ILOILO CITY — Forty-three assets of closed banks in the Visayas region, including 27 from Western Visayas, will be subjected to a public bidding by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) this August 30.
“We are going around the country to sell the assets and the first step in disposing the assets will be the public bidding. The public bidding is a process of offering the assets of closed banks through means that is fair to all concerned,” said PDIC Vice-President, Corporate Affairs Group Joseph G. Villaret Jr., in a press conference held here in this city on Wednesday.
Villaret said they offered for public bidding “those ready” because there are assets that still have “issues”.
The bidding for 43 real estates, composed of 21 residential lots, 19 residential lots with improvement, two commercial lots with improvement and one mixed-use industrial/residential will be held at the BSP Iloilo Branch on August 30.
The properties are in Negros Occidental, 24; Cebu, 12; Bohol, four and Iloilo City with three. They have a combined minimum disposal price of PHP68 million.
“Our goal is to maximize all the recoveries from the assets so we can settle the obligations of the close banks to their creditors,” he said.
Villaret said PDIC has two roles, as a deposit insurer and as a receiver.
As a deposit insurer, PDIC guarantees deposits of all account holders up to PHP500,000 per deposit, per bank.
“Whatever happens to the bank like in case of failure there is a safety net or a guarantee that they can be reimbursed of their deposits up to PHP500,000. In protecting depositors, PDIC is also helping promote stability in the financial system,” he said.
However, accounts beyond PHP500,000 are considered “uninsured and will be subject to payment only upon the liquidation of the bank.”
The role of PDIC as receiver comes in to ensure that “assets of the closed bank will be administered, will be disposed so we can settle all the liabilities of the bank.”
The properties will be sold on an “as-is, where is” basis, hence interested buyers are advised to “physically inspect the properties, examine and verify the titles and other evidence of ownership, and determine any unpaid taxes, fees, charges and/or expenses before submitting their bids”.
There is a “minimum bid price attached to every property based on the latest appraisal of these properties using fair market values,” Villaret said.
The PDIC Real and Other Properties Acquired (ROPA) Disposal Committee will accept sealed bids from direct buyers between 9 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. of August 30. The bids will be opened at 2 p.m.
Bid documents maybe downloaded free of charge at the PDIC website.
Villaret cited that while the disposal of assets assists the creditors of closed banks, to some extent, it also helps the locality where the properties are located.
“It would help us do our job, but at the same time give a chance to these properties to be brought back to productive use because they have been idle for many years,” he said. (Perla Lena/PNA)
