IT’S “business as usual” for beleaguered courier and remittance service firm LBC group amid a court order attaching the group’s assets in line with a P1.8-billion collection claim filed by the state-owned Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. on behalf of a defunct banking affiliate.
In light of the civil case involving PDIC as receiver of LBC Development Bank, LBC Express Inc. said in a press statement that it “would like to assure the public that this matter is being dealt with accordingly” and that this unit was “as always, business as usual.”
“We expect that all incidental difficulties to be resolved within the next few days,” said LBC Express, which is led by the Araneta family.
Based on a disclosure posted on Monday, publicly-listed LBC Express Holdings Inc. said the Regional Trial Court of Makati branch 143 had issued a writ of preliminary attachment against certain parties, including its parent company LBC Development Corp. and subsidiary LBC Express in relation to PDIC’s collection case for unpaid service fees. Other defendants in this case are LBC Properties Inc., Juan Carlos Araneta, Santiago Araneta, Fernando Araneta, Monica Araneta, Carlos Araneta, Ma. Eliza Berenguer, Ofelia Cuevas, Apolonia Ilio, Joseph Jeffrey Rodriguez and Arlan Jurado.
The writ of preliminary attachment directed the sheriff of the court to attach real and personal properties of any of the defendants sufficient to satisfy the plaintiff’s claim and costs of suit, unless the defendants provide security to satisfy any final judgment in the case.
“While it is unfortunate that LBC Express Inc. has been involved in this case, the company, through proper legal counsel, has thoroughly assessed the situation, and will exhaust all legal remedies to resolve this matter as soon as possible,” LBC Express said.
In the meantime, LBC Express said it continued to exert “utmost effort to fully attend to the needs of its customers, and ensure regular ongoing operations.”
“We are, as we have always been, focused on our customers, and we will stop at nothing to ensure total customer satisfaction. Given how important and integral our services are to millions of Filipino lives, businesses, and communities both here and abroad, we shall continue to serve with the high level of service that our brand has been known for, for well over 60 years,” the company said.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ordered the closure of LBC Development Bank in 2011, citing huge advances to LBC Express as part of the reason why the thrift bank had become insolvent. The PDIC, as the mandated receiver of the defunct bank, is thus now running after such “unpaid service fees” estimated at P1.8 billion.