General Santos City, South Cotabato — Three courts in General Santos City have convicted former officers of the closed Sarangani Rural Bank, Inc. (SRBI) for violating the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Manual of Regulations for Banks (MORB), the General Banking Law of 2000, and the Revised Penal Code.
The city’s Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 60, found former SRBI President and Manager Francisco L. Laiz, Jr.; former Loans Bookkeeper Marydelle C. Arbilo; former Loans Clerk Annalyn C. Brumo; and former Account Officer Charity B. Villa guilty of participating in fraudulent transactions involving fictitious loans. The SRBI credit committee members, including former Loans Supervisor Arsenia C. Dela Cruz and former General Bookkeepers Mizpah C. Santos and Lilibeth B. Girado, were also convicted.
The court sentenced each accused to six years’ imprisonment and ordered them to pay a fine of PHP50,000.00. Additionally, they face perpetual disqualification from employment in any of the BSP-Supervised Financial Institutions.
Meanwhile, RTC Branch 55 convicted former Technical Assistant Justino G. Tamala, Jr. for violating provisions in the BSP’s MORB and for falsification of public and commercial documents. Tamala received a five-year prison sentence and a PHP50,000.00 fine for each of the five charges against him, with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.
In a separate ruling, the Municipal Trial Court in Cities, Branch 2, also convicted Laiz, Arbilo, Brumo, Villa, Dela Cruz, and Santos for falsification of public and commercial documents. They were sentenced to one year and eight months’ imprisonment and fined PHP3,000.00 each.