Domino effect: Another rural bank declares holiday

Domino effect:
Another rural bank declares holiday
By Kit Bagaipo
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 00:18:00 01/29/2009

Filed Under: Banking, Legacy banking group

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol — A rural bank in Bohol province, in central Philippines, declared a bank holiday Wednesday after heavy withdrawals by depositors following the closure of a rural bank in this city last month.

The depositors were surprised to see the Rural Bank of Maribojoc Inc. branch in Maribojoc town closed on Wednesday morning with a posted notice saying the bank was temporarily closed while awaiting a loan from the central bank and that its depositors should "beware of swindlers."

The rural bank's chairman, Restituto Tan, he declined to comment Wednesday morning but promised to issue a statement. He said he had to meet with the bank's board. Other bank officers could not be reached for comment.

Antonieto Pernia, the chief of staff at the office of the provincial governor, said the rural bank had asked for a loan from the central bank as early as December to cope with massive withdrawals.

Pernia said he introduced Tan to central bank officials who came to Bohol last month to supervise the convergence of local cooperatives in the province. He said it was at that meeting that Tan asked the central bank officials to approve the rural bank's application for cash infusion before its cash reserves became depleted.

The Rural Bank of Maribojoc had been offering depositors annual interest of 20 percent.

Last December 12, the Pilipino Rural Bank Tagbilaran City branch declared a bank holiday. It was one of 12 rural banks affiliated with the Legacy Group.

Hundreds of Pilipino Rural Bank depositors are still waiting for the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. to process their claims on their deposits.

Rescue endangered tarsiers

Bohol officials rescue caged tarsiers

By Kit Bagaipo

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:07:00 12/06/2008

TAGBILARAN CITY – Aside from the Chocolate Hills, Bohol has the endangered tarsiers as a popular attraction.

The tarsiers – cuddly-looking creatures with soft, grayish fur, four to five inches high, with tails like rats’ and ears like bats’ – are endemic to the towns of Corella, Loboc, Sevilla and Bilar, but tourist-related businesses in other areas have taken them out of their habitats into their own display rooms to attract visitors.

This practice has prodded the provincial government to call for a ban on the showing of the tarsier for commercial purposes outside their natural environment.

Locked up for tourists

On Wednesday, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) approved unanimously Resolution No. 002-2008, urging the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, through Secretary Jose Atienza, to stop the issuance of wildlife farm permits that allow possession and display of tarsiers for business or commercial purposes.

It blamed the DENR for the proliferation of permits in Panglao, Loay, Albur, Anda and Sagbayan.

“While these towns are not considered natural habitats of the tarsiers, the plight of the primates is also critical since they are locked up in cages for easy viewing,” says Board Member Alfonso Damalerio II, chair of the committee on natural resources and environment.

The board also approved on first reading the proposed Ordinance 015-2008, which prohibits the possession and display of the tarsier and imposes penalties on violators.

The legislative measures came amid concerns by provincial officials and tourism industry stakeholders who had pushed for stronger steps to protect the tarsier, which has been classified as an endangered species by the DENR.

For an individual or entity to possess a tarsier, a wildlife farm permit must first be secured from the DENR. But the board members were bothered because the department had yet to conduct an inventory of the tarsiers that are increasingly being traded and brought outside their habitats.

Based on scientific studies, tarsiers, being nocturnal animals, rest during daytime and hunt for food at night. Damalerio said the presence of humans could shorten the tarsiers’ life span since they are subjected to stress.

Wildlife farm permits

“The DENR should stop issuing permits allowing the tarsiers to be held in captivity,” he said.

In October, a floating restaurant and river cruise business in the town of Loay obtained another wildlife farm permit from the DENR regional office to hold 10 tarsiers, including two macaques (monkey species).

Nestor Canda, provincial environment and natural resources officer, said in an interview that his office did not process the permit applications and that he did not issue any official recommendation or assessment for the issuance of the permits.

“Even with the absence of solid and strict guidelines regarding the issuance of permits, several private businesses were able to acquire a wildlife farm permit from the DENR regional office,” the joint committee report said.

“Each new permittee will put more tarsiers in danger,” Damalerio pointed out.

Sanctuary

In 1997, then President Fidel V. Ramos issued Proclamation No. 1030 declaring the Philippine tarsiers especially protected faunal species. The law prohibits the hunting, killing, wounding and taking possession of the primates and mandates the DENR to establish “appropriate sanctuaries” for its preservation.

It also states that the breeding or propagation of the tarsier can only be granted to persons or entities with technical and financial capacity to maintain its existence.

Canda promised to conduct a province-wide inventory of the people, entities or businesses who are in possession of the tarsier, whether legal or illegal.

The board resolution and proposed ordinance acknowledged the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary in Corella as the center of the tarsier conservation program and its natural habitat. Possession and viewing for commercial and related purposes outside of the sanctuary will be penalized under the proposed ordinance.

Tarsier foundation

In 1996, the Philippine Tarsier Foundation Inc. (PTFI) set up the Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary at Canapnapan, Corella, in order to protect the animal from extinction through increased awareness, researches and the establishment of protected areas in Bohol.

The program also provides economic and social development opportunities to residents through ecotourism-related livelihood projects.

The foundation, headed by hotelier Anos Fonacier, acquired 170 hectares of forested area as sanctuary site. Through a P5-million assistance extended recently by Bohol Rep. Edgar Chatto, the sanctuary’s facilities and landscape are being improved.

The project also gets a yearly allocation of P1.5 million from the Philippine Tourism Authority.

Filipino cab driver returns $17,000 to passenger

Tricycle driver returns $17,000 to passenger
By Kit Bagaipo
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 07:31pm (Mla time) 07/01/2007

Filed Under: Good news, Charity

TAGBILARAN CITY -- It could have been an easy answer to his financial woes, but tricycle driver Iluminado Boc felt he had to let it pass.

The 45-year old driver, a resident of Habitat Village in Bool, this city, turned over to the local police a pouch containing $17,000 (approximately P800,000), which was left by its owner in the passenger seat of his tricycle on June 23.

On the same day Boc found the bag containing so much cash, his wife was hospitalized due to a lingering ailment.

Boc, whom the Philippine Daily Inquirer was able to interview on Saturday, said it was not the first time he returned items left in his motorcab.

There were instances when he returned valuable items such as cellular phones, he said.

The tricycle driver admitted his monthly payments for his house in Habitat Village were long overdue. He is also paying monthly installments for his tricycle unit. Then came his wife's hospitalization.

But he said he was never tempted to keep the money. "It was not mine," was his simple answer when asked why he did not keep the money.

Boc said that at around 1 p.m. last June 23, a woman took a ride on his tricycle from the city airport to the Integrated Bus Terminal in Dao, this city.

He said it was not until he stopped for a break at around 3 p.m. that he noticed the pouch bag in the passenger seat and found it contained dollar bills. He remembered that it belonged to the woman who rode from the airport.

Boc said he was surprised that other passengers who took his motorcab from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., did not tell him about the pouch.

Boc said he immediately drove to the city police station and delivered the pouch to the lost-and-found section.

He said it was only there that he learned that the pouch contained $17,000 and that the woman who owned it arrived at the same police precinct a few minutes earlier and had started describing her lost item to the police.

Boc said he immediately recognized the woman as the person who left the pouch in his motorcab.

He said the woman gave him P1,500 as a reward. He said he was initially hesistant to accept the money but upon the prodding of the grateful passenger and the police officers at the station, he did.

Boc said he was not able to get the name of the woman.

The city police has no record of the name of the woman because her lost item was recovered before the incident could be recorded in the police blotter.