Diokno should explain unresolved BSP cases
Under Republic Act 11765, or the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act, the BSP must act promptly on administrative cases involving bank fraud.
Daily TribuneUnder Republic Act 11765, or the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act, the BSP must act promptly on administrative cases involving bank fraud.
Broadcaster Anthony Taberna should file graft charges against former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno. The ex-BSP governor is currently Secretary of Finance.
Taberna's sad plight was discussed in an editorial published in this newspaper weeks ago.
To recall, Taberna, a depositor of the East West Bank, lost P15.38 million from his bank account balance due to unauthorized fund transfers made between August 2018 and November 2020. According to Taberna, the siphoning of his money was done by East West bank manager Gualberto Baluyut.
Upon discovering the fraud, Taberna filed an administrative complaint against East West Bank with the BSP, particularly its Consumer Protection and Market Conduct Office.
Under Republic Act 11765, or the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act, the BSP must act promptly on administrative cases involving bank fraud.
Taberna filed his administrative complaint against East West Bank last year. Nothing has happened to the complaint since then. Taberna says the BSP did not even bother to officially communicate with him regarding any developments.
It turns out that Taberna's administrative complaint is just one of over 40,000 pending cases before the BSP. The figure appears to be reckoned from the time Diokno was BSP Governor.
The shocking irony is that Diokno was the highest-paid government official in 2020 and 2021. According to the Commission on Audit, Diokno received P41.811 million in 2021, which was more than double his total income in 2020. Diokno draws a salary much higher than his boss, the President of the Philippines.
Diokno, therefore, should explain why he allowed 40,000 administrative cases to remain pending before his office, while he raked in the biggest government salaries for 2020 and 2021.
Taberna should file criminal and administrative charges against Diokno before the Office of the Ombudsman. He should likewise file a complaint against Diokno before the Anti-Red Tape Authority.
As BSP head, Diokno should not have allowed 40,000 cases to remain pending in the BSP during his watch.
How did 40,000 cases remain pending anyway? It's either Diokno was unaware of the existence of those cases (which means he is incompetent), or he deliberately let those cases slumber (suggesting graft).
Many people suspect that a sort of "parking fee" is being paid by some banking institutions just to keep those pending cases unacted upon, indefinitely. Most banks, after all, can very well afford to pay the "parking fee."
Taberna should include as parties-respondents the administrative personnel of the BSP's Consumer Protection and Market Conduct Office for its inexcusable inaction. Under Republic Act No. 7613, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials, the BSP personnel are required to communicate with complainants like Taberna.
Speaking of pending cases, the Office of the Ombudsman ought to rush up its disposition of cases pending before it. Hopefully, if Taberna does file the corresponding cases against Diokno and the pertinent BSP personnel, his cases will not suffer the same inaction by Diokno's BSP.
Do the math on the 40,000 pending cases in the BSP. Even if the new BSP management resolves one of those cases every day, it will take more than 100 years to resolve all of them!
How and why did Diokno allow an anomaly of this magnitude to happen during his term as BSP Governor?
This is not the first controversy hounding Diokno.
When Diokno was BSP governor, the BSP came out with a new polymer P1000 banknote that is difficult to use and fold. Word came out that folds on the banknote will demonetize it.
Worse, the three World War II Filipino heroes honored on the old P1000 banknote, namely, Supreme Court Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos, General Vicente Lim, and Josefa Llanes Escoda, were replaced by the Philippine eagle. Many people protested the removal of the three heroes as an insult to their valor and memory.
Diokno is unsuited for public office. He should resign immediately as Secretary of Finance.
