On the Spotlight!

AMA Rural Bank of Mandaluyong (ARB) has filed a criminal complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman against the Department of Education (DepEd) and some officials, alleging the unlawful withholding of over ₱1.6 billion in loan repayments collected from public school teachers. These loans were previously extended by ARB as a DepEd-accredited lending institution. Named as respondents in the ARB complaint were Usec. for Finance Annalyn M. Sevilla, Asec. for Finance Edson Byron K. Sy, Usec. for Legal and Legislative Affairs Filemon Ray L. Javier, and Chief Administrative Officer Cholita F. Tiong.  ARB claims that after a lengthy accounts reconciliation process, DepEd acknowledged collecting at least ₱1.015 billion by the end of 2024, with another ₱676 million still being reviewed. However, DepEd has not remitted the money to ARB, citing pending legal issues tied to ARB’s unlawful closure by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in November 2019. ARB argues that these cases have already...

A new petition for indirect contempt has been filed with the Supreme Court against the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and its officers for their failure to comply with the Supreme Court’s final and executory decision nullifying the closure of AMA Rural Bank of Mandaluyong, Inc. (AMA Bank). The petition, filed by the majority shareholders of AMA Bank, accuses BSP of intentionally disregarding the final judgment, thereby obstructing justice, disregarding due process of law, and causing irreparable harm to the bank and its depositors. The Supreme Court had earlier issued a definitive ruling declaring the closure of AMA Bank as illegal, mandating that the BSP take immediate action to restore AMA Bank to its status prior to the closure. The Supreme Court also issued an Entry of Judgment confirming that its ruling became final and executory on May 28, 2024. Despite these, the BSP, led by the members of its Monetary Board, persisted in filing a second motion for reconsideration, which pe...