BY JP LOPEZ

FORMER officials of the Legacy Group yesterday said owner Celso delos Angeles conceived and executed the transactions that gave the group’s double-your-money schemes a façade of legality.

Myrna Castillo Axalan, first vice president for marketing of Legacy Consolidated Inc.; Paul Stephen Montenegro, chairman and president of the Rural Bank of Bais; Cynthia Belarma, director of the Rural Bank of DARBCI Inc.; and Rolando Labrador, acting chairman of the Bank of East Asia, were witnesses at the resumption of the inquiry into the pre-need industry by the Senate committee on commerce and trade.

Axalan, in a sworn affidavit, said Legacy’s double-your-money schemes were "personally designed and created" by Delos Angeles himself.

She said she herself was also lured into investing in Legacy because of promised high returns.

"(But they) turned out to be just mere devious ploys to defraud investors, including myself, and plan holders of our hard earned money and savings, much to our great damage and prejudice," she said.

Montenegro said that at one time his bank’s Cebu branch was directed by Legacy Manila to issue certificates of time deposits to an unspecified number of pre-need plan holders. "While there were entries of deposits, there was no money that came into the bank. This was for a mere three-day audit but this already involved P50 million," he said.

He said Delos Angeles placed trusted lieutenants in RBBI-Cebu to oversee irregular transactions. "The three branches in Negros Oriental only had legitimate transactions but the one in Cebu, that was the hao-shiao (fraudulent)."

Labrador and Belarma confirmed their banks also got instructions to issue certificates of time deposits to persons whose names were allegedly provided by Legacy Manila or Legacy Davao. They said no money was ever deposited in their banks.

Belarma said Rural Bank of DARBCI’s liabilities had ballooned close to P1 billion because of the issuance of the certificates of deposits when "we have no actual deposits."

Sen. Manuel Roxas II, panel chair, said the testimonies of the officials showed that Delos Angeles deliberately engineered the double-your-money schemes to defraud investors.

"Narinig nating lahat na ang panlilinlang na ginawa ni Delos Angeles sa kanyang mga investors ay pinagplanuhan niyang mabuti. Ibig sabihin, sinadya talagang lokohin ang mga investors, sinadya talagang nakawin lang ang pera ng mga kawawang mga magulang at mga depositors," Roxas, briefing reporters, said.

"Napakaganda ng mga promos na dinisensyo ni Delos Angeles. Talaga namang ma-e-engganyo kang magpasok ng pera mo sa Legacy. Pero lahat ng ito pala ay bula lang. Kawawa naman ang libo-libong magulang at depositors na naloko nitong si Delos Angeles. Mahalagang maibalik natin ang kanilang mga pinaghirapang ipon," he said.

He said that with the noose tightening around the neck of Delos Angeles, the Securities and Exchange Commission should act fast to stop the businessman from disposing his personal assets or from fleeing the country.