Celso de Los Angeles tries to avoid jail?

Why is Celso de los Angeles still not in jail? He's supposed to be in jail after a court issued a warrant of arrest against him? His lawyer, Atty. Noel Malaya says that Celso de los Angeles suffers from stage 4 cancer. Whatta? Celso got cancer after people got wind of his syndicated or Ponzi scheme? Like Joc-Joc Bolante before him, Celso went to St. Luke’s Medical Center to avoid incarceration. St. Luke’s Medical Center is really having the reputation of being the “safe haven” of big-time schemers and scammers in this country.

Unlike Joc-Joc though, Celso will have to face the music though. Joc-Joc escaped prosecution because he knows many things and his crime was simply gift-giving—giving many syndicate members at the DA and in this administration billions of pesos worth of liquid fertilizers. Celso’s case is different. Aside from having links only as far as the Vice President’s office, Celso scammed even his closest friends. If Joc-Joc got only 700 million pesos, Celso’s scheme netted him 14 billion pesos. Wow.

What’s surprising, Celso and his lawyers just discovered that he has cancer shortly after learning a judge ruled in his behest a few days ago? Remember that previous to this, Celso even went to Sto. Domingo town in Albay to “resume his duties as mayor”. Residents of Sto Domingo did not seem to know that he has cancer.Now, after a few days, he suddenly went sick. Wow. Talk about transformations.

Is Celso and his lawyers plan to “wait it out” for Celso to reach the age of 70 years old to avoid jail time? Under the law, the courts would be constrained not to incarcerate De los Angeles due to “humanitarian reasons”. Is that the reason for the hospital arrest?

I would just believe Atty. Noel Malaya’s words that this is not the case, if he’ll allow his client to spend his time in jail while waiting for his next chemotheraphy session.

By the way, I ask citizens of this country to arrest the following people if they see them. Under the law, every citizen has the right to make citizen's arrests of those people wanted by the law.

A local Northern Mindanao court issued the first set of warrants of arrest against De los Angeles and 7 former executives of the Legacy Group of financial companies, which victimized thousands of investors nationwide.

The regional trial court of Misamis Oriental issued a warrant of arrest dated July 8 against the following:

1. Celso de los Angeles, Jr.
2. Roy Hilario
3. Edgardo Cando
4. Christine Antenor Cruz-Limpin
5. Namnama Pacetes-Santos
6. Casilio Ponciano Carpio
7. Eva Villapando
8. Carolina Hinola

The lower court did not allow bail.

The arrest warrant was from a syndicated estafa case filed by Lilian O'Connor of Xavier Estates and Cagayan de Oro Judge Epifanio Nacaya and wife Florina. O'Connor is said to have lost millions of pesos and the Nacaya couple some "hundreds of thousands" from the Legacy companies' double-your-money-in-3-years scheme.

Cagayan de Oro city prosecutor Fidel Macauyag said the warrants of arrest for the additional 9 former Legacy executives are likely to be issued next week.

String of cases

De los Angeles and Legacy officers have been facing about 50 civil and criminal cases from various Legacy investors and clients at local courts in different parts of the country. (Read timeline here)

Financial market regulators Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and the Securities and Exchange Commission have filed over 10 syndicated and large scale estafa cases at the Justice Department.

Preliminary investigations are still ongoing at the Justice Department, which is leading the intra-agency Task Force Legacy, would then determine if the cases filed have merit before filing these in the courts.

The justice department, which is aggregating cases built up by the various regulatory agencies, has earlier issued an order addressed to all regional state, provincial, and city prosecutors that all cases filed against De Los Angeles be centralized in its Manila headquarters.

Only those cases filed in Cagayan de Oro were exempted.

Court filing costs—which were considered steep by some Legacy depositors and investors in Cagayan de Oro—have pared down the previous 26 complaints to 2.

Local Madoff

De los Angeles is alleged to have masterminded a financial scam involving public funds deposited in his 12 rural banks and invested in his 3 pre-need companies and get-rich-quick schemes through an intricate web of interlocking corporations. Some of the siphooned funds—collectively worth over P30 billion—made its way into businesses with questionable business plans.

Previous senate hearings have revealed that some of the money culled from the public have also funded De los Angeles' political campaign expenses and his alimony for his estranged spouse. Politicians have taken on the cause of Legacy depositors and pre-need plan holders--a number of them lowly rural folks whose lifetime savings evaporated in a snap.

Taxpayers will have to shoulder some P14 billion-worth of deposit insurance for Legacy rural banks' clients. The other Legacy investors will have to wait for liquidation proceeds of the companies' and Legacy officers’ assets—if the courts eventually convict them.

Overseas Filipino workers, military and police personnel, and even the government are among those caught in the Legacy mess.

De los Angeles, currently an Albay town mayor, has been touted as the local version of American billion-dollar swindler, Bernard Madoff. The disgraced Wall Street financier, who faced 11 criminal counts, has been recently sentenced to 150 years in prison.

De los Angeles, however, remained scott-free. Until now.

In April, De los Angeles said he has stage 4 throat cancer, thus cannot attend preliminary investigations and court hearings.

Legacy: How do you want to be remembered?

In the not too distant future, expect to see some of those prominent names in the gallery of Congress in the obituary page of your favorite newspaper. Most of Philippine democracy's veteran fighters are ageing. Some have faded into oblivion, while others continue to serve us, albeit, without us really appreciating their work. Others, well, they all went away, either due to sickness (most Senators die of cancer) or old age.

Senate president Juan Ponce-Enrile is now 85 years old. Senator Joker Arroyo turned 82 last January 5. While last termer Senator Aquilino Pimentel is turning 76 by December.

Former president Fidel Valdes Ramos just turned 82, a tad younger than Enrile last March 18. These men figured prominently in our history for the last twenty years, all ran and won the confidence of the Filipino People after EDSA Uno.

Enrile and Ramos both launched the coup that changed Filipino history. Arroyo and Pimentel served under the revolutionary government after sacrificing their very futures just to uphold democracy. Most of their contemporaries have either faded to retirement (former Vice President Teofisto Guingona is one) while others, well, already died.

All of them are heroes. They continually hold the trust and confidence of the people simply because of their sterling record of public service. They all mouth the same desire for change. Yet, in all of those twenty years after EDSA uno, nothing has ever changed.

I wonder if these people ever think of going to a beach or a mountain and contemplate on what people would say as eulogies.

Will Enrile be remembered for his role as the defense secretary who defected to the other side at the last minute or will he be remembered for his staunch campaign against telecommunications companies?

How about Joker? Will people remember him as that fiery human rights lawyer of old who defended the defenseless and weak or his present role as an apologist of Mrs. Arroyo?

And speaking about Pimentel, how would he like to be remembered? As that strong-willed mayor of a town in faraway Mindanao or that senator who defended Senator Manny Villar against attacks by another colleague?

Lastly, how does FVR want to be remembered? As the general who jumped for joy after seeing his cousin leave office or the former head of state who nearly brought back the old glory of the Motherland? Or that ex-president who enjoys the tag as the most travelled one or a former head of state who stood his ground against forces critical of Mrs. Arroyo and even condoned the sins of this administration?

These men are, as they say, in their last days on earth. Will people be sad or happy? Will people curse them for promising much yet delivering so little? Or, will the People mourn their passing?

For Filipinos, Legacy is such a brutal word. Since the Legacy scandal broke out, Filipinos now see this word in a very bad light. What are the legacies of our present leaders? Are their legacies like those broken promises of Celso de los Angeles? It seems like it.

CAP meets requirements by giving 500 pesos

College Assurance Plan (CAP), the troubled pre-need company, published an ad saying that it is actively providing the educational benefits of its planholders. " Trust CAP to meet its commitment", says the ad. It announced that checks are already prepared for planholders to use in this year's enrolment.

However, what some planholder friends of mine told me that CAP is indeed trying to meet its commitment by providing 500 peso worth of checks. Yes, CAP gives 500 pesos to cover 25,000 peso tuition fees. Talk about trusting CAP to meet its numerous requirements.

CAP is like Mrs. Arroyo's administration which gives 500 as subsidy to impoverished folk. Or, like some scholarship fund which gives you book allowances.

Mrs. Arroyo should do some good and get the pre-need industry some fix. Fix the industry by getting all the assets of these troubled companies and re-structure them. Don't give them any stimulus package. You'll be doing the public a big disservice if you do that.

If Mrs. Arroyo do the right thing and jail at least two (2) officials of these pre-need companies, then, I'll also do the right thing and write praises for her.

Come to think of it, i'll write many articles of praise for anyone, any Philippine leader, who'll be able to jail these officials of pre-need companies.

First stop should be Celso delos Angeles Jr. who gypped 140,000 depositors of their money. Next on the line should be CAP officials who wasted their collective funds in high-risk instruments.

Legacy owner--campaign contributor of Gloria Arroyo?

In the recent Senate hearing on the Legacy scam issue, Senator Mar Roxas thundered why the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the SEC failed to prosecute Legacy owner Celso delos Angeles.

The good senator seems to insinuate that delos Angeles enjoys the protection of the high and mighty.

Since 1985, Delos Angeles was already blacklisted by the BSP yet managed to return to the banking sector.

Some say, the closeness between Delos Angeles and Speaker Prospero Nograles explains it, since even the brother of the Speaker was appointed as PDIC President.

Some even surmised that this Legacy thing is really a big syndicated racket, really designed to fail, so that Delos Angeles and his associates in the syndicate would be able to get 14 billion pesos of public money.

Imagine, Delos Angeles just invested a few millions to acquire certain banks and put it under the Legacy bank network. He then, crafted this double your money scheme to entice more depositors. When they collected these deposits, they then maneuvered to spread these deposits to other banks under the Legacy bank network, cutting them down into comfortable 250,000 peso accounts.

The PDIC meanwhile, said that 6.5 billion worth of Legacy bank deposits are questionable ones, suggesting that most probably these are just proxy deposits meant to defraud government of money.

Yet, despite these, PDIC is still willing to finance 14 billion of the people's money to finance the deposits of some 140,000 depositors.

Quite questionable, is'nt?

Why is it that delos Angeles remains a freeman until now? Why is government still adamant or refuses to arrest him and throw him in jail?

A lawyer friend of mine provided me an answer---Celso delos Angeles is a big contributor to the campaign kitties of certain officials, including.....Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

What Malacanang officials fear is the potential expose of certain receipts and documents showing campaign contributions of Mr. delos Angeles to certain personalities.

What if there's a pandora's box of statements which bear the code names of certain government officials, including Arroyo's?

This is starting to get really interesting. More on this in later entries.

Celso de los Angeles--sacrificial lamb?

Will Celso de los Angeles, the alleged chief architect of this monstrosity called Legacy Bank scam be sacrificed by his own syndicate members? It seems like it.

Two former executives of Boy Sese just went public today, further implicated the alleged "financial genius" as the "chief mastermind" behind the 14 billion peso financial scam.

Philip Reccio of the PEP Coalition says they have more ex-Legacy members who'll go public and expose Delos Angeles.

Some of these Legacy members blame Boy Sese for the mess and a certain "Butch". This "Butch" is said to be very close to Boy Sese. He reportedly headed the Dynamic Bank system, which closed shop like all other Legacy banks.

Butch is the key to the scam, some of my sources say.

This Butch owns huge tracts of land in Batangas, Laguna and Cavite, which were reportedly acquired using Legacy deposits. These lands were registered under his and Boy Sese's names, not with the bank's.

There are other properties which Butch and Boy Sese reportedly managed to put under their names last year.

Likewise, we heard that Cong. Ed Zialcita is not just a silent investor but a very active one. One of the PEP Coalition members told NPR that Zialcita reportedly served as Boy Sese's "protector" when the Rural Bank of Paranaque launched their double their money scheme. Zialcita also allegedly bridged some connections with the BSP.

With the emergence of these witnesses, some surmise that government officials behind this big syndicate which has Boy Sese as their poster boy, are willing to make a sacrificial lamb out of Boy Sese.

Some of these officials, retired generals and cops, want Boy Sese's head served on a platter. There are reports that a group of armed assassins have been deployed to abduct Boy Sese and squeeze information out of him.

This explains why Boy Sese has been out of the limelight since last week. First, reports say, he's calling up his contacts, asking them what's the way out and disposing of his properties before the State confiscates them and put his other companies under receivership and second, buffering his security.

But, do you know what I think? I think that nothing important will happen after this. Boy Sese will survive this, with his billions intact. It's just the way it is here in the Philippines.

BSP charges Celso delos Angeles with 1 billion syndicated estafa

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) just filed a 1 billion peso syndicated estafa charge against Legacy owner Celso "Boy Sese" delos Angeles. So, are we, the People, especially those 130,000 depositors scammed by this financial artist, satisfied with this?

No. Celso should be made to account for the 14 billion pesos he reportedly got from those double your money schemes he devised to scam people out of their shirts.

The BSP should modify their charge to 14 billion pesos syndicated estafa, instead of 1 billion.

Likewise, the warrant of arrest for Celso should be accomplished in haste, so that he'll not bail himself out of this one.

Celso's accomplices should also be summarily executed, err, arrested, especially officials of Dynamic Bank, particularly those involved in the marketing of this highly anomalous double your money scheme. According to reports, Dynamic Bank had the biggest exposure and the biggest take of deposits amounting to about 2.5 billion, so the officers of this bank should be charged and jailed with Boy Sese too.

A Manila Times report says that Sese operated one of the biggest syndicates in the Philippines. He heads this ruthless syndicate with impunity and even has the capability to kill their detractors.

The State should match their firepower with more lethal force. If Celso and the rest of those who scammed the Filipino People of 14 billion pesos resist arrest, the State should very well give them what's due to them immediately.

Yet, I doubt it if we'll see Boy Sese behind bars. Will Speaker Nograles allow his bosom buddy to spend time in jail?

The next chapter of this episode is predictable---Celso delos Angeles will escape the long-arm of the law and like Joc-Joc Bolante before, will try to seek refuge in the United States or Timbuktu. He'll probably enjoy his billions there, in the comforts of a villa.

Celso delos Angeles siphoned billions, says BSP

This is why 140,000 depositors are now suffering, due to the criminal acts of Mr. Celso delos Angeles, owner of Legacy banks and now lives off his life with billions stashed in other banks.

"Legacy owner siphoned billions, says BSP"
By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.Philippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 23:47:00 02/23/2009Filed Under: Banking, Financially Distressed Companies

The central bank, Bangko Sentral n Pilipinas (BSP), Monday accused Celso de los Angeles Jr., founder of the Legacy group, of siphoning billions of pesos in deposits from 12 now-shuttered rural banks of the group through fictitious loans, ghost motorcycle and car sales, and overpriced properties.

BSP supervision and examination department head Chuchi Fonacier told members of the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries how De los Angeles eluded regulators by juggling funds between the rural banks and non-bank companies and how he ran the Legacy group through dummy nominees and trusted lieutenants in key management positions.

“From day one, Celso de los Angeles had intended to have PDIC [Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.] answer for the deposits he had siphoned off should the Legacy banks fail,” Fonacier said.

The BSP said it would file charges against De los Angeles within the week.

Fonacier said De los Angeles initially lured depositors and investors by offering double-your-money schemes with yields of 34 percent and 74 percent for three and five year terms, respectively, with one-year interest paid in monthly checks. This resulted in a 44-percent jump in deposits for Legacy from 2006 to 2008, compared with 6-8 percent growth rates in other banks, he said.

Legacy also deployed agents to offer loans for motorcycles and cars sold by Legacy Motors with a commission of one to 10 percent, Fonacier said.

De los Angeles explained that Legacy offered to charge drivers P100 a day, or less than the P150-a-day boundary they paid tricycle operators. He claimed he was in a joint venture with a Chinese motorcycle maker who supplied him with affordable motorbikes.

Fonacier said most of the motorcycle loans were fictitious. He said Dynamic Bank, for instance, made P2.5 billion in motorcycle loans but records showed only 119 of the 44,172 borrowers received their units.

The modus operandi was duplicated in the banks’ real estate loans where individuals were paid a one percent-commission on loans they signed up for that were immediately transferred to De los Angeles’ Fusion Capital.

Fonacier said the borrowers were made to believe that Fusion would be liable for the loans but it turned out they were still the borrowers of record. She said 10 Legacy banks lent out P3.7 billion.

The loans were then converted into property assets by the Legacy banks, which the BSP has found to be grossly overvalued or nonexistent.

Fonacier said Legacy banks packaged these dubious assets and loans as long-term sales contracts to Legacy affiliates that were not covered by the BSP to evade its examiners and to show that the loans were all current and its capital was sufficient.

SAL of Legacy Owner should be used against him

There is one fact that the government should use against Celso delos Angeles Jr. to pin down this alleged schemer---tax cases and violation of the Local Government Code of the Philippines. As a public servant, Celso delos Angeles Jr. is mandated by law to divulge his assets and liabilities. That SAL should be checked by the authorities to see if there are anomalous entries there that would merit a case.

Likewise, what about tax payments? If delos Angeles has billions of pesos in assets, surely, if he is a dutiful citizen, file and pay the proper and necessary taxes? Did he pay the proper taxes?

Some people suggested that forfeiture proceedings should be used against Celso so that he'll not be able to dispose of his properties while an investigation is ongoing. That, I believe, is the right approach. Malacanang should form a special investigation panel and within thirty days, issue a resolution.

What's important at this point is for Malacanang to show to the people that it is hard on those who violate the law. They should sacrifice Boy Sese.

Celso delos Angeles Jr. should be jailed

Celso de los Angeles Jr., the beleguered Legacy Group owner and alleged architect of the 14 billion peso rural bank scandal is laughing himself all the way to the bank. After destroying the rural banking system, delos Angeles Jr. now is planning to file an insolvency case to avoid the State to get hold of his billions. This criminal genius, as one Congressman accused him of, is now again using the law as a refuge against those who want justice. For five years, he has prevented the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) from instituting measures against him, allowing the mayor of Albay to continue offering the double your money scheme, leading to the sudden ballooning and subsequent siphoning off of billions of pesos from the banks to his personal cache.

What is so deplorable about this is the fact that the media is protecting this schemer. A source revealed that Celso delos Angeles Jr has retained the services of his old PR team to mitigate the effects of his pronouncements before the media. Celso, who is also known as "Boy Sese", has been heard bragging about his billions. He even told one that the government is sure to protect him from anything, even legal suits.

Let me also say here that the Philippine Deposit Insurance Commission (PDIC) has started giving insurance money to Legacy bank depositors. Meaning, the PDIC is now using public money to cover Celso delos Angeles Jr.

PDIC shouls stop paying up and instead, review the banks' records first before forking out public money. PDIC should first institute forfeiture proceedings against the properties of Celso delos Angeles Jr. and then, pay up Legacy depositors. That way, at least we feel that justice has been served.

False Angels, fallen devils

If accusations against him are to be believed, John Resado could have been our crusading angel, protecting us from those drug pushers. How hath the angels have fallen into the depths of the roots of the poisonous tree.

If accusations against him are just mere propaganda, Celso delos Angeles could have been our financial angel, helping us survive the effects of money problems and possibly help us fund the education of our kids. How hath the angels have fallen into the morass of greed and more greed.

If accusations against him are just mere disinformation, Joc-Joc Bolante would have helped feed millions of Filipinos. Those billion peso fertilizers could have fertilized the dry and flaking earth and it could have led to a sprouting of millions of plants and rice. How hath we suffered from angels who fell from heaven and cursed the earth that they walk upon.

These people are now being tried in those congressional hearings, yet they continue their lives without threat to their existence nor property.

These hearings are destroying the very foundations of government. The DOJ extortion case harms the confidence of the people in their justice system. While this latest pre-need scam, highlighted by the fall of Legacy Consolidated, shows how dirty this industry has become. The entire thing is like a dirty, filthy syndicated operation which hides behind the unmajesty of the law. Worse, we now know how dirty is the Central Bank is, if we are to believe Celso delos Angeles, the owner of Legacy, who is described as a "criminal genius" by one Congressman.

This criminal genius, if allowed to continue his nefarious deeds, might drag this government down with him. He's threatening to spill the beans to deflect the attention from him. It's a desperate move, the kind only jueteng lords do when faced with another, much bigger jueteng lord. He's blaming everybody except himself, that one distinguishable trademark of a person having a criminal mind.

And why do I say that these scams are destroying government itself? We may not see soldiers marching to overthrow Arroyo nor Communist rebels storming Malacanang tomorrow or in the next few days or weeks. What we are seeing is the slowly dissipating consumer trust and confidence not just with government agencies, but the entire financial system. This is alarming since this will lead to lesser financial transactions and lower inflow of funds, from private individual hands to banks.

A fully damaged financial industry will surely affect the entire economy. The banking industry is being bled dry. The more government misfeases or infeases, the worse this will become. Will fresh capital infusion do the trick? No. Not even a trillion pesos will ever regain trust.

Government should first jail this Celso delos Angeles to tell all the people that it means business. That this government is a fair and just one and those who err on the side of the law expects no less than death as punishment for their crimes.

Senators and Congressmen are toothless tigers

Celso delos Angeles Jr, the alleged architect of the now infamous Legacy banks scam, has now surfaced. He's ready, according to his lawyers, to spill the beans. What beans will he supposedly spill? Well, reportedly the reason why his banks closed and his businesses shut down. At the Senate and the House committees investigating the Legacy scam, delos Angeles was a picture of a saint, a man without sin.

He blamed the Bangko Sentral, calling them extortionists. He pointed at the media, blaming them for diluting the trust of the people in his banks and pre-need companies. And then, he pointed to God for not allowing a lucrative sale with a Swiss bank last year. Given the chance, delos Angeles would have probably blamed even Regine Tolentino for breaking up with him.

Delos Angeles' bold statements show one thing--he thinks that everything is just a voudaville and all these things will blow over. Like Joc-Joc Bolante and DOJ Prosecutor John Resado, he'll enjoy his billions after these hearings. What's a few curses or some dramatic scolding from the senators, these legislators are toothless. What's a few verbal assaults? That's nothing compared with the billions Delos Angeles now owns.

Some sectors believe that Delos Angeles is still a financial genius, like what his friends, especially Speaker Prospero Nograles says about him. Reports say that he redirected the monies from the trust fund and spread it to his other companies not affliated with the Legacy group. By redirecting the funds into his own personal turf, he now legally owns the billions given by Legacy Consolidated Plan holders for their non-life and life policies.

While more than 15,000 Legacy planholders hold empty promises in their hands, delos Angeles sleeps soundly at night, secured by his billions and managing more than thirty more companies. A senator said that Delos Angeles is operating a nationwide racket, akin to pyramiding. He's the head honcho of the biggest syndicate in the Philippines, yet, no one is touching him.

Maybe it's time to call the Partisano or even the YOUng. Let those who bleed the people dry with their schemes suffer from their sin.

Now, do we expect things to change after these senate and house hearings on the scam? Nothing will come out of it. Look at these scroundrels, the likes of Resado, Bolante and Delos Angeles. They hide behind the law. Yet, they don't really realize the impact or the effect of their acts. It's a shame that these people continue to wantonly do these things under the pretense of legality.