SEC: More charges to be filed vs Legacy owner, execs

MANILA, Philippines - More charges will be filed against Legacy Group owner Celso de los Angeles Jr. and other officials of the collapsed firm within the month, an official of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Tuesday. During the hearing of the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries, Hubert Guevara, director of the SEC's compliance and enforcement department, said they will file more charges against de los Angeles and others responsible for the collapse of the Legacy Group in the middle of March. "Definitely you can expect that the SEC will file additional complaints against the people responsible," Guevara said "We're looking at the week after next for filing another batch of cases," he added. De los Angeles was not present during the hearing, with his lawyer Noel Malaya saying in a letter to the committee that de los Angeles had to attend to his mother who was terminally ill. The SEC has already filed a fraud case against de los Angeles for violating the Securities Regulation Code, while the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas lodged a syndicated estafa case against him and several others last February 26. During the hearing, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez urged the SEC and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation to file cases of syndicated estafa against de los Angeles as well. "I urge you (PDIC) to file charges. You are the most aggrieved party here. I suggest you file syndicated estafa," Rodriguez said. PDIC president Jose Nograles said that they will study Rodriguez's suggestion but said the agency is currently preoccupied with paying insurance claimants. Nograles said the PDIC has disbursed P120 million to 9,144 small depositors since February 14. The figures are just a portion of the 39,165 claimants with deposits of P100,000 and below that the PDIC is currently evaluating. There is a total of 130,259 accounts under the Legacy Group's 12 collapsed rural banks, he said. - GMANews.TV