Municipal Council.
Mayor Wilson Wences-lao said that the P10 million was from the Countryside Development Funds of then second district congressman Crisologo Abines, Priscilla’s husband and James Arnold’s father.
Crisologo represented the second district in the Lower House for more than a decade, until 1998 when he lost to Rep. Simeon Kintanar.
“All we can do is charge them. The chance of retrieving the money is already very slim, as the bank has been closed,” Martinquilla said.
Dire straits
Wenceslao is saddened by the fact that the P10 million may no longer be recovered because Santan-der, a fifth-class town, still owes P6 million to the Development Bank of the Philippines.
The amount represents part of a P7.1-million loan that James Arnold got during his term as mayor for the repair of the town’s public market.
The Commission on Audit (COA), in its 2003 report, had advised the town officials of Santander to “make strong representations with the owners and managers of the bank in order to recover the municipality’s huge savings deposits.”
COA reported that the move of the Abineses “adversely affected” the implementation of the CDF projects and risked the loss of government funds.
Because of this, COA advised Santander to bring the matter to the court.
Martinquilla said the filing of the complaint was delayed because they had to dig up several records.
The former treasurer also refused to cooperate with the investigation, said Martinquilla.
Earlier, the Santander Municipal Government also brought the Abines family to court because of their claim that they own the Talisay wharf.
Before Wenceslao assumed as the new town mayor, councilors passed a resolution to “return” ownership and control of the wharf to the Abines family.
But the court had ruled that the wharf is a property of the town and not of the Abineses.
(September 16, 2005 issue)
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