CHIZ URGES SWIFT ACTION ON PEP COALITION COMPLAINT VS. RCBC

Senator Chiz Escudero on Tuesday called on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to move with urgency in acting on the complaint filed by a coalition of parents against the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) for the alleged misuse of the trust fund of Pacific Plans, Inc. (PPI).

PEP Coalition president Philip Piccio said the group filed the complaint last Thursday against the RCBC for "gross violation of the General Banking Law of 2000 and other BSP regulations" with the Bangko Sentral. The group said when PPI, a sister company of RCBC, allegedly placed the funds of the planholders in the bank which later on invested it in another company owned by the Yuchengcos, it constituted "a prohibited transaction."

The group also alleged that the trust funds were misused to the extent that only the interests of the YGC Group of Companies were protected.

"BSP should act with dispatch, as the parents belonging to this coalition continue to suffer up from the failure of PPI to make good its promise to pay for the education of their children up to this day," Escudero said.

The senator said that banks, because of the fiduciary relationship it has with the public, should be strictly regulated by the government in order to protect the interest of depositors.

"If the charges of the PEP Coalition have basis, then BSP should look into them and commence the necessary corrective actions against RCBC. The BSP exercises quasi-judicial powers over banks, and the allegations against RCBC are very serious in nature that merits an intensive investigation," Escudero explained.