In a seven-page letter sent to the MB through BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., Banco Filipino President Teodoro Arcenas Jr. said the negotiated settlement of the claims of the bank "would finally accord justice to a victim of injustice."

Banco Filipino was padlocked in 1985 by the then Central Bank (CB) through its MB headed by the late Governor Jose "Jobo" Fernandez Jr. In 1991, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that the closure of Banco Filipino was illegal and done "arbitrarily with grave abuse of discretion."

When the SC decision became final and executory, Banco Filipino pursued relentlessly its three civil cases filed against the then CB, including an P18.8 billion damage suit filed by Banco Filipino against the CBBOL in connection with the bank’s closure in 1985.

Arcenas said Banco Filipino’s appeal to BSP for a negotiated settlement is in line with the judicial pronouncements of the courts and said that "with an open mind and a sincere heart, a mutually acceptable solution can only be within reach."

He said Banco Filipino has been operating as a damaged bank, not as a reorganized bank, vulnerable to smear as the events of a few years back would attest, and to the unfavorable workings of market forces, as in the effects of the Asian financial crisis.

"Needless to say, the SC order to allow Banco Filipino to continue in business with safety to all its creditors, depositors and the general public carries with it the moral responsibility of the CB (now BSP) to undertake positive steps including making positive statements that will help restore the bank to at least its previous leading position in the industry," Arcenas added.

According to Arcenas, "one positive step that the BSP can take at this time to help restore Banco Filipino to its leading position in the industry is to issue positive public statements about the bank and its business plans … rather than the BSP officials being cited as sources of news items like Banco Filipino’s applying for an emergency loan line which could be slanted to smear the bank."

He said Banco Filipino desires nothing more than to truly resume and continue in business with its clientele and the general public assured that it is operating with safety to all depositors, creditors and the general public. This is an end that is in accord with the responsibility and primary objective of the BSP under RA 7653. But more importantly, it accords justice to a victim of injustice, and is no longer just a legal issue but a moral one," Arcenas said.

In pleading for a negotiated settlement, Arcenas pointed out the ruling of the trial court: "The findings of the SC on the arbitrary and grave abuse of discretion employed by the CB in ordering the liquidation of Banco Filipino are now undisputed. By reason of such findings of the Highest Tribunal, Banco Filipino’s causes of action on its claims for damages in the herein cases are deemed established…. Banco Filipino has now the burden to prove the damages."

Thus, Arcenas said, "all that Banco Filipino needs to do at this point is just to prove the extent of the damages it has suffered."But, he said, the matter can be threshed out of court through a negotiated settlement "which should not result in any derogation of the rights of the parties to the litigation, and once approved by the court, becomes the judgment of the court and no one among the party-litigants may be faulted by anyone thereafter.""

Until Banco Filipino is duly compensated for its damages and restored to its former position in the banking industry, it continues to be a victim of injustice. And sad it truly is that not even an apology was extended to it by those who perpetrated the injustice upon it," Arcenas said.