‘Victim’ urges Congress to probe LBP’s ‘unsound’ practices

A VICTIM of an alleged ‘Mafia’ lurking inside the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), is calling on the House of Representatives to calendar for immediate investigation of the bank’s purported ‘unsound practices’ that have victimized businesses under financial distress.

Businessman Alberto Ching, owner of ‘American Blvd.,’ had earlier sought the assistance of then ACT-CIS partylist representative, Niña Taduran after he was victimized by the group involving more than P50 million in loans granted to him by the LBP after his company suffered liquidity problems in 2017.

American Blvd. was formed in 1996 and is engaged in the textile and apparel industry, manufacturing, importing, exporting, buying, selling, or otherwise dealing in wholesale and retail, goods such as textile, men’s, women, and children, dry goods, and the like, with numerous outlets/stores located in known malls, department stores, and other retail establishments throughout Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

At the time when he was having liquidity problems, Ching said one of his “friends,” Indian national Ravin Mabuhbani, introduced him to another Indian national, Rajiv Chandarimani, who claimed to be a “facilitator” of LBP, having been friends with some top bank officials.

Initially, Ching was offered a ‘business loan’ of P50 million—but with a stiff catch—10 percent commission of the loan amount for the bank’s “insiders” and a ‘held-out amount’ of P15 million of the total, “pending evaluation of his payment performance.”

Acceding to the offer, Ching said he only actually got a total of P26 million out of the P50 million he loaned payable in 6 months.

Realizing the money he actually got would not be enough to cover all his business expenses, Ching said he demanded for the release of the remaining P15 million.

At this point, he claimed he was induced by the group to take out another P50 million loan in order to “facilitate” the release of the held-out amount of P15 million from his first loan.

This time, however, the catch was stiffer—aside from the 10 percent commission, the group wants him to offer real estate collateral for the new credit loan agreement.

Despite heeding the advice of the insiders, the hold-out amount of P15 million was not released as promised. Instead, the P15 million was converted by the LBP into an interest-bearing loan applied for the defaulted payments.

The LBP also allegedly close his checking accounts when he requested for the restructuring of the defaulting checks “based on questionable technical grounds, and against bank standard rules.”

Ching said that while a subsequent investigation was made and the bank officials were allegedly charged before the Ombudsman by higher LBP management (OMB Case C-22-0038), he was surprised that the two Indian nationals were not included in the charge sheet.

Learning of his plight, Taduran last March 30, 2022, filed House Resolution 2453 calling for an investigation of the scandal but this however was overtaken by events after the 18th Congress adjourned in view of the coming May 9, 2022 elections.

After the elections, Taduran endorsed the scandal to Marikina Rep. Estella Quimbo for investigation by the 19th Congress.

Ching said that thru the mails, he also received a letter from a former employee of the LBP’s Lending/Loans Department last August 2022 who revealed that using the same scheme, there are at least 22 borrowers who have been victimized by the group involving billions of pesos of LBP funds, including American Blvd.

The LBP is a ‘specialized bank’ purposely created to finance the funding requirements of the agriculture sector, particularly farmers and fisherfolks.