Davao Sur bank goes under receivership; laborers, store owners left hanging

DIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur, Philippines – Hundreds of depositors here have been trooping to the Rural Bank of Hagonoy Inc. in Barangay (village) Guihing in Hagonoy, Davao del Sur for two weeks now in the hopes of withdrawing their hard-earned money but went home without getting a centavo.

Loloy Diabordo, Hagonoy town information officer, said most of those wanting to withdraw money were small time depositors – mainly laborers or sari-sari store owners.

“What greeted them was a large-sized notice that the bank is now under receivership by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and that they could not just withdraw their money until due diligence had been conducted,” Diabordo said.

Diabordo said among the bank’s larger depositors was the Parents-Teachers Association of the Hagonoy National High School. He chairs the association but he would not say how much money from the group was deposited with the RBHI.

RBHI, chaired by businessman Felix Maceda, was founded in February 1974 and was among the pioneering banks in Davao del Sur.

But two weeks ago, the bank was found insolvent and taken over by the PDIC.

“It has gone bankrupt but we were not aware. It continued operation up to the last minute,” Diabordo added.

The closure of the RBHI, the total deposits of which was still being determined, nearly triggered massive withdrawals at the Rural Bank of Digos Inc. (RBDI) on the depositors’ belief the two banks had the same owner.

But Giovanni Gino Gabriente, vice president of RBDI here, said their clients had nothing to worry because the said bank is not an affiliate.

Gabriente also said RBDI’s financial status has remained sound and has been consistently cited as a well-managed bank by the Land Bank of the Philippines.

“Recently, RBDI received yet another recognition from LBP for being financially stable,” he said.