THE last four years have certainly been the most difficult time for thousands of depositors who have entrusted their hard-earned money in a bank owned by the family of a presidential appointee.
For the teachers, retirees, students, vendors and many other depositors, life was never easy since the Monetary Board closed down AMA Rural Bank (owned and controlled by the family of Special Envoy of the President to Japan Amable Aguiluz V) in 2019 – and worse, at the onset of the economic standstill in view of the pandemic.
Sometime in May, the Supreme Court in a resolution dated March 1 nullified the Monetary Board’s order to close and liquidate the bank, for which the depositors thought they would finally be able to withdraw their savings.
However, recent developments that saw the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas file a motion for reconsideration with the Supreme Court caused a delay in depositors’ access to their funds.
AMA Bank depositors have reached out to the Supreme Court, legislators, and Malacañang for updates on the case after the Court of Appeals’ ruling to restore AMA Rural Bank’s full operational status and return seized assets and records, which the BSP had petitioned to reverse.
The closure of AMA Rural Bank in November 2019, deemed “arbitrary, capricious, and whimsical” by the Supreme Court, has left depositors in limbo as they await resolution.
According to an email from the Supreme Court to an AMA Bank depositor, the BSP filed a motion for reconsideration on May 12, 2023. The court is carefully considering the motion, and depositors are advised to await further resolutions from the Court.
From how I see it, depositors are suffering from what appears to be more of a conspiracy between the protagonists embarking on denying access to those who were made to believe in the integrity of the banking system.
Many of these depositors died and will no longer reap the fruits of their hard-earned money kept in AMA Bank’s 12 branches across the country in addition to its head office in Mandaluyong City.
My take – the Supreme should seriously consider inserting the clause which reads “FINAL AND EXECUTORY” in its resolution if only to spare the helpless depositors from the vultures.
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