Monday, September 11, 2023

Abacus Real Estate Development Center, Inc. v. Manila Banking Corporation, G.R. No. 162270, 06 April 2005

 

Section 29 of the Central Bank Act, as amended, pertinently provides:

Sec. 29. Proceedings upon insolvency. – Whenever, upon examination by the head of the appropriate supervising and examining department or his examiners or agents into the condition of any banking institution, it shall be disclosed that the condition of the same is one of insolvency, or that its continuance in business would involve probable loss to its depositors or creditors, it shall be the duty of the department head concerned forthwith, in writing, to inform the Monetary Board of the facts, and the Board may, upon finding the statements of the department head to be true, forbid the institution to do business in the Philippines and shall designate an official of the Central Bank as receiver to immediately take charge of its assets and liabilities, as expeditiously as possible collect and gather all the assets and administer the same for the benefit of its creditors, exercising all the powers necessary for these purposes including, but not limited to, bringing suits and foreclosing mortgages in the name of the banking institution.

Clearly, the receiver appointed by the Central Bank to take charge of the properties of Manila Bank only had authority to administer the same for the benefit of its creditors. Granting or approving an "exclusive option to purchase" is not an act of administration, but an act of strict ownership, involving, as it does, the disposition of property of the bank. Not being an act of administration, the so-called "approval" by Atty. Renan Santos amounts to no approval at all, a bank receiver not being authorized to do so on his own.

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