Coast Guard places UCPB money on hold

By LITO RULONA and
NITZ ARANCON
Correspondents

THE Coast Guard here yesterday continued to put the money it took from the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) on hold, refusing calls for it to return the bank’s money.

Authorities seized the money — P32.890 million and US$88,490 dollars –from UCPB representatives who attempted to bring the cash placed in four boxes to Cebu via a vessel at the pier in Macabalan two Sundays ago.

The Coast Guard refused to release the money even after prosecutors dismissed on Thursday the Coast Guard’s complaint for rebellion, money laundering,  obstruction of justice and perjury against UCPB-Velez St. branch manager Ma. Cecilia Lim, operations officer Rolando Limbo Jr., tellers Rhodelle Nagac and Rolley Cervantes Estibor, and guards Leonilo Enterina and Reynaldo Puyos. A court subsequently ordered the Coast Guard to free five of the detained bankers and guards after four days of detention.

Coast Guard district deputy commander Hostillo Arturo Cornellio told local radio on Saturday that authorities would not release the money unless they were ordered to do so either by a court or advised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

“There was no order from the court [to release the money]. The order was just to release the persons we arrested,” Cornellio said.

The leader of organized bankers in the city said the Cagayan de Oro Bankers Association (Oro Bankers) would soon go public with its official position on the controversy but added that he felt that the Coast Guard overdid things.

Oro Bankers president Roland Bacarro said the arrest and detention of the UCPB representatives and the guards, and the seizure of the bank’s money were too much.

“Sobra ra pud, over acting ba. Nag-overreact sila sa sitwasyon,” said Bacarro.

He noted that the Coast Guard was already given an assurance by the UCPB that the attempt to bring the money to Cebu was legitimate as it was sanctioned by the bank.

UCPB lawyer Alvin Calingin said the bank has appealed to the Coast Guard to immediately return the money. He said the Coast Guard continued to hold on to the money as of yesterday afternoon.

Calingin said he was in Manila, waiting for the UCPB board to decide on a legal action.

Cornellio said the Coast Guard and the BSP were still determining the ownership of the money.

“For security reasons sila lang sa BSP ang allowed to release the money. We have many questions that have remained unanswered,” he said.

Cornellio raised a question on the propriety of moving the bank money in such a manner.

“Why was there a need to bring it to Cebu that way, and why was the money not in a vault? They were unarmed. They said it was normal. But it’s only normal in their eyes but not normal in the eyes of law enforcers. This is a different story,” Cornellio said.

Cornellio said the Coast Guard want to know who authorized the UCPB representatives to bring the money to Cebu.

“We are only doing our job… This is not normal… if you transfer that kind of money in boxes. We are in charge of the security in the port area. We should have been informed beforehand that something like that is part of the normal process,” he said.

Bacarro, for his part, said it looked to him that what happened was merely a result of “miscommunication” between UCPB and the Coast Guard.

Bacarro said the manner by which UCPB tried to bring money to Cebu was a “diskarte.”

“Halos tanang bangko man gud, na-a man guy kanya-kanyang diskarte… standard operating procedure na sa mga bangko nga na-ay ilang i-deposit sa Bangko Sentral, na-ay i-transfer sa cash center which kini nga case sa UCPB ilang i-transfer sa ilang cash center sa Cebu. So na-a nay internal arrangement na kana sila. Normal na na nga operating procedure,” Bacarro explained.

He called on bank depositors to keep calm, assuring that the city’s bankers had their “protection” in mind and would adhere to the bank secrecy rule.

Bacarro however said he also understands that the Coast Guard was just doing its job to protect the citizenry.

But he maintained that the arrest and detention of the UCPB representatives was an overreaction.

“The manner of transporting, medyo dili ma-o. Ato nalang nang i-admit nga na-ay sayop  pero wala pud kana magpasabot nga na-a na silay authority nga mo-detain sa tao o mo-ihap sa kuwarta,” Bacarro said.