The LandBank of the Philippines officials and representatives on Tuesday appeared before the first live-streamed hearing of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), which continued its probe into alleged irregularities in government flood control projects.
LandBank reiterated during the hearing that all its transactions linked to the projects were “above board,” a position it first asserted in September when the bank defended its ₱457-million cash release to contractor Syms Construction.
Among those who appeared as resource persons were LandBank President and CEO Ma. Lynette V. Ortiz, Senior Vice President Marilou L. Villafranca, and First Vice President Atty. Cesar S. Cabañes.
During the hearing, ICI Commissioner Rogelio Singson questioned the bank on why it failed to flag unusual patterns or red flags in the accounts of contractors implicated in the alleged anomalies.
The commission questioned the LandBank over its handling of multiple bank accounts opened by contractors linked to alleged anomalous flood control projects.
Ortiz acknowledged that LandBank had observed interlinked ownership among multiple accounts.
“Initially, these, of course, were all, in terms of interlinking, I think it's incumbent on a bank to know related entities and related parties. We were clearly aware that there were multiple accounts and also interlinking ownership. But did it translate to a red flag on the basis of the or a high risk on the basis, sir, of what was provided to us as the reasons for having opened that account and that they were all related,” Ortiz stated.
"Aside from multiple ownerships, there is a large transaction beyond 50 million. That should trigger something," Singson said.
Ortiz declined to discuss specifics, citing the Bank Secrecy Law, but confirmed that “there are some accounts that have multiple and similar ownership.”
Meanwhile, Villafranca maintained that the bank conducted due diligence through branch-level interviews.
“That should trigger something and we actually did a due diligence on this. So when we interviewed, based on our checking with our branches, handling these accounts,” she said.
According to LandBank, the contractors explained that they opened separate accounts “per project” as part of their internal monitoring and accounting system.
Singson asked, "And you believe them?"
"That they have to open a corporation for every project? I don’t think they’re even required to open a bank account for a joint venture," he added
The session followed the appearance of Laguna 4th District Rep. Benjamin “Benjie” Agarao Jr., who earlier faced questions regarding his involvement in the projects under probe.
