Depositors of the closed Legacy rural banks have little reason to rejoice when the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) announced on March 9 that all depositors, including those with deposit balances of more than P100,000.00, can now submit claims.
That’s because according to the PDIC, “payment of valid claims shall be mailed.”
Now, it takes only a bit of common sense to know that sending payment cheques via mail is not a good idea.
Let us first remind the PDIC that they are mandated by law to pay insured depositors either through cash or deposit to another insured bank. As per Section 14 of Republic Act 3951 or the PDIC Charter:
Whenever an insured bank shall have been closed by the Monetary Board pursuant to Section 30 of R.A. 7653, payment of the insured deposits on such closed bank shall be made by the Corporation as soon as possible either (1) by cash or (2) by making available to each depositor a transferred deposit in another insured bank in an amount equal to insured deposit of such depositor.
Payment by cheque would be acceptable but sending it via postal service would definitely open a can of worms.
Has not the PDIC heard of mails being lost or stolen? In the past, several Filipino online earners reported that their payment cheques from Google Adsense were stolen — and even encashed by other people in another city!
Is not the PDIC aware that regular mail normally takes weeks, sometimes months, before it reaches the recipient? Are they really intent on prolonging the suffering of Legacy depositors?
Take a stand right now and show PDIC your opposition to this plan. Support the petition of PMT members:
We, the depositors of the closed rural banks of the Legacy Group, vehemently object to any plan of the PDIC to send payment cheques via mail.
The mail delivery system in the Philippines is, regrettably, inefficient and unsafe. If the PDIC decides to mail the claims payment, this would no doubt bring more harm than benefit to Legacy depositors who have already suffered enough.
Add your support to this petition by posting a comment below.
More discussions on Legacy-related issues:
