Lawmaker calls for House probe on BPI ‘internal error’

BPI branch at Escolta, Manila which occupies the Don Roman Santos Building, former head office of Prudential Bank. (Photo by noel Gonong (Wikipedia Takes Manila participant) – Uploaded from Wikipedia Takes Manila, CC BY-SA 3.0.)

MANILA — A lawmaker at the House of Representatives on Thursday filed a resolution calling for a congressional inquiry into the security and stability of bank internal systems following a technical glitch in the accounts of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) clients.

Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Rodel Batocabe filed House Resolution No. 1072, which directs the committee on banks and financial intermediaries to conduct a probe on the BPI “internal system error”, which he said sparked “considerable panic” among its customers.

Batocabe said the internal error has worsened the “already unstable public perception regarding security of our institutions”.

Joining Batocabe in filing the resolution were his partylist mates from Ako Bicol, Reps. Alfredo Garbin and Christopher Co.

“We need to conduct an investigation to find out about the root cause of the BPI internal error and to determine the most suitable safeguards in order to prevent such future incident happening not only in BPI but in other banks and financial institutions,” Batocabe added.

The BPI internal error had caused unauthorized withdrawals and deposits, and double crediting for some account holders.

BPI Senior Vice President Catherine P. Santamaria, in a briefing, stressed that the problem was due to an internal error and not hacking as claimed by some. She said the error covered transactions between April 27 and May 2.

BPI decided to temporarily halt the operations of its electronic channels Wednesday morning and was able to resolve the glitch at around 10 p.m.