Courts convict former officers of closed Sarangani rural lender

Three courts in General Santos City, South Cotabato have convicted former officers of the closed Sarangani Rural Bank, Inc. (SRBI) for violating the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Manual of Regulations for Banks (MORB), the General Banking Law of 2000, and the Revised Penal Code.

For participating in fraudulent transactions with fictitious loans, the city’s Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 60 has convicted former SRBI president and manager Francisco L. Laiz, Jr.; former loans bookkeeper Marydelle C. Arbilo; former loans clerk Annalyn C. Brumo; and former account officer Charity B. Villa. Also convicted were the SRBI credit committee members, namely, former loans supervisor Arsenia C. Dela Cruz and former general bookkeepers Mizpah C. Santos and Lilibeth B. Girado.

The court sentenced the accused to six years’ imprisonment and ordered each to pay a fine of P50,000.00, with perpetual disqualification from holding employment in any of the BSP-supervised financial institutions.

The city’s RTC Branch 55 has convicted former technical assistant Justino G. Tamala, Jr. for violating provisions in the BSP’s MORB and for falsification of public and commercial documents.

Tamala was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and to pay a fine of P50,000.00 for each of the five counts of the charges against him with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.

Moreover, the Municipal Trial Court in Cities, Branch 2 in General Santos City convicted Laiz, Arbilo, Brumo, Villa, Dela Cruz, and Santos for falsification of public and commercial documents. They were sentenced to one year and eight months’ imprisonment; and to pay a fine of P3,000.00 each.

The BSP continues to foster the soundness of the financial system and safeguard the interest of the general public by ensuring good governance among its supervised financial institutions.