Charges vs. PVB head, BSP governor dismissed

A Quezon City Regional Trial Court has dismissed the charges filed by a recently formed veterans groups against the head of the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) and the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP), the bank’s board of directors, and three high government officials for alleged anomalies involving some P1.3 billion in PVB and VFP funds.

The charges were filed by the Crusade to Reform Veterans Organizations (CREVO) against Emmanuel V. de Ocampo, chairman and president, respectively, of the PVB and the VFP. Also named in the complaint were the secretaries of the Department of National Defense and the Department of Finance, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Rafael Buenaventura.

In a decision promulgated June 6, 2002, Judge Vivencio S. Baclig of Branch 77 of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, dismissed the complaint on grounds that CREVO has no legal personality to institute legal action to De Ocampo and the other respondents. He also said that the complainants failed to state a cause of action. Consequently, the court also dismissed the complainant’s application for a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction.

In dismissing the charges, the court said that "since the plaintiff CREVO is neither a stockholder of the Philippine Veterans Bank nor a member of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines, it has no legal personality to file the instant suit."