A defunct lender controlled by Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Senator Manuel Villar was able to secure loans worth P4.5 billion from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) under highly irregular terms. This, among others, was claimed by officials of a party-list group allied with the Liberal Party. At a press conference in Quezon City, Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros said the Villar-controlled Capitol Development Bank separately secured four loans from the BSP in 1998, despite reportedly failing to meet loan requirements. In March 1998, Capitol Bank issued two promissory notes for P2 billion and P1 billion to secure emergency loans from the BSP, she said. The next month, two other promissory notes were released by Capitol Bank to secure loans from the BSP: one for P1.168 billion and another for P331.9 million. However, under the new Central Bank Act – the same law that created the BSP which Villar himself authored – BSP loans should be secured by “government securities to the extent of their applicable loan values and other encumbered first class collateral.” But there were no securities made for the loans, said Hontiveros. “Why did Central Bank grant the loans without securities? Napakaswerte naman ng mga umutang (Those who made the loans are so lucky),” she said. When the period for the payment of the loans in late 1998 lapsed, the BSP issued two letters in 1999 warning the Villar-owned company to pay up or face legal action. But according to Hontiveros, the BSP ultimately did not file charges against Capitol Bank (later renamed Optimum Development Bank) and even accepted mortgages from Villar-owned Adelfa properties, Palmera Homes, and Carissa Homes in 2001 to cover the debt. Some of the lots made as collateral were also found to cover cliffs and timberland considered public domain, said Hontiveros, who is seeking a Senate seat under the Liberal Party. Lands in Norzagaray in Bulacan, which farmers are claiming to be rightfully theirs, were also used as collateral. “Why accept collaterals after two years of non-payment?” said the lawmaker, who is running for the Senate under the LP. According to Hontiveros, the BSP eventually foreclosed on the mortgages to partially cover loan payments from the Villar-owned bank. But Hontiveros said that the foreclosed properties were bought by the BSP itself at higher prices. “The BSP records show, in the foreclosure of some 281 lots mortgaged by Carissa Homes, that the BSP submitted bid prices clearly in excess of the market values of the properties,” she said. She said that for the 281 lots, total market value was only around P7 million but the BSP bid went as high as P24 million. “This effectively prevented further recovery of the actual value of the amount owed to BSP by Capitol/Optimum,” she said. Villar's camp refused to comment accusation, which came less than two weeks before the May 10 polls. It said they have yet to get enough information on the matter. “I have not been informed yet of the details of the alleged exposé,” lawyer Naren Rosero-Galang, Villar's counsel, said in a text message to GMANews.TV. At the same press conference, Akbayan legal counsel Ibarra Gutierrez III said the BSP should have taken more careful steps in allowing the loans. “These loans never reached the level of the Monetary Board,” said Hontiveros, pointing out that under the law, all BSP loans should be approved by the Monetary Board. Gutierrez said they will file before the Ombudsman a motion to investigate the case for possible plunder charge against Villar and concerned BSP officials.
