BAGUIO CITY – Member-consumer-owners (MCOs) of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) raised concern on the alleged access being done by unauthorized signatories to the various bank accounts of the electric cooperative without the knowledge of their duly authorized representatives to the Board of Directors.
In their letter to the different depository banks of BENECO, the concerned MCOs stated that they were appalled that the said financial institutions allowed BENECO’s account to be accessed by unauthorized signatories without their knowledge and consent as represented by their legitimate and authorized officers Engr. Melchor S. Licoben as the duly appointed general manager and board chairman lawyer Esteban A. Somngi.
“We find your actions and decisions a violation of the fiduciary nature of banking and that of the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 1405 or the Bank Secrecy Law, as such, your bank has placed the cooperative in a quagmire of business challenges and difficulties it did not have to face as they strove to provide us all with excellent service,” the MCOs stressed in their letters to the different depository banks of the electric cooperative.
The BENECO consumers reiterated that the existing legitimate members of the Board of Directors is headed by Atty. Somngi and there were no changes of authorized signatories of the electric cooperative to all its banking transactions with its depository banks.
During BENECO’s annual general membership assembly last October 2, 2021, the consumers declared that Engr. Licoben is the general manager of the electric cooperative and that Atty. Somngi and the 6 other members of the Board of Directors, namely, Jeffred Acop, Mike Maspil, Peter Busaing, Jonathan Obar, Josephine Tuling and Robert Valentin, will remain as directors, thus, all their actions are official and legitimate.
Further, the said assembly overwhelmingly approved, confirmed, and ratified the decision of the Board of Directors on April 21, 2020 to appoint Engr. Licoben as the general manager.
Likewise, the MCOs also overwhelmingly rejected the NEA-BOA decision to name Atty. Ana Marie Paz Rafael as the general manager and emphasized that the Board of Directors is the body that is given the power to appoint the general manager and not the NEA-BOA.
The MCOs emphasized for the unqualified attention of the banks that they have already given the imprimatur to Engr. Licoben and the 7 directors to act with official capacity.
According to the consumers, the banks were reminded that there is a petition pending before the Court of Appeals (CA) assailing the legitimacy of the appointment of Atty. Rafael.
“We need not belabor the fact that the relationship of your banks and BENECO through Engr. Licoben and Atty. Somngi is fiduciary and not unless there is a count declaration that the authorized signatories be changed, the most prudent your banks must do is to respect the status quo,” the consumers exclaimed.
The MCOs find the move of the banks to dis-associate their banks with Engr. Licoben and Atty. Somngi as utterly disrespectfully with wanton disregard of the principle of mutuality of relations between a depositor and a depository. We issue you this letter as an expression of frustration in the highest order of your acceptance of new signatories despite years of a good business relationship with Engr. Licoben and Atty. Somngi,” they added.
They called on the banks to recall with dispatch all transactions done by Atty. Rafael and associates even though they have submitted documents that purportedly came from BENECO and supported by other documents which was not passed or decided upon by the majority of the elected Board of Directors and officers.
The MCOs reminded the banks to exercise faithfully the diligence of a good father in verifying such documents submitted and the underlying circumstances or events as to which the documents were produced, thus, the banks were demanded to honor the authorized signatures and representatives of BENECO who are Engr. Licoben as the general manager and Atty. Somngi as the board chairman in all future transactions.
The banks reportedly decided to allow the change in signatories of the bank accounts of BENECO that are in their custody even without the notarized certified copy of a resolution changing the same that was issued by incumbent secretary to the board Director Mike Maspil which caused serious delays in the bank transactions of consumers with the said financial institutions.
The consumers vowed to take the appropriate action to assert the right of the electric cooperative to maintain the status quo in the signatories to the bank accounts so as not to unduly interrupt the bank transactions being entered to with the consumers and its suppliers. By HENT
