THE groups of investors in the Davao area who claim to have invested money in pre-need services and double-your-money schemes of the controversial Legacy Group of Companies have swelled to five assisted by different law firms.
This developed as investors in General Santos City and neighboring areas came out and also sought legal assistance.
Another startling development is the reported testimony of a former Davao City-based Legacy vice president for marketing in the Senate hearing on the Legacy conducted by Senator Mar Roxas.
Davao City Councilor Peter T. Lavina who was requested by Senator Roxas to gather Legacy investors for a forum last February 28 said the huge money involved in the Legacy schemes will “surely have an effect of our local economy, because aside from their money becoming idle or lost, it has eroded the confidence of our local business people in investing their money in pre-need, in banks and other financial schemes.” Councilor Lavina said “this will have an impact on the trust and confidence of the business sector in such financial instrumentalities.”
He said more than 300 Legacy investors showed up during the forum called by Roxas, many of them have not yet joined any group under a particular lawyer .
Lavina said the lawyers handling Legacy cases under different groups are Ramon Edison Batacan, the biggest group; Israelito Torreon; Rollie B. Dumalag and Cynthia C. Doromal; Jeoffrey Koronel in the office of Councilor Mabel Acosta; Philip Pantojan and Alexis Lumbatan.
He said that victims of Legacy in General Santos City and neighboring areas in Region 12 have likewise signified intention to take collective action to recover millions of pesos invested in the double-your-money schemes offered by the controversial group of companies.
It was estimated that based on the figures disclosed of those who claimed they have invested in Legacy, the total investors’ money in Legacy could reach billions of pesos.
Lawyer Ed Batacan, who is currently governor for Eastern Mindanao of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, said his law firm is right now studying hundreds of Legacy cases.
He said he is trying to determine who among the alleged victims are deserving to be given free legal assistance. He said he is willing to offer his services pro bono to victims who can not afford to hire lawyers, but those who can afford have to pay for the legal services.
Earlier, Torreon said his group represents more than 200 Legacy clients whose money invested in the double-your-money schemes can reach a total of P250 million.
While those represented by lawyers Dumalag and Doromal are less than 40 people, their total investment is bigger, easily more than P400 million.
It was not learned how much money has been invested by alleged Legacy victims who sought the legal assistance of lawyers Pantojan and Lumbatan and those represented by lawyer Koronel.
In Davao City last February 28, Senator Roxas said he would do his best to force beleaguered investor Celso delos Angeles, president of the controversial company, to give them back their money.
The Liberal Party senator made the commitment after getting hold of the affidavit of Myrna Castillo-Axalan, former vice president for marketing of the Legacy Consolidated Plans Inc., one of the companies of the Legacy Group.
Roxas, chair of the Senate committee on trade and commerce, has already started the investigation on the controversy surrounding the company with Axalan testifying at the hearing last March 2.
Other aggrieved investors have filed similar cases against the company following the failed “double-your-money” schemes.
Axalan, who spent six years with the company, admitted that she was convinced that its scheme was fraudulent and victimized thousands of innocent investors and planholders.
“Now, I find the Legacy Products of Mr. delos Angeles really designed to defraud us, by the very fact that in spite of the generous promises of high returns, investors and planholders got nothing, while Mr. delos Angeles still maintains a high standard of living with his luxury cars, mansions, yacht, and other worldly amenities and expensive material possessions,” she added.
The damning point in Axalan’s affidavit was that it was Delos Angeles who “personally designed and created” the “products and programs” of the company. In supporting her claim, Axalan said Delos Angeles “would be the one to personally explain and discuss to use the mechanisms and features of the said Legacy Products and Programs,” and that when these products were presented, he and members of the executive committee would always be present.
“Mr. delos Angeles would also categorically and clearly declare during the presentations at the Marcom (marketing committee) meeting that said Legacy products or programs were his very own creations and innovations,” she said, adding that it was also delos Angeles who would present the products to investors.
Axalan, however, admitted that she never questioned the motive of delos Angeles nor doubted his innovative products “even if its returns were unbelievable considering that they were unusually high.” “Little did I know that I would be mistaken in trusting Mr. delos Angeles and his products, which turned out to be just mere devious ploys to defraud investors, including myself, and planholders of our hard-earned money and savings, much to our great damage and prejudice,” she added.
In Manila, two former Legacy executives announced last Thursday their willingness to tell the truth about the financial collapse of the Legacy Group and are set to testify at the Senate after Roxas officially took them into protective custody.
Carol Hinola and Namnama Pasetes, record keepers of the LCPI, said that despite the intimidation they have suffered, they decided to spill the beans about how the multibillion-peso funds of investors and plan holders were siphoned off and funneled into the pockets of Angeles.
Hinola used to be the senior vice president and chief operating officer of LCPI and also chief executive officer of other Legacy companies while Santos is the president and chairman of the LCPI, and formerly chief finance officer and director of several companies in the Legacy Group.
Meanwhile, a monetary official said closure of the 14th rural bank allegedly involved with the Legacy Group may not be the last.
It can be recalled that the policy-making monetary board (MB) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) issued a closure order last February 26 for the Rural Bank of Polangui (RBPI), based in Albay province, and placed it under receivership of the state-insurer Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC).
BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said that perhaps most of the banks being operated illegally by the group of businessman and Santo Domingo, Albay Mayor Celso de los Angeles have been closed down “but not all of it.”
He explained that “the Legacy Group is surprising in terms of hiding the activities but I think this issue is now very focused.”
“It’s just a matter of pursuing what the law requires,” he said.
BSP officials have filed several cases including a P1-billion syndicated estafa case against De los Angeles and other officials of the Legacy Group for duping depositors of their money in what is considered a complex pyramiding scheme.
Lawmakers are also conducting investigations on the operation of the Legacy Group.
Espenilla said the crisis that came out of this situation is not systemic because they “are dealing with a very specific group of banks whose business model has been a major concern for BSP even prior to the financial turmoil.”
Closure of the rural banks allegedly involved with Legacy may be big news in Manila but this is not the case in some parts of Bicol, he said, because people there “are aware that something is amiss.”
For RBPI alone, the bank, said to be established in April 1965, offered 20 percent monthly interest on deposits for minimum placements of P250,000 since last year.
This is unusual since the average monthly deposit interest being offered by major banks to date is around two percent. [With reports from Philippine News Agency]
