Deputy Speaker and Bagong Henerasyon Party List representative Bernadette Herrera urged the need to create better legislation to protect the public from bank scams, electronic or otherwise. 

“With bank scams being a hot topic before 2021 ended, the extent and limits of a bank’s liability during scamming incidents must clearly be defined. Needless to say, this is by no means a witch-hunt or a fault-finding endeavor. Every stakeholder will surely bring valuable, if not actionable, insights to the dialogue,” she said. 

Following a series of events from what is known to be the so-called RCBC Fund Scam, which involves the branch manager of RCBC’s Garnet Road branch, Lisa Arzaga, who has allegedly defrauded millions of pesos from multiple RCBC clients, Herrera noted that the alleged scam will be a good test case to determine the exact parameters of institutional accountability. 

“What makes this case a good starting point for a legislative inquiry is that the BSP’s decision, despite clearing the accused, actually acknowledged that a scam was perpetrated in RCBC’s offices, by a then-active branch manager,” Herrera stated. 

Arzaga executed her scam by issuing fake deposit receipts to RCBC clients by up-selling them into investing in various RCBC and Malayan Insurance products. Instead of depositing the money into the bank or investment fund, the money was pocketed. 

One of RCBC’s clients that were scammed by the now-dismissed branch manager is the Inang Nag-Aaruga sa Anak Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps women, especially mothers, in need.

In addition, the lawmaker has invited top officials from the bank to provide their guidance on the matter.  

Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has already issued two resolutions clearing RCBC’s executives of any liability, but the case has been escalated to the Court of Appeals.

“There are technicalities involved when it comes to liability, of course, and it is these technicalities that we want to further understand in order to amend or create the necessary laws to better protect Filipino banking customers,” Herrera concluded.