(UPDATE) Duped Legacy plan holders want owner jailed

abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
By Carmela Fonbuena
Mar. 25, 2009

Six plan holders of Legacy Group filed on Wednesday a syndicated estafa case against owner Celso de los Angeles, his family, and business partners for the alleged misuse of company funds.

Sen. Manuel Roxas II, who provided free legal assistance to the Legacy clients, is the seventh complainant in the case and joined the plan holders in their picket outside the Makati regional trial court where they filed the case.

The planholders, who paid a total of P705,000 for educational, memorial, and pension plans, said they want their money back and Delos Angeles jailed.

“Ikulong, ikulong (Put him in jail),” planholder Antonio Evangelista, 44, called out, raising his fist in front of photographers. An overseas Filipino worker in Palau, Evangelista carried baggage in hotels to earn the money he invested in Legacy’s financial products.

Evangelista bought an educational plan to secure her daughter’s college tuition from Consolidated Educational Plan, one of the three pre-need firms under the now bankrupt Legacy Group. He has paid in full the plan’s P112,800 total amortization and is supposed to start enjoying the fruits of his hard work when the plan matures in March 2010.

“Makulong man lang sya. Di baleng di kami mabayaran, (Just put him in jail. It doesn’t matter if we’ll even get paid back) said Corazon Argos, whose daughter Myla, an overseas worker in Dubai, is among the victims. Myla was persuaded by an agent of Legacy Group in Dubai to secure an education plan for her son.

Argos is not among the complainants in the case but she said she provided the documents to Roxas’s office.

Roxas was given by the planholders a special power of attorney to pursue the case. Aside from Delos Angeles, the planholders named as respondents his former wife Maria Concepcion, son Niccolo Martin, brother Victorino, and other business partners.

Among the evidence they presented are vouchers and photocopies of checks amounting up to P5 million issued by the Legacy Consolidated Plans Inc. to Celso Delos Angeles. At least one voucher showed that P1 million was issued “for election purposes.”

Latest Case

The Legacy Group mess involved the collapse of its twelve rural banks and three pre-need firms because of alleged misuse. The group of companies had collected deposits totaling about P24 billion and pre-need investments of about P7 billion.

This law suit led by Roxas is the latest syndicated estafa case that implicated de los Angeles.

Lawyer Noel Malaya, counsel of de los Angeles, meanwhile confirmed that there were already 30 syndicated estafa cases filed against Legacy Consolidated Plans Inc. The cases, he said, were filed by planholders and government agencies.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas have filed two of the three syndicated estafa cases against De los Angeles and his alleged accomplices based on transactions involving rural banks. Other estafa cases have been filed by the Philippine Depositors Insurance Corp., and groups of depositors.

Based on the complaint filed Wednesday, some of the pre-need clients have multiple plans with the Legacy Group. Depending on the plan, they deposited P52,000 to about P90,000 and expected their money to grow in the range of P100,000 to P230,000 when their plans mature.

One of the complainants, Arlene Basco, paid a total of about P270,000 to buy three pension plans. All three are supposed to mature on April 4, 2010 with a maturity value of about P700,000.

The Legacy Group’s pre-need firms included the Legacy Consolidated Plans Inc., Scholarship Plan Philippines, and All Asia Plans Corp..

Jail

Asked why De los Angeles has not been arrested inspite of several cases filed against him, Roxas said, “Kasama nyo ako sa pagtanong nyan (I am with you in asking that question).”

“Hindi natin papayagan na makakalimutan ito. Hindi natin papayagan na matapos mawala ang camera ay makakalimutan na lang ito tulad ng nakaraang mga scam. Magpupursigi tayo. (We will not allow that this case will just be forgotten when the cameras are no longer around. We will pursue this even when the cameras are no longer around),” Roxas added.

Roxas is the chairman of the Senate committee on trade and commerce, which heads the Senate hearings on the Legacy Group mess. He said the hearing will resume after Holy Week.

The Arroyo administration and the regulators have also set up task forces meant to fast track and coordinate legal action against de los Angeles and other Legacy officials.

Regulators like the BSP, PDIC and the SEC have to course their legal actions through the justice department, which would then determine if these cases should be consolidated and filed in court.

Cases that are already filed in the courts, like those filed by the planholders and the depositors, could eventually lead to the arrest of de los Angeles and his alleged accomplices.

The courts would also determine if the assets of de los Angeles and his reported accomplices should be confiscated. The sale proceeds of these assets could then be used to settle the now shaky billion peso-worth investments and deposits of Legacy clients.

Meantime, all that the duped Legacy clients can do is wait. — With a report from Maricar Bautista, ABS-CBN News

as of 03/25/2009 11:07 PM

Witness belies Legacy owner’s claims

ABS-CBN News

By RICKY CARANDANG, ABS-CBN News | 03/03/2009 10:52 PM

For weeks, bankrupt Legacy Group’s founder Celso de los Angeles has been a fixture at congressional investigations into the collapse of his rural banks and pre-need firms. But de los Angeles consistently denied allegations that he stole depositors money in an elaborate Ponzi scheme.

Even in a recent interview on ANC’s The Big Picture, de los Angeles denied that he defrauded depositors and investors.

But a witness has come forward to debunk de los Angeles’ claim of innocence. The witness, a former employee of the Legacy Group, claimed first-hand knowledge that de los Angeles siphoned away millions of pesos in deposits. He refused to be identified out of fear of retribution.

“Celso [himself] was the one making the decisions,” the witness told ABS-CBN News.

When asked if he has proof to back up his claims, the witness then handed over several documents. “Here are some deposit slips and cash vouchers that show that the money went into his personal accounts,” he said.

The checks and cash vouchers prove that de los Angeles used company funds for his personal expenses, including his 2007 election campaign, the witness stressed.

He said he and other witnesses are prepared to present the documents before proper investigating bodies, but preferred that the Department of Justice and the Senate assure their safety first. They are currently under the custody of Philip Piccio of the PEP coalition, a group of planholders who are demanding payment from the pre-need companies.

“We are Legacy employees. We are afraid that de los Angeles will just wash his hands and leave us holding the bag,” the witness said in Filipino. “I cannot stomach what they are doing to ordinary people anymore…That is why we are asking for protection from Mr. Mar Roxas.”

Piccio said more witnesses will come out soon to prove that delos Angeles masterminded massive fraud using his companies, adding that PEP is prepared to reveal the names of more politicians who benefitted from Legacy’s get-rich-quick schemes.

More trouble

Meantime, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) revealed during the resumption of the House hearing on the Legacy Group on Tuesday that it discovered a number of suspicious bank accounts, which were opened days before the Legacy’s rural banks closed in December and January.

The PDIC is servicing claims of insured depositors, but it has discovered suspicious savings accounts, which were split into different accounts not exceeding P250,000 each. These meet the maximum insurance coverage of the PDIC.

Lawmakers suspect the owner of the accounts are Legacy officials who wanted to recover money even after the banks collapsed.

This prompted Congressman Rufus Rodriguez to call on the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PDIC to follow BSP’s move to each file separate syndicated estafa cases against delos Angeles.

If the congressman from Cagayan de Oro would have his way, these cases would aggregate to more than 22 charges of syndicated estafa against de los Angeles. He said de los Angeles should spend “800 years in jail.”

Syndicated estafa is a non-bailable offense that has a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or 40 years.

“You should file also as many banks, file also syndicated estafa so that we have 880 years for Celso de los Angeles,” Rodriguez stressed.

“We are only talking about 14 banks and they’re robbing the Filipino people,” said Rep. Isidro Ungab of Davao City.

De los Angeles did not show up in Tueday’s hearing to attend to his ailing mother.

Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said it will file another batch of cases against de los Angeles. – with reports from WILLARD CHENG, ABS-CBN News
 

as of 03/04/2009 11:19 AM

Pre-need nangangailangan na rin!

Pilipino Star Ngayon
K KA LANG? Ni Korina Sanchez Updated January 31, 2009 12:00 AM

AMINADO na talaga ang mga pre-need na kompanya, pati ang mga kilalang malalakas at malalaking kompanya, na may problema ang buong industriya. Nitong mga nakaraang taon ay nakita na nating nagsara ang ilan, pati na ang mga kilalang-kilala tulad ng CAP at Pacific Plans Inc.

Noong nagsara ang mga ito, nabawasan ang tiwala ng mga tao sa sistemang ito. Subalit nagpursigi ang  ilan, at nakapagbenta pa rin ng mga plan, maging edu­kasyon o pensyon. At ngayon, makalipas na ng ilang taon, umaa­min na rin sila.

Ang isang pre-need na kompanya ay kumikita sa pama­­­­­magitan ng paglalagay din ng kanilang pera sa mga negosyo ng iba, o kaya’y sila mismo ang gagamit ng mga ito para pumasok sa isang negosyo. Noong araw, ang malakas na negosyo ay real estate. Nagtayuan ang napakaraming condominium at townhouses. Kaliwa’t kanan ang mga housing projects na pinasukan ng mga pre-need na kompanya. Kung mabenta nga naman nila ang mga ito, sapat ang kikitain nila para gampanan din ang kanilang mga pangako sa mga bumili ng mga policy sa kanila. Maganda ang kita, malusog ang industriya. Pero may isang bagay na hindi nila inakala.

Nang tanggalin ng gobyerno ang limitasyon sa pagtaas ng matrikula ng mga paaralan, tumindi ang pagtaas ng matrikula. Ito ang unang naging problema ng mga pre-need. Hindi nila akalain na ganun aabutin ang mga matri­ kula, nang gamitin na ng mga planholders ang kanilang mga kontrata para paaralin ang kanilang mga anak.

Una itong napansin ni Sen. Mar Roxas, at agad niyang pinaimbestigahan ang kalagayan ng industriya. Ngunit hindi pinatupad ito ng gobyerno, at pinabayaan na lang ang sitwasyon. Hindi nila binantayan ang kalusugan ng lahat ng kompanya. Dahil ang usong kontrata noon ay walang limitasyon sa matrikula na sasagutin ng mga kom­ panya, wala silang nagawa kundi patuparin ang kanilang mga pangako, maliban na nga sa CAP, Pacific at Platinum Plans na nagsara na lang ng kanilang mga tanggapan!

Sumunod na naging problema naman ang paghina ng negosyo, lalo na sa real estate. Kaya ang mga perang ipinasok sa mga ganitong uri ng negosyo ay nagkandaipit-ipit na. At ngayon, ang krisis pinansiyal na bumabalot sa buong mundo.

Ang sabi nga ng SEC, kailangan kumikita ang mga pre-need na kumpanya ng hindi kukulang sa 12% kada taon sa kanilang mga pinasukang negosyo o anumang investment, para masagot nila ang kanilang mga plan­holders. May mga kumpanya naman na nakukuha pa rin itong porsyento, at may mga kompanya naman na ma-rami pa ang pondo sa banko.

Pero kung magpapatuloy ang matumal na negosyo at hindi na nila makuha ang kita na kailangan nila para sagutin ang kanilang mga kontrata, dito na magkakaroon ng problema ang lahat. Kaya siguro ngayon pa lang ay nagpaparamdam na ang mga kompanya, at humihingi ng tulong. Ang suma niyan, ay ang mga nakapagbayad na ng buo sa mga kompanya, at may ilang taon pang hihintayin bago nila magamit pang matrikula, ang nangangamba naman ngayon. Palagi na lang ang ordinaryong tao ang kawawa, dahil sa pagtitiwala ng kanilang kinabukasan sa kamay ng ibang tao.