The Postman now works for the PDIC

Good news for some! HC is the first depositor we know who confirmed that PDIC mailed him three checks in payment for all three of his RBOP time deposits. Vicky, a fellow member-depositor who works in Angola, had earlier received two checks, representing her share of two joint accounts in RBOP wherein her mother was her co-account holder. David, a foreigner-member living in Cebu, reported today that he and his wife were paid for their respective shares of joint accounts and one single account worth P100,000, that represented some of his accounts in Bank of East Asia. Update: the next day, his adult stepdaughter received from the mail a check for P250,000, also for a BEA deposit.

Here is what we can deduce from the experiences of these lucky depositors (we say lucky because there are a lot out there, including yours truly, who have not even seen the shadow of a mailed envelope:
1. RBOP's time deposit accounts, inspite of the bank's notoriety as the main hub for Celso's fraudulent activities, have been verified and some account holders are now being paid. So this means that depositors of other banks are getting paid and one example is David's BEA accounts;
2. Except for HC's case (his accounts totaled about P500,000), the other two were only paid a fraction of their total deposits. David received less than 15% of his deposits. PDIC advised him to submit a notarized affidavit of disinterest persons if he wanted to be paid for one of his individual accounts, and all because his middle initial was spelled out in the CTD, but not in the signature card. Vicky's mother has to file a notarized affidavit of co-ownership before her mother's share would be paid out. PDIC is making the depositors jump through hoops. So the strategy is pay a little and then dangle the possibility of getting paid for the other accounts, but only after undertaking another set of tasks and processes. If PDIC is relying on its monthly assessment collections to fund its payments, then this strategy is logical.
3. All three actively worked for the recovery of their accounts: HC wrote a presidentiable who endorsed his letter to PDIC; Vicky got herself interviewed by GMA-7 TV; and David keeps on writing to, commenting in and posting to any blog or online medium. Oh yes, David also wrote a letter to the same presidentiable who must have endorsed it to PDIC.

Bad news for others! We called Mrs Lego yesterday night and again this afternoon, and she gave us the same news- no mail received as yet. Poor woman, she has futilely visited twice her city's postal office. She told me that she called the PDIC office and they told her that she should be receiving her check within a week. Mrs. Lego told them that it has been exactly a week since she had "rallied" in their Makati office, but still no letter. She said that if by tomorrow she has not yet received that much-awaited letter containing a check, she would pay PDIC a visit the next day and plead, beg, cry, and shout (again). The waiting saga of this 64 yo woman continues....