OF the thousands of Dabawenyos allegedly swindled by Legacy Group, 958 victims have filed either money claims or complaints for estafa against the personalities behind the multi-billion peso double-your-money countrywide operation.
This was learned from lawyer Javey Paul Francisco, region 11 director of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the office which received and processed the claims and complaints before forwarding them to SEC Manila.
Francisco said some 900 complaints for claims for partial refund of the premiums paid by the victims but only as far as the Legacy Trust Fund can accommodate. He said the aggregate total amount of the formalized claims reached P64.1 million. These claims were forwarded to SEC Manila which in turn were forwarded to a regional trial court in Makati for inclusion in the Legacy insolvency case.
Over a year ago, SEC Manila began distributing checks for claims against the trust fund for pre-need planholders, but this was stopped after the court issued an injunction.
Francisco said the SEC has appealed the injunction arguing that the trust fund is set specially for the plan holders and not to pay for other obligations of the beleaguered company, in this case Legacy.
As for the double your money investments, a 58 Dabawenyos filed criminal complaints against Legacy officers for selling securities without a license in violation of the Securities Code. The complainants alleged that they had invested a P66.37 million in Legacy.
Francisco said the criminal complaints are still pending in the Department of Justice for resolution. It is the DOJ, not the SEC, which should file the criminal cases in court.
The other victims
The 958 victims who were able to file formal claims and criminal complaints were the not victims of Legacy Group.
Lawyer Israelito “Bobbet” Torreon, eastern Mindanao director of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines based in Davao City, told Edge Davao, more than 100 victims of the double-your-money scheme approached him for legal assistance. Torreon estimated that more than P200 million are involved in these cases.
He said he had finished drafting the complaints but his clients decided to discontinue the cases because of the huge amount of filing fees involved.
He said a few of the complainants opted to file claims against the trust fund of Legacy with both the SEC and Makati RTC.
“I do not know what happened to those who asked assistance from other lawyers,” Torreon said.
Many of the victims belonged to moneyed and influential families in Davao, including lawyers, doctors, owners of business establishments and even judges. Majority of the physicians in a private hospital were among those allegedly victimized, lured by the offer of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and other luxury vehicles that came with the investment scheme.
One source admitted to Edge Davao a big number of the victims did not bother filing formal complaints against Legacy for fear of being ridiculed by friends and the public.
Many of the victims initially enjoyed the promised returns of their investments in the double-your-money scheme, that’s why most of them were convinced to roll their money, if not increase their original amount of investment.
Who were behind Legacy
Celso delos Angeles, former mayor of Sto. Domingo, Albay is said to have started Legacy Consolidated Plans, Inc. in 1997. The Marikina City-born, and Ateneo de Manila University management graduate Angeles is also listed as chief executive officer, chairman of the board, incorporator and stockholder of Legacy Group, Inc. in 2003.
He had a net worth of P64,754,110.98 as of April 2008. At the time he was a member of Alabang Country Club Inc. as a company representative of Asian Trust Development Bank.
He was appointed president of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) from Oct 2004 to July 2005.
Rural banks
BSP resolutions 1007 and 871, dated July 6 and August 10, 1984, respectively, placed delos Angeles in the Central Bank’s temporary watchlist. This was after three rural banks, Thrift Savings and Loan Association, Federated Thrift Bank, and Rural Bank of Calumpit, became insolvent. Depositors of the closed banks reportedly filed 28 cases of estafa against him in different courts in Bulacan, Makati, Aklan and Albay.
In 2002, delos Angeles requested BSP to take him off the watchlist, claiming that no more cases were filed against him. He submitted a letter to BSP promising that he would not anymore involve himself in any banking-related business.
In January 2003, the BSP removed delos Angeles from the watchlist, with clearances from the DOJ aand the National Bureau of Investigation. The cases against him were dismissed after the witnesses failed to appear in court.
In 2008, 13 banks under the Legacy Group were closed and placed under receivership or liquidation by Bangko Sentral. BSP said the banks had “insufficient assets to cover their liabilities, suffered from severe liquidity problems, and performed unsafe and unsound banking practices.”
On January 5, 2009, BSP filed complaints against “16 officers, employees and agents of Legacy Group for 49 counts of falsification of public and commercial documents, plus one case each of false reporting and false statement.”
On February 6, 2009, BSP filed more complaints with the DOJ against 18 officers of Legacy and four rural bank officers for “116 counts of falsification of public and commercial documents along with two counts of false statements against 18 officers, employees and agents…
But the BSP did not include delos Angeles in the case until February 29, when it filed a complaint of syndicated estafa against delos Angeles and other officers of Legacy Group and affiliated companies. [AMA]
