Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) President Jose C. Nograles announced that payout for deposit insurance claims of depositors of the Rural Bank of Parañaque, Inc. (RBPI) started on December 22, 2008. “We are prioritizing the small depositors, in line with our mandate, and are initially paying claims for deposit insurance of depositors with savings accounts of P100,000 or less”, he said. Nograles assured depositors that PDIC will pay all valid claims. He also stressed that PDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) is sufficient to pay all valid claims for deposit insurance.

PDIC was able to start payout despite the voluminous number of deposit accounts. With the simultaneous closure of 14 other banks by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas which the PDIC also had to attend to as statutory receiver and deposit insurer, PDIC has to examine and evaluate over 135,000 deposit accounts. Nograles said that PDIC personnel assigned to RBPI worked overtime to undertake receivership and examination activities.

The examination of available bank records is critical in enabling PDIC to complete the masterlist of insured deposits. Staff of the Division in charge of Receivership and Liquidation were augmented with staff from other Divisions to speed up operations. They had to gather, trace and evaluate voluminous bank records. This is a prerequisite to claims payout. Nograles said that PDIC’s paramount concern is to pay valid claims of depositors at the soonest possible time to provide them immediate relief.

“However, as in any claim for insurance, we need to examine bank records and evaluate these to verify their validity. This is done before we can begin payout in order to safeguard the DIF and to protect depositors by ensuring that payments are made to the right persons”, he said. PDIC will make subsequent announcements regarding depositors with accounts in excess of P100,000.