The Regional Trial Court Bacolod City is set to arraign Alexis Petralba on June 21, 2012 for estafa charges filed by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), the Receiver of the Nation Bank. Petralba is an executive of various Legacy banks including Rural Bank of Carmen, RB of Bais and Pilipino RB. These banks are part of the 12 Legacy affiliated banks closed almost simultaneously in December 2008.

Petralba jumped bail in October 2010 and was on the run for years until his capture in Bohol in February 2012.

Petralba is co-accused with the still at large Legacy Group Atty. Christine A. Cruz-Limpin and the late Legacy owner Celso delos Angeles in a string of criminal cases pending before the courts. Petralba has been arraigned in the RTC Danao for two estafa cases involving RB of Carmen, Inc., another Legacy-affiliated bank.

The information in the Bacolod case Criminal Case No. 10-33594 states that Petralba, delos Angeles, and Limpin were charged of conspiring to defraud Nation Bank in the amount of P56 million through a combination of overt and criminal acts. Petralba ran the operations of Nation Bank.

According to the complaint, Petralba, delos Angeles and Limpin made it appear that brothers Jose, Marciano, Nicolas, Jesus and Geronimo Solinap borrowed P56 million from the bank and used Hacienda Busay, a farmland located in Bago City, Negros Occidental, as collateral, when in fact, the brothers sold said property to delos Angeles. The labyrinthine transactions of fictitious and simulated loans, sale, and mortgage involving Hacienda Busay, during a two-year period from 2006 to 2008, defrauded Nation Bank of P56 million in funds.

PDIC is vigorously pursuing cases against erring officials of the Legacy banks and the estate of the late delos Angeles to ensure that the accountable officers are put behind bars and assets are recovered in favor of the Legacy banks’ creditors.

The closure of the Legacy banks cost the government P11.7 billion in public funds which the PDIC used to pay deposit insurance claims. The PDIC is not expecting to recover the billions of insurance payments made to depositors against the assets of the closed Legacy banks since the realizable value of the remaining assets of said banks was estimated at only P587.3 million.

The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) was established on June 22, 1963 by Republic Act 3591 to provide depositor protection and help maintain stability in the financial system by providing permanent and continuing deposit insurance. Effective June 1, 2009, the maximum deposit insurance coverage is P500,000 per depositor. All deposit accounts by a depositor in a closed bank maintained in the same right and capacity shall be added together. A joint account shall be insured separately from any individually-owned deposit account.

PDIC news/press releases and other information are available at the website, www.pdic.gov.ph.