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Economists on Monday called on Insurance Commissioner
Evangeline Escobillo to answer the corruption charges being labeled
against her, saying insurance is built on trust.
Astro del Castillo, managing
director of First Grade Holdings Inc., said Escobillo must be a
person of unquestioned credibility and must function above board.
“Commissioner Escobillo should
once and for all clear the smoke of doubt on her credibility.
Insurance is a multibillion business and the IC head must be of
unquestioned personality. She should answer satisfactorily all
accusations being hurled against her, which undermine her
credibility,” del Castillo said.
Escobillo has three pending graft
charges before the Office of the Ombudsman. One of which is the
P10.6-million computerization scam exposed by IC employees where
Escobillo ordered the payment of the contract days before the
agreement was signed and approved.
Escobillo was recruited by
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves from a small thrift bank, Anchor
Savings Bank, which is owned by the Catholic group Knights of
Columbus, sometime October 2005.
Incidentally, officers of Anchor
Bank discovered several anomalies allegedly with the involvement of
Escobillo, including the reported padding of the bank’s income
just so she could collect a hefty bonus.
Businessman Reymar Mansilungan,
whom she appointed as conservator of Acropolis Central Guaranty
Corp. sometime December 2005, has charged Escobillo for irregularity
before the Ombudsman. Mansilungan’s appointment came after the
firm was discovered on the red and was suspended. However, Escobillo
shortly lifted the suspension despite the failure of Acropolis to
infuse P21 million, a requirement for lifting the suspension.
Mansilungan said Escobillo was
favoring big companies to the disadvantage of smaller firms, who
could not afford to increase their capitalization. He referred to
consortium firms Personal Accident Managers Inc. and Universal
Transport Accident Inc. that function like umbrella organizations of
nonlife insurance companies.
Under this system, the nonlife
insurance companies pooled together their resources so as to render
an “all risk, no fault” coverage, including several services
that single nonlife insurance firm are unable to offer.
Even life insurance companies
were opposed to Escobillo’s recent directive ordering all agents
to pay bonds, another requirement for the issuance of their
licenses.
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