Victims are victimized not once, but twice!

It's been almost a month since anything has been written about Celso and his hospitalization in St. Luke's hospital. Is he still in the hospital and sick? is he in the hospital and not sick? or is he not even inside the hospital? What do you think?

We remember a report that exposed Rosario Baladjay's celebration of her birthday outside her Makati City jail in 2004, wherein people saw her wearing the finest jewelry in her party attended by outsiders, and possibly the jail warden. As mentioned in my previous post, Baladjay is now in the correctional institute, but we are sure that she still continues to be able to go in and out of the prison walls. Where else would she put to good (?) use her ill-gotten wealth estimated at no less than P20 billion. While we were researching on the status of Multitel and the futile efforts of investors to get back even a portion of their investments, we came across fora that chronicled the unkept promises of Baladjay to return their money. Do you know that these investors chipped in money to send a doctor to New York based on Baladjay authorizing this doctor to withdraw $300 million from her supposed account in Citibank. Of course, when the doctor and his Filipino hosts met the citibankers, they were told that no such account existed. We cannot fathom why Baladjay to the end continued to dupe her investors, holding up hope to these desperate people who would be willing to listen to anything if it promised the recovery of even a portion of their hardearned money.

We know what Celso has been saying to his preneed investors: in September, 2008, he told investors holding bounced checks that there would be a 3-month delay before he could make good those check with an addition 3% for their troubles, and then when he closed his companies, he told them that all the assets would be liquidated and the proceeds would be enough to settle all the pending claims. We all know what came of all that talk- zilch, nada, nothing! And just like the case of Baladjay, makes you wonder why scammers and estafadors seem to enjoy shafting and duping their victims, not only once but as many times as possible.

This kind of behavior can only point to one fact: that de los Angeles and Baladjay are not only criminals but also sociopaths.

Land of the Rising Scam

Celso de los Angeles is just the latest in a Who's Who gallery of Filipino rogues and scoundrels that have fleeced Filipinos of their money and savings. He is not the first but he seems to be the one who has practically perfected the art.

The pyramid scam hogged the headlines in 2002 when investment firms, most of them not even registered with the SEC, swindled more than a million investors of an estimated P100 billion. Companies such as Multitel, MMG Holdings, Tibayan Group of Companies, Glasgow and Maria Theresa Santos Trading duped people into investing P10,000-P300,000 with promised 10-15 percent annual returns.

Multitel, owned and operated by the pyramid queen Rosario Baladjay,used counselors who recruited investors. Successful recruitments meant a 1 to 20 percent commission for the counselors, who also brought in subcounselors. Celso used marketing agents who inveigled preneed planholders to convert their plans into DYM certificates and convinced savers to deposit in the Legacy rural banks. While Baladjay's scheme ran for three years (1999 to 2002), Celso's flourished for a record 11 years (1997 to 2008). But in three years, Baladjay amassed a whopping P20 billion while Celso "only" siphoned off a conservative P14 billion.

In 2008, a racket which spun off from Multitel also stole P2 billion-worth of investments from its victims. Cyrus Yap Hao, who worked with Baladjay in Multitel, introduced his own pyramid scheme through a company called Royal Manchester Five. FrancsSwiss also solicited investments ranging from $1,000-$10,000 with payment done online through the different websites of FrancSwiss, duping investors of another $150 million.

Baladjay was convicted in 2003 based on numerous estafa cases, and so was Maria Theresa Santos. Both are believed to be incarcerated in the Correction Institute for Women. Eric Mateo of Mateo Trading was arrested in early 2008 while Hao left the country in March 2008 but he was eventually nabbed by the NBI, but Jesus Tibayan is still at-large. Nobody knows any recents news about Mateo, Hao and Tibayan, but a recent balitapinoy.com news reports has given us a clue:

MANILA, July 2 — Acting Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary and concurrent Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera ordered on Thursday DOJ prosecutors to fast-track the investigation of all financial and business scam cases awaiting resolution.
Correlating the unresolved cases in the DOJ and other prosecution offices to the recent conviction of former NASDAQ chairman Bernard Madoff, "this will generate the feeling of impatience to the general public and the complainants of the business and financial cases," Devanadera pointed out.

The Acting DOJ chief ordered Acting Chief State Prosecutor Severino Gana, Jr. to direct Asst. Chief State Prosecutors Miguel Gudio and Leah Armamento and City Prosecutor Emilie delos Santos to speed up the investigation of such cases similar to a Ponzi scheme committed by Madoff.

"Let us show immediate results," Devanadera stressed as she urged DOJ prosecutors for the successful prosecution of the accused. (PNA)

Two million-peso questions: Does Devanedera's memo indicate that the former Secretary of Justice sat on these cases? Any bets that this new directive will cover Celso?

Divine Retribution

The doctors say that Celso requires a total of 27 radiotherapy sessions, and therefore would need more than 20 days stay in St. Luke's hospital (this hospital has gained a reputation as the sanctuary of fugitives and scammers and should be called St. Locos). Celso is allegedly suffering from diabetes and hypertension, diseases that in combination with a cancer would spell a short short life for the patient. Of course, the question is: Does he really have cancer? I mean cancer of the throat because we already know that he has cancer of morals, aside from having the diseases of greed and lust.

In this age of photoshop, it is very easy to be skeptical of pictures. All those pics of Celso with tubes in his trachea and stomach are met with doubt, notwithstanding the pronouncements of his doctors and the PNP physician. However, we believe that Celso may actually have cancer, considering that we have noted that malefactors and scoundrels have been felled by dread diseases. Recall that the late SEC commissioner Jesus Martinez, accused of graft and protecting Celso, died of cancer. Before that, FG had to be operated for aortic aneurysm. And just recently, PGMA reportedly had to undergo an operation to remove cysts from her breast/s. Malacanang had taken great pains to announce that the tumors were benign, but if we are to be consistent with our theory... What about JocJoc? Well, if our theory of divine retribution will hold true to form, it is just a matter of time.

Celso is a Negotiable Criminal

Legacy bank-issued CTDs are definitely non-negotiable instruments but Celso's detention in a prison cell is obviously negotiable. All that Celso had to do was get himself admitted in St. Luke's hospital (which would be easy enough), get diagnosed as one with a dread disease, and then undergo medical treatment. And that is what Celso did: if we are to believe news reports, he was a patient in St. Luke's, was undergoing chemotherapy, and then inexplicably obtained medical clearance from his doctor to leave the hospital.

What was so important for Celso to leave the confines of the hospital and go to Sto. Domingo to assume his duties as mayor? Would someone undergoing treatment for cancer risk the long travel from metro manila to Sto. Domingo, a town in Bicol to report to the municipal office? I don't think so... Celso had to go to that town to do something. Hide more documents? Retrieve cash from his safe to pay off his protectors? Well, it must have been important, to risk his health and expose him to arrest. And if we believe again the news reports, Celso collapsed while in town, and had to be returned to St. Luke's.

Pictures show Celso with tubes in his throat and stomach, to underpin his lawyer's claim that though a warrant of arrest has been served to him, he cannot be moved from the hospital. Then a PNP doctor is brought in, and confirms that Celso has to stay put in the hospital to undergo 20 sessions of radiotherapy. Celso must have brought back cash from his house in Sto. Domingo and dispensed them freely, and obviously, successfully. Of course, Celso is not used to giving out cash: he was used to issuing CTDs that were not actually funded. Now that his banks are closed, and his credibility shot, he has to pay cash to get his way.

However, thinking about it, we would gladly see Celso in the hospital getting all the treatments to get him healthy, fit enough to serve his sentence in jail. Death would be too easy for this criminal, but the question is: would our (flawed) criminal justice system dish out the long prison sentence that Celso deserves? Rethinking, I guess death is a surer sentence.

Goodfellas of the Philippines

Remember the movie Goodfellas (1990) starring Robert de Niro, Ray Llota, Joe Pesci. It was a true mobster story about three mafia gangsters. In one segment of the movie, restaurant owner Sonny tries to collect 7,000 dollars of unpaid bills from Tommie, a dangerous, disruptive and volatile criminal, who gets so angry that he breaks a glass bottle on Sonny’s forehead. In the next scene, a scared Sonny complains to Paulie, the local Mafia boss overlord. Although unaware of how to run a restaurant, Paulie promises to offer protection by becoming a partner. “Sonny is now committed and beholden to Paulie. Now Sonny’s got Paulie as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with a bill, he can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now the guy's got to come up with Paulie's money every week. No matter what. Business bad? F--k you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? F--k you, pay me. The place got hit by lightning, huh? F--k you, pay me. Also, Paulie could do anything. Especially run up bills on the joint's credit. And why not? Nobody's gonna pay for it anyway. And as soon as the deliveries are made in the front door, you move the stuff out the back and sell it at a discount. You take a two hundred dollar case of booze and you sell it for a hundred. It doesn't matter. It's all profit. And then finally, when there's nothing left, when you can't borrow another buck from the bank or buy another case of booze, you bust the joint out. You light a match.” And the restaurant is set on fire by Paulie’s hoodlums and burns down.

Sounds familiar? You bet it does. If we go by LAV’s June 12 comment in Ricky Carandang’s blog and KBP Cebu Chairman Leo Lastimosa's statement, they both say that Speaker Nograles, Butch Pichay, and other powerful people were partners of Celso de los Angeles. Here is a possible scenario: Celso runs to Prospero Nograles and company when BSP in 2003, according to Celso, starts harassing and extorting from him (remember his accusation against ex-BSP Deputy Governor Alberto Reyes and his brother, Efren Reyes). In the next scene, a scared Celso complains to Noggie, who probably gets the go-signal from his big boss. Although unaware of how to run banks, Noggie and company promises to offer protection by becoming partners. Celso is now committed and beholden to Noggie and company. Now Celso has got Noggie as a partner. Any problem, he goes to Noggie and his boss. Trouble with PDIC? Big boss says back off to Ricardo Tan, PDIC president who initiated a PDIC investigation in 2005. Tan doesn’t back off, and he gets replaced by another (who dies while holding office). Trouble with BSP? Big boss says back off and BSP backs off (according to Alberto Reyes, BSP had started its investigation of legacy banks as early as 2003 but takes five years to act on its findings). But now Celso’s got to pay his new partners. Noggie is now more powerful: not only is his brother-in-law working for the BSP, but his younger brother is PDIC president. Business bad because of financial crisis? F--k you, pay me. Launder money for them, pay their campaign expenses using legacy funds, use legacy offices and staff for their election campaigns, etc. Create so many fictitious loans using bloated collateral to siphon off money deposited by trusting and unsuspecting depositors. Come up with ghost applicants for motorcycle loans and receive hundreds of motorcycles. Print out so many CTDs assigned to the new partner’s dummies. It doesn’t matter. It’s all profit. And then finally, when there's nothing left, when you can't borrow another buck from the bank or get more legitimate deposits, you bust the banks out. Declare bank holidays. Is this a true story, too?

That one possible scenario. Here in another possible rundown: Celso himself gets tired of the payouts to and extortions from his new partners, and he himself gives up and closes all his business in one go. Celso is an AIM MBA graduate- he knows the value of banks. He would let go of his other businesses like the preneed, real estate, and credit card companies but given a choice, keep the banks. Only if he was cornered and desperate would he give up his banks, all 13 of them. He must have said, “What the f—ck!” and without giving notice to his partners, closed the whole shebang. And that explains how Noggie ended up holding P18 million of investments and CTDs (unfunded?).

PDIC and BSP allowed Legacy to Swindle Depositors

The second DEADBOL meeting was attended by a prospective member, who aside from having time deposits in legacy banks, was a VP-Marketing for legacy bank products. Gi had worked for legacy since 2002 and had more information regarding Celso and the legacy operations.

She confirmed that Celso or CGA paid CTDs to his employees as separation pay, but unlike her subordinate who was led to believe that the banks would be kept open, she was called in the early afternoon of December 4,2009 by the cashier of Dynamic Bank that the banks would be declaring holidays. That during Sat, Dec. 6 and Sun, Dec. 7, bank employees were working overtime inside Rural Bank of Paranaque (RBOP) offices doing cleanup operations (she didn't know what that meant). Bank clerks were also typing the CTDs for separated legacy employees, including themselves.

We were puzzled when Gi said that a lot of time deposits in RBOP were owned by depositors located in Cebu, Gen. Santos, and especially Davao. She explained to us that there wasn't any legacy bank in Davao- constraining so many Davaoenos to course their deposits mainly through legacy offices in Davao. There were also depositors who did not want to travel long distances to open new accounts, so they placed their money through the nearest legacy offices. These "remote" depositors were issued legacy ORs, aside from CTDs which were delivered by the respective banks several days later. We then asked ourselves the obvious question: is it possible that these banks actually received the funds or did they issue the CTDs even if unfunded? It turned out that the answer to these questions did not matter. Gi recounted that she had a client who had been a depositor of the defunct CGA-owned Center bank (closed in 2006). He had personally opened his first P100,000 account but when the PDIC maximum was increased to P250,000, he deposited another P100,000, but through the legacy Makati office. PDIC honored the first account but denied his claim for the second, for the reason that the legacy office remitted the day's collections as an aggregate amount, without a breakdown of the names of the depositors. These transactions were done daily by the legacy offices, making it difficult for PDIC to ascertain who owns what, especially if legacy offices did not deposit collections daily or if the deposited funds did not match office collections.

What hit us is that CGA knew that these remote deposits would not be acceptable to PDIC, but still continued on with this scheme, but on a grander scale: from a one-unit bank to 12 banks with more than 109 branches. His greed knew no bounds, creating hundred, perhaps thousands of despairing depositors with probably no chance of getting back their hard-earned money. After this mind-boggling insight, we were hit by another lightning bolt of an idea: the PDIC allowed legacy offices to continue collecting remote deposits. It is quite impossible that PDIC or the BSP had not heard that legacy offices continued to receive money meant as bank deposits, but had obviously tolerated its practice. PDIC had not issued any circular or memo warning depositors to avoid this kind of remote banking which would not be covered by PDIC insurance, and we are sure that the BSP or PDIC had not issued any cease-and-desist order to the legacy banks and offices.

These insights lead to one inescapable conclusion- that Celso could not have pulled off his "business model" without collusion from these so-called regulatory bodies. Was this the organized syndicate that BSP Deputy Gov. Nestor Espenilla, Jr. was alluding to "that from day one was created to exploit human nature and weak links in the legal, regulatory, and enforcement framework of our banking and financial system.”

The irony of it all is that Davao is the bulwark of Speaker Prospero Nograles. Did he imagine that his kababayans would be the biggest victims of this innovative scheme to swindle depositors? Has his younger brother, PDIC President Jose Nograles, come to realize that most of the claimants of these remote deposits are Davaoenos?

An Expose of PDIC: The Makings of a Syndicate

Ricardo Tan, former president of PDIC, claimed that sometime in 2005, Nograles had invited him to dinner in Edsa Plaza Shangrila hotel but was surprised by the appearance of Celso de los Angeles. Prospero Nograles, then House majority leader, asked him to go easy on the probe of the Legacy Group because its owner was well connected with top administration officials. This dinner came after PDIC had started its own investigation of the legacy banks. “We conducted a probe based on the complaints of depositors,” Tan said.“What we found were fictitious deposits, [rotating] collateral from one bank to the other, unsafe and unsound [banking practices] and improper documentation.”

The older Nograles kept on coming up with different explanations for that meeting, and noting that if he had wanted to intervene in the Legacy case, he should have talked to the BSP and not PDIC. He is quoted as saying ““The function of PDIC is to pay depositors of banks ordered closed by the central bank which files complaints against erring banks. Filing cases is not the function of PDIC. So why should I talk to him (Ricardo Tan) when it is not his function? His job is to collate assets of closed banks and pay depositors.” Not surprisingly, Celso echoed the same line by saying “Why would I talk to Ric Tan when he was not with the BSP, and I did not have any closed banks at that time?” If Celso could play dumb on the powers of PDIC, Prospero Nograles certainly cannot get away with feigning ignorance. He was the majority leader when RA 9302, the law that restored PDIC’s power to examine and investigate banks, was deliberated on the floor and passed by the House in 2004.

We can therefore logically infer two facts from Tan’s revelations: first, that contrary to the younger Nograles’ protestations in the 2009 congressional hearings, PDIC could and had in fact investigated the legacy banks as early as 2005 and second, that Celso had powerful friends who were obviously interceding and running interference for him. Celso himself disclosed in an interview with Ricky Carandang that that he was “close” to some influential political figures like Vice President Noli De Castro, House Speaker Boy Nograles, former congressman Butch Pichay, and Environment Secretary Lito Atienza. VP Noli acknowledged that Celso was a campaign supporter in his 2004 election run for the VP position. How valuable was he to Noli de Castro? Obviously a big-time contributor- it was De Castro who recommended that De los Angeles be appointed in 2004 as chairman of the National Home Mortgage Corporation. Nograles admitted that he was a legacy preneed investor before 2004 and still had a collectible of P18 million in legacy investments. Legacy bank insiders revealed that the Speaker had availed of the bank’s car promo plan under its 6-year DYM time deposit. The Speaker has admitted to attending parties thrown by Celso. Carol Hinola, former president of the Legacy group, alleged that Congressman Ed Zialcita received a monthly stipend of P100,000 as consultant fees. Patricio Mangubat of the New Philippine Revolution wrote that the Paranaque congressman “is not just a silent investor but a very active one.

Obviously, these powerful friends had to ensure that the golden goose would keep on laying the golden eggs. Having influential partners and backers was not enough to keep the money machine operating. It needed inside men to ensure that BSP, PDIC and SEC would not spoil the party. The critical roles of BSP and PDIC as potential spoilers in the grand scheme are axiomatic; what is not evident is the function of the SEC. Most of the bank depositors confidently deposited their hard-earned money into the legacy rural banks, not only because of the high interest rates offered but because the banks were part of a conglomerate that included supposedly profitable sister companies engaged in preneed plans, motorcycle dealerships, credit cards, etc. Celso and his friends could not allow the SEC to close down these companies and therefore bring down confidence in the legacy “business model” that Celso kept on mentioning during the initial senate hearings. This was the business model that was making it possible for the legacy banks and preneed companies to rake in billions of pesos.

Enter SEC Commissioner Jesus Martinez, close cousin of congressman Zialcita. Hinola had narrated that during lunch on Feb. 14, 2006 at a Japanese restaurant at the Shangri-La hotel in Makati, Martinez, who was accompanied by Zialcita, has asked her “ if we have any problems with the SEC that he [Martinez] could help us with and at that time…” Martinez must have been a big help because Hinola accused him of receiving a Ford expedition in 2007 and a P5 million house in 2008, all courtesy of legacy funds. One potential problem (SEC) dealt with, two (BSP and PDIC) to go.
Very few people are aware that Prospero Nograles has a close relative working in the BSP. His name is Manuel Bendigo and he is the brother of the wife of Nograles. Though the BSP started investigating the legacy banks as early as 2004, it would seem that the legacy banks were always one step ahead of the investigative team. Would it be farfetched to believe that this brother-in-law played a key role in keeping Celso abreast of BSP’s findings and plans? Two down, one to go.

For refusing to play ball and go easy on the legacy probe, Ricardo Tan was replaced as PDIC president by Michael Osmena, who died in office. On December, 2007, Jose Nograles, an unheard-of Senior Vice President of Landbank and more importantly, younger brother of the House of Representatives’ majority leader, was appointed as PDIC president. It would seem that the younger Nograles had two marching orders- the first and immediate priority was to set aside and bury the adverse findings of PDIC’s 2005 investigations of the legacy banks. He obviously accomplished his first mission. Ricardo Tan said in an interview with the Inquirer ““When I left PDIC [in April 2006], our exposure to [De los Angeles’] 12 banks [in terms of insured deposits] was P4 billion,” “Since then, PDIC’s exposure has risen to P14 billion.” What was the new PDIC president’s second mission? That in case the some of the legacy banks failed, PDIC, in compliance with its overall mandate, would pay the depositors promptly and expeditiously. Remember his older brother’s quoted job description of the PDIC president? “His job is to collate assets of closed banks and pay depositors.” A month after the legacy banks’ closure, Celso announces that PDIC will soon be paying the bank depositors. Swift deposit payouts would have avoided unwanted attention into legacy bank anomalies and the criminal negligence of the regulatory agencies. But the syndicate did not take into account the one flaw in its grand plan- PDIC had no money to pay out and the BSP inexplicably refused to lend it money. How and why did this happen to the PDIC that had boasted that it had a DIF of P61.5 billion pesos? Part 4 will reveal the hidden interests of the big financial institutions that caused the drying up of the govt-controlled private funds.

Expedition: lost and now found

The return of the Ford expedition right at the front of PDIC was a calculated strategy. Celso planned it in such a way that it would be traced back to him. Never mind if he swore under oath in the senate hearing that he had a lot of expeditions but did not have one owned by one of his rural banks. He'd rather be called a liar in order to cover up his dear friend and protector, SEC commissioner Martinez. I really suspect that the expedition was used by Martinez or by his wife or by his son but when things got hot, Martinez asked Celso to arrange it in such a way that it could not be traced back to the Martinezes. There is no other explanation why a criminal mastermind would allow himself to get easily caught returning the "hot" vehicle. Of course, anyone parking a car in front of a government building at an unholy hour would attract interest from security guards patrolling the perimeter. I just pity the hapless driver of Celso who was ordered to park the car, and knowing Celso, he would be paying his driver minimum wages even after going through detention and grilling by PDIC authorities.

This incident serves only to prove that Celso and Commissioner Martinez are thick as thieves!!!

The face of a criminal genius

Ano kaya ang nasa isip ni Celso when this picture was taken? He was in the House of Representa"thieves" and therefore was at ease among his species. Nothing to worry about since he has so many friends in congress, foremost among them is allegedly the Speaker of the House. Oh! I forgot, may mga congressmen pala na nakainvest daw ng millions sa preneed buyback plan at galit kay Celso at sa Speaker kasi hindi nababawi pa ang pera nila. And they know that the Speaker's millions have been returned by Celso. So therefore parang alert and wary ang expression ni Celso sa picture na ito.

Ito ba ang mukha na pagkakatiwalaan at paniniwalaan mo sa mga sinasabi niya? that he will find a way to return the principal to the preneed investors who are owed billions, not counting the double your money in interest income? Eh kung ang binigay niyang jewelry kay Regine ay binawi niya, ano pa kaya ang perang nasa kamay na niya?

Celso sells Ayala Alabang lot for P57 million

PHILSTAR ORA MISMO ni Butch M. Quejada Update January 20, 2009

Ayon sa mga asset ng mga kuwago ng ORA MISMO, nagbenta ng may 3,013 metro kuwadradong lupa sa Ayala Alabang si Celso delos Angeles, isa sa Legacy owner at nabayaran ito ng P57 million.

Ika nga, may paper trail. Hehehe!

Dec. 2, 2008, nakabentahan at sa asawa bebot ng isang Intsik ito ipinangalan.

Sabi ng mga asset ng mga kuwago ng ORA MISMO, P18,000 per square meters ang zonal value ng lupa ni Celso sa Ayala Alabang.

Bakit kaya ibinenta ang lupa ni Celso para hindi ma­habol? Hehehe!

Galing ito sa Philippine Star website. Ang Banco Paranaque at Pilipino Rural Bank ang mga naunang bangko na nag-bank holiday noong Dec. 8, 2008. Celso sold the lot last Dec. 2, 2008. Thia is evidence that Celso had plans to close the banks last August or September or October because it is not easy to find a buyer nor negotiate a sale in such a hurry. It would take quite some time to find a buyer who has 57 million pesos. How many more properties did Celso dispose of before December? Siguradong sigurado ako na si Celso ay may nakatagong milyon milyon o billion na pesos (malamang converted to dollars). Tanong ay kung saan niya nailagay ang pera niya- sa bangko ba o sa bayong?

Abangan ang sunod na posting para mapangalanan ang isang commercial bank na malamang humahawak sa kanyang hidden wealth.