We write with respect to Atty. Emil Jurado’s To The Point column entitled Drug Menace Cannot Be Eradicated which came out in Manila Standard.
In the article, you wrote that Atty. Leonardo Siguion-Reyna got nervous when, as a member of RCBC Executive Committee, he observed that the bank would lend millions of pesos to “some Chinese… without collateral because that was a violation of banking laws.”
We take strong exception to your statement that RCBC was violating banking laws. Banking laws and regulations, then and now, allow banks to lend to third parties on a clean basis without collateral. The decision to lend on a clean basis is a commercial decision that all banks regularly make for clients, depending on many commercial reasons.
We can only surmise that Atty. Siguion-Reyna may have felt uneasy to lend without collateral for purely business or commercial reasons, but certainly not for a violation of banking laws.
LIZA G. VENGCO
Corporate Affairs Head
RCBC
