BROADCASTER-ENTREPRENEUR Anthony Taberna continues to hold out hope for a just resolution of his case against EastWest Bank, which he accused before the central bank of allowing unauthorized fund transfers—a total of P15.38 million—to the former finance officer of the successful food business he had built up for years.
The Taberna case is seen as an acid test of the regulators’ will to strictly enforce the newly minted Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act, which regulators like Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Securities and Exchange Commission, had actively prodded the 18th Congress to pass, citing the over 40,000 complaints of financial consumers between 2019 and 2021.
Taberna earlier pressed the BSP to act on his administrative complaint against EastWest and Gualberto Baluyut, the manager of its UP Village branch, for allowing Ernie Patrick Aquino, his former finance officer, to siphon off millions without his knowledge and consent in a series of unauthorized fund transfers between August 2018 and November 2020.
This was apparently done because, as Taberna alleged in his complaint-affidavit, Aquino—after convincing Taberna to open a payroll account with the UP Village Branch for Taberna Foods under EastWest’s e-credit facility—was able to open seven other bank accounts under Taberna Foods. This, without submitting to the bank a secretary’s certificate or board resolution.
“Baluyut allowed the opening of all the accounts notwithstanding the fact that they pertained to different branches of Ka Tunying’s Café throughout Luzon. Despite lack of authority and supporting documents, Baluyut allowed the operning of these accounts in clear violation of existing banking regulations,” Taberna said, referring to the EastWest manager.
A subsequent review indicated that many transfers were made on random dates that were outside payroll periods, even though it was a payroll facility. As finance officer, Aquino, stressed Taberna, had no authority to approve fund transfers beyond payroll payments.
Baluyut in his counteraffidavit denied all of Taberna’s allegations, insisting that he got to know Aquino only when the latter approached him about opening the payroll account, contrary to Taberna’s claim that Aquino persuaded him to open the account because he knew the branch manager well.
Taberna said earlier the bank was included in the complaint at BSP because it never informed the client-company about the apparent irregularity.
The administrative complaint Taberna filed is handled by the Consumer Protection and Market Conduct Office of the BSP, which the broadcast journalist earlier called out for inaction on his case more than a year since its filing.
Efforts by media entities to get a reply from BSP have thus far gone unanswered.
Still, Taberna was earlier reported as saying he could consider withdrawing the criminal case he filed in court if that is the one thing that stymies the central bank from presiding over a process to resolve the case he filed with it.
The 18th Congress had rushed passage of the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act, signed into law on May 6, 2022, by then-President Rodrigo Duterte.
During congressional deliberations, officials of the BSP and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had asked lawmakers to rush its passage to give them a wider arsenal for dealing with financial fraud and misconduct by financial institutions, including banks.
Then BSP Governor (now Finance secretary) Benjamin Diokno, appearing before the Senate Banks committee, urged senators to rush passage of the measure, which he said will “protect every Juan and Maria making financial transactions.” As things stand, he said, regulators like BSP, SEC and Insurance Commission have limited means for running after wrongdoers or those who abuse consumers of financial products, including bank deposits.
The BSP, in fact, has been swamped with so many—42,456—complaints in 2020 and 2021; and the cumulative total of money involved in the complaints from 2019 to 2021 amount to P2 billion, Diokno told senators then.
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