A BANK OFFICER of the closed People’s Rural Bank of Binmaley, Inc. (PRBBI) in Pangasinan was again found guilty for facilitating fictitious loans through falsification of commercial documents, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Tuesday.

The Metropolitan Trial Court of Las Piñas City convicted Juanita G. Altarez, former area head and manager of PRBBI, for four counts of falsification of commercial documents in its decision on Feb. 5, the BSP said in a statement.

“The BSP continues to promote financial stability through good governance among its supervised institutions to ensure the soundness of the banking system and to protect the interest of the banking public,” the central bank said.

The court sentenced Ms. Altarez to imprisonment of one year and 11 days up to three years, six months and 24 days for each count. She will also need to pay a fine of P5,000 for each count, with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.

Ms. Altarez was convicted for a case involving four fictitious loans she approved.

“Said loans were discovered by the BSP during their investigation of the bank, and are part of 142 fictitious loans amounting to P7 million granted by PRBBI-Las Piñas Branch and facilitated by Altarez,” the central bank said.

In May 2019, Ms. Altarez was also convicted by the Regional Trial Court of Las Piñas Branch 255 for granting the fictitious loans. She was found guilty of four counts of violation of the General Banking Law of 2000 and was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment and a penalty of P100,000 for each count. — LWTN

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