Thursday, January 22, 2009

http://abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/01/22/09/depositors-legacy-banks-may-get-claims-starting-mid-feb

Depositors of Legacy banks may get claims starting mid-Feb

By CARINE M. ASUTILLA, ABS-CBN News Central Visayas | 01/22/2009 9:33 PM

In about three weeks, depositors of rural banks under the Legacy Group of Companies may be able to get their insurance claims after these banks closed last month.

Lawyer Inocencio De La Cerna Jr. of Legacy Group of Companies said that probably in the middle of February, Philippine Deposits Insurance Corporation (PDIC) will start paying the depositors of the closed rural banks.

He said that the PDIC are almost done verifying the bank deposits.

While the depositors may be able to get their insurance claims, of which P250,000 is the maximum, investors of their pre-need companies however will not be assured that they will recover their investments fully.

De La Cerna said that last December, nine of the corporations under the Legacy Group of Companies have already filed a petition for dissolution before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

These corporations are; Legacy Consolidated Plans Incorporated, One Realty Corporation, Galaxy Realty and Holdings Incorporated, Conventional Realty Corporation, Scholarship Plan Philippines Incorporated, Fusion Capital Corporation, Shining Armour Property Incorporated and Legacy Consolidated Asset Holdings Incorporated.

The voluntary dissolution of the nine corporations that made up the legacy Group of Companies, excluding the rural banks, would mean that the SEC will assign a liquidator to sell all the properties of the corporations which will be turned over to SEC. After the properties will be sold out, the remaining assets of the corporations will be given back to the investors.

De La Cerna said that this will not guarantee that the investors will be fully paid with their investments since the company’s asset is not sufficient to accommodate the investors.

De La Cerna said that the legal process on the said petition of the nine corporations has already started. He said that the investors will be given notices by the SEC when they can file their claims before the SEC office in Manila.

De La Cerna said that all the corporations have submitted the list of the names of their investors to SEC when they filed the petition. He urged the investors that they should check if their names were in the list of their investors. He said that if their names are not indicated, they can file complaint to SEC.

De La Cerna said that as the legal process of the petition is ongoing, filing a criminal, administrative, or civil law suit against any of the corporations would only mean a waste of time and money for the investors. He said that since the corporations were the first ones to file the dissolution, any complaint to be filed would be held in abeyance. SEC currently has jurisdiction over the matter, he said.

De La Cerna said that those who have been investing in the corporations for over three years have already gotten more than what they have invested. Those who were only able to invest for a year however may have not yet gotten back their investments, he added.

as of 01/22/2009 9:33 PM

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