Enrile urges attachment of Legacy assets and resignation of SEC Officials

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday directed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Fe Barin, as well as other concerned government agencies, to cause the attachment of the properties and assets of Legacy Group founder Celso delos Angeles, including his P200-million house and lot in Alabang.

Describing the Legacy scandal as a "cancerous growth" which needs to be excised, Enrile told Barin that palliative measures against Legacy would no longer do, stressing the need for the group's assets to be secured by the SEC so that claimants against Legacy can draw from them in the future.

The Senate chief said that if chair Fe Barin, commissioner Jesus Martinez, director Jose Aquino cannot do their job of regulating the industry and protecting the public, which is a mandate of the SEC, then honor demands that they tender their resignation.

Also during the hearing, Enrile castigated SEC commissioner Jesus Martinez to resign after he admitted that his son had transactions with the Legacy group. Martinez admitted that he was assigned by the SEC to oversee the Legacy group.

Later, in a conference with media, Enrile said that all SEC commissioners and officials concerned with overseeing the Legacy group ought to resign.

Aside from the SEC, Enrile said the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) must move quickly on the assets and properties of Legacy and its officials led by Delos Angeles.

Legacy stands accused of using its investment and pre-need companies, as well as its rural banks, to defraud its clients of billions in pesos.

During yesterday's senate hearing, two former officials of the group, Carolina Hiñola and Namnama Pacetes Santos, left open the possibility that Delos Angeles may have used clients' money to get himself elected mayor of the town of Sto. Domingo, Albay in 2007.

Hiñola and Santos made the revelations under intense questioning by Enrile. They said Delos Angeles ordered them to release P13 million at the height of the 2007 election campaign period, the purpose of which was kept secret to them by the Legacy founder.

The P13 million reportedly came from the Legacy Consolidated Plans, Inc., of which Hiñola used to serve as chief executive officer.

Hiñola claimed that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) member Jesus Martinez received bribes from Delos Angeles, including a P5-million house and lot which Martinez allegedly gave to his son.

To substantiate her claim against the SEC official, Hiñola showed the Senate committee chaired by Senator Mar Roxas copies of P3 million worth of checks and vouchers.

The money allegedly given to Martinez was sourced from the Rural Bank of San Jose, one of the many rural banks of Legacy that had folded up.

Reportedly, Delos Angeles had also supported the election in 2004 of a very high government official.