G.R. No. L-20303 - Republic Savings Bank vs. Court of Industrial Relations, et al.

Mr. Ramon Racelis
President, Republic Savings Bank
M a n i l a

"Dear Mr. President:

We, the undersigned, on behalf of all our members and employees of the Republic Savings Bank, who have in our hearts only the most honest and sincere motive to conserve and protect the interest of the institution and its 200,000 depositors, do hereby, demand the much needed resignation of His Excellency, Mr. Ramon Racelis as President and Member of the Board of Directors of the Bank.

Mr. President, you have already, in so many occasions, placed the Bank on the verge of danger, that now we deem it right and justifiable for you to leave this Bank and let other more capable presidents continue the work you have not well accomplished.

In the above instance, we are presenting charges which in our humble contention properly justifies incapacity on your part to continue and assume the position as top executive of the huge institution:

(1) That you Mr. President, have tolerated and practiced immorality in this Bank. We have been expecting you to do something about this malpractice which is very disgraceful and affects the morale of the hundreds of your employees. But so far, Mr. President, you have just let this thing passed through. As a matter of fact, you have even promoted these women like Misses Pacita Mato and Edita Castro. These women are of questionable characters, Mr. President, and should have had no place in the Bank as managers or even as mere employees. We know Mr. President, because it is an open secret in the Bank, that you have illicit relations with one of them — Miss Edita Castro. As top officer and as father of the employees of the Bank, you have shown this bad example to your employees. Mr. President, we are really ashamed of you.

(2) That you have allowed the practice of nepotism in this Bank. You have employed relatives of yours like Honorio Ravida; Bienvenido Ravida; Antonio Racelis; Jesus Antonio; and Argentina Racelis. Not only that Mr. President. You have also given those nieces and nephews of yours good positions at the expense of the more capable employees. Mr. President, if we have to mention all of them, one page will not be enough.

(3) With regards to promotion, you have given more preferences to your close relatives. When the Bank advocated the sending of pensionados to States, you have only limited your choice among your nieces, nephews, and querida, namely, Miss Argentina Racelis, Mr. Jesus Antonio, Miss Edita Castro, and her brother-in-law, Mr. Pedro Garcia, Jr. In doing this, Mr. President, you have only lowered the reputation and standing of the Republic Savings Bank. There is really no sense in sending high school and B.S.E. graduates to States to study advanced banking. Because of this silly decision, it took one pensionado six months and cost the Bank a total of P10,000.00 just to study Christmas savings. That subject is very simple; one need not go to States to study savings; that you know full well, Mr. President. The reason why you sent Miss Castro to States was because you were also there. Are we not right?

(4) That you Mr. President, tolerated and still tolerating grave dishonesty in this Bank as evidenced by the following irregularities and anomalies;

(a) In one of our branches, around P200,000.00 was mulcted and embezzled by a certain Maximo Donado by doctoring the ledgers and records of that particular office. To the present, the amount is still increasing and some more are being dug up from the records everyday ever since its discovery in February 1957. In this case you dismissed Mr. M. Donado, immediately. But this was all that you did. If you have to go back to the history of the case, you will find out that your beloved nieces and nephews are also involved having been managers of that particular office. Another nephew, the Vice President-Operations, then Vice President, Personnel, was also involved for valid reasons that he did not even shift this particular employee to other branches or departments since the beginning when it has been the policy of the Bank to reshuffle its personnel. If you want to know why your good nephew did not transfer this employee, we will tell you. "Your good nephew has eaten too many baskets of delicious alimango." Mr. President, if there is someone to be blamed in this particular case, it is your good nephews and nieces for their gross negligence.

(b) Aside from the one mentioned above, we have also Mr. Rodolfo Francisco, who in April 1955, maliciously withdraw (sic) P970.00 in two withdrawal slips from the account of one depositor in one of our provincial offices, inserting his name as co-depositor in the savings account ledger.

(c) In January 1958, Mr. Jose de los Santos expended and approved representation expense in the amount of P300.00 in one of our provincial offices.

(d) Mr. Federico M. Dabu, the ex-cashier and now Personnel Manager, incurred a shortage in the amount of P1,240.00 in the course of the audit on August 3, 1954.

(e) Mr. Jose S. Guevara, Vice-President on Personnel have (sic) been accepting bribe moneys. One of these amounts to P4,000.00 which was delivered by a messenger sometime during the last quarter of 1957.

Mr. President, the anomalies are only a partial list of the irregularities which so far you have not acted upon. This type of people should have been fired out from the Bank; yet on the contrary, you promoted them to higher and responsible positions, thus, resulting in the demoralization of the more capable employees.

Mr. President, we hope that you have still a little sense of decency and propriety left. So, for goodsake and for the welfare of the Bank, DO RESIGN NOW as President and as Member of the Board of Directors of the Republic Savings Bank.

Very respectfully yours,          

(Sgd.) Rosendo T. Resuello
      President, RSB Supervisors' Union (FFW),

(Sgd.) Benjamin Jara
      Vice-President RSB Supervisors' Union (FFW)

(Sgd.) Florencio Allasas
      Treasurer, RSB Supervisors' Union (FFW)

(Sdg) Domingo B. Jola
      Chairman, Executive Committee, RSB Employees' Union (FFW)

(Sgd.) Diosdado S. Mendiola
      Vice-President, RSB Employees Union (FFW)

(Sgd.) Teodoro de la Cruz
      Member, Executive Committee, RSB Employees' Union (FFW)

(Sgd.) Angelino Quiambao
      President, RSB Security Guard Union (FFW)

(Sgd.) Narciso Macaraeg
      Vice-President, RSB Security Guard Union (FFW)

(Sgd.) Alfredo Bautista
      Treasurer, RSB Security Guard Union (FFW)

(Sgd.) Pacifico A. Argao
      PRO, RSB Employees' Union (FFW)

(Sgd.) Toribio B. Garcia
      Secretary, RSB Security Guard Union (FFW)

(Sgd.) Mauro A. Rovillos
      Member, Executive Committee, RSB Supervisors' Union (FFW)