Pichay: Purisima ‘irresponsible’ in filing criminal raps

Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) chair Prospero Pichay on Thursday said Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima was “irresponsible" in filing a criminal complaint against him and other board members of the agency. The complaint stemmed from LWUA’s allegedly anomalous acquisition of 60 percent of the outstanding shares of cash-strapped Express Savings Bank Inc. Pichay, a former congressman, said the acquisition which took place in 2008 was approved by the Office of the President and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel. He also denied that LWUA acquired the Laguna-based thrift bank for P480 million. “We only acquired the bank for P80 million. ‘Yung P400 million ay deposito ng ahensiya sa banko," he said. Last Wednesday, Purisima said the respondents’ acts constituted malversation of public funds, which is punishable under the Revised Penal Code. “The LWUA board willfully misused and dissipated public funds to acquire a financially troubled and failing bank, and in the process, bailed out the Gatchalian family [bank owners] from an unprofitable investment at the expense of LWUA and the national government," Purisima said at the time. Purisima filed the complaint in his concurrent capacity as member of the Monetary Board, the policy setter of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. He also filed a separate administrative complaint before the Office of the President on Wednesday. The other respondents named in the complaint were LWUA board members Renato Velasco, Susana Vargas, Bonifacio Maria Peña Sr., and Daniel Landingin. LWUA is a government-owned and -controlled corporation as a specialized lending institution for the promotion, development, and financing of local water utilities, and as depository of the reserves for capital improvement of local water utilities.—Jesse Edep/JV, GMA News