Mrs. Arroyo should fight De Los Angeles

Another former Legacy top executive, a lady, appeared out of nowhere yesterday and tried to smear the integrity of the two previous ones, now under the Witness protection custody of the Senate. She said that the former Legacy CEO should also be held accountable for what happened since she reportedly shared power and the proceeds of the scam with scam artist Celso "Boy Sese" delos Angeles.

Now, there's an interesting sidelight. Lady exec fighting her former boss, another lady exec.

Celso is now being protected by ladies. He was, admittedly, a former lady's man. (Remember his association with Regine Tolentino?)

Anyway, there should be no letup.

Mrs. Arroyo should lead the campaign and strip Celso delos Angeles and his cohorts of all their properties and given to the State for disposal.

If Mrs. Arroyo succumbs to pressures being exerted by the Speaker's brother who heads the PDIC to use public money to fund the 14 billion peso scam, I will personally lead a campaign that would put an end to this ridiculous and inhumane crime.

Public money should not used as a foil to pay for the schemes of Boy Sese. No. That is outright stupidity and a clear case of highway robbery.

Enough is enough.

This is the time when Mrs. Arroyo should show her sincerity in fighting graft and corruption. She should not stop only by asking SEC officials to go on leave.

She should mobilize the full forces of the State to go after Boy Sese and his accomplices. She should strip him of all his power, his wealth and his influence. Otherwise, Boy Sese will definitely bring her administration down with him.

I pity Celso's lawyer, Noel Malaya. In his interview yesterday, the good attorney was tongue tied trying to defend his indefensible client. He tried to but failed.

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.

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.