PDIC takes Banco Filipino officials to DOJ for unsafe business practices

Thursday, 23rd May 2013

Bacolod City surges in IT-BPM industry

By: Francis Allan L. Angelo

BACOLOD CITY is now at par with more established investment sites for the Information Technology and Business process management (IT-BPM) industry.

The City of Smiles was elevated Monday to the status of Center of Excellence for IT-BPM operations, joining the ranks of Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Clark as a premier IT-BPM host and a high-density location.

The Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) and Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) gave the citation to Bacolod and Negros Occidental officials in Metro Manila.

The occasion timed with the announcement of Top 10 Next Wave Cities™ (NWC) for 2012. Next wave cities refer to areas in the country seen potential investment/expansion sites for IT-BPM firms.

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DOT not worried with Taiwan snub

By: Tara Yap

AMIDST THE squabble between the Philippines and Taiwan, the Department of Tourism (DOT-6) still has hopes that the famed beach destination of Boracay Island will remain attractive to other nationalities.

“We should act proactively by attracting other markets,” said Atty. Helen Catalbas, DOT-6 regional director.

Taiwanese tourists have been cancelling their scheduled vacations in Boracay Island as a sign of protest after a Taiwanese fisherman was shot dead by Philippine Coast Guard personnel off the coast of Batanes last May 9.

Based on the 2012 arrival data, a total of 75,107 Taiwanese visited Boracay.

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Alleged pusher yields P250K worth of shabu

By: Jennifer Ponsaran-Rendon

A suspected drug pusher from Pasay City was arrested following a buy bust operation Tuesday afternoon in Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan.

Sergio Santiago, 34, of M. Dela Cruz St., Pasay City was arrested in a joint operation of the Aklan Police Provincial Office intelligence operatives and Boracay Tourist Assistance Center (BTAC).

The suspect, who rented a place at Sitio Lutugan, Brgy. Manoc-Manoc, was collared after handing over a shabu worth P1,000 to a police poseur buyer.

When frisked, the suspect yielded additional 19 plastic sachets of suspected shabu with estimated street value of aroundP250,000, drug paraphernalia, two mobile phones recording his illegal drug transactions, and P2,350 cash.

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Charged with violating the PDIC charter on conducting business in an unsafe and unsound manner were Banco Filipino chair and president Teodoro Arcenas, Jr., vice chair Albert Aguirre, executive vice president Maxy Abad, and executive vice president Catherine Aguirre-Hernandez.

Also charged were board directors Delfin Dimagiba, Ramon Montano, Orlando Samson, and Francisco Rivera.

Refusal to comply with banking laws

They were also charged with 26 counts of willful refusal to comply with banking laws and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas directives, including the appointment of two independent directors and holding of regular monthly board meetings.

Weeks after Banco Filipino was closed, the Bangko Sentral filed a criminal complaint alleging that Banco Filipino officials falsified and issued false statements to hide the true financial condition of the bank, willfully refused to file audited financial statements, and willfully refused to report DOSRI (directors, officers, stockholders and other related interest) loans.

The officials willfully failed to collect P2.99 billion of these loans although they have been past due for periods ranging from four years to seven years, the PDIC also claimed.

The complaint alleged that the respondents did not exert any effort to collect the loans even as Banco Filipino was already suffering from huge operational losses, adding that the bank spent P515.5 million in legal fees between 2008 and 2011 but not a single centavo was collected from these loans.

Banco Filipino, according to the complaint, advanced P37.556 million as real estate taxes for the collaterals to those loans.

“PDIC continues with its pursuit to bring to justice perpetrators of unsafe and unsound banking schemes,” the state-owned deposits insurer. (GMA News)

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Tipping point

May 23,2013 12:58 AM

By: Modesto Sa-onoy

THE stand-off between the Philippines and Taiwan on the death of the latter’s fisherman who was shot by the Philippine Coast Guard, is starting to escalate. From verbal demands of the Taiwanese government, the controversy has resulted in direct hostility of the Taiwanese against Filipinos who are working there. Read more...

Pavlovian Response

May 23,2013 12:56 AM

By: Alex P. Vidal

"BETWEEN stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." Viktor E. Frankl

The name Pavlov may make us want to cry "Dogs!" We would call this a Pavlovian response, but that would be oversimplifying the point made by the phrase's namesake, the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), stressed Dr. Michael Macrone, author of Eureka! Read more...

SELF –RELIANCE

May 23,2013 12:54 AM

By: Bonnie B. Barrientos

(The author is a Teacher III of Rizal Elementary School in Pontevedra, Capiz)

TRAIN EVERY child to be self-reliant. As much as possible, every child should be trained to self-reliance. By calling into exercise the various faculties, he will learn where he is strongest, and in what way he is deficient.

A wise teacher will give special attention to the development of a well-balanced, harmonious attitude. Read more...

THE HUNGER GAMES

May 23,2013 12:52 AM

By: Henrylito D. Tacio

“THERE is a lot that happens around the world we cannot control,” American Congressman Jan Schakowsky once said. “We cannot stop earthquakes, we cannot prevent droughts, and we cannot prevent all conflict, but when we know where the hungry, the homeless and the sick exist, then we can help.”

This statement came to mind while reading the report that there more Filipinos who are hungry than ever. Read more...

Safe drinking water - an unfinished agenda

May 23,2013 12:50 AM

By: Dr. Noeleen Heyzer

WITHOUT WATER there is no life. Clean drinking water and sanitation are basic human rights – essential to life and to all other rights. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation is a silent crisis that destroys livelihoods and claims more lives through illness than any war claims through guns. Read more...

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