The public school teachers who were victims of phishing schemes involving their accounts under the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) are still expecting a favorable resolution of their cases.

According to the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), the teachers who have lost their money due to unauthorized online transactions using their LBP accounts are hoping to get their missing funds back.

TDC said that the teachers are seeking for “favorable resolution” of their cases, in court, if needed, following the results of the investigation by LBP forwarded to the Department of Education (DepEd).

Since January 2022, TDC said that it has submitted a total of 58 cases to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). TDC said that on June 9, the DepEd Central Office thru the Office of Undersecretary of Finance forwarded a letter from LBP management dated May 5, 2022, stating the result of their investigation.

Citing LBP’s investigation, TDC noted that “18 accounts were disapproved for restitution” since the transactions were done using the clients' iAccess credentials (user ID and password).

LBP said that the alleged unauthorized transactions were also successfully authenticated by the One-Time Passwords (OTPs) which were sent to the clients' registered mobile numbers or email addresses.

Based on its records, the bank said that there were “no changes” in the clients' iAccess credentials required to access their iAccess and Mobile Banking Application (MBA) accounts --- thus, the transactions were “deemed to be authorized.”

TDC said that 11 accounts were also “disapproved for restitution” because the account holders had admitted to divulging their iAccess credentials by clicking on a fake email link.

Two accounts were already restituted since the clients were able to report the unauthorized transactions to the Bank but still, the transactions proceeded. One account, on the other hand, was not considered an eBanking fraud complaint “but was already resolved in favor of the client.”

Meanwhile, TDC said that 10 accounts included in the list have no formal complaints filed with LBP. Given this, the LBP maintained its stand that its system was not “hacked” and that the “personal information of their clients remained safe and secured with the bank's highest level of security in all its systems.” The TDC and the teacher-victims, however, unanimously disagreed with the findings of the LBP and will seek a favorable resolution, in court if possible.

They are also waiting for the consolidated report or findings of the NBI Cyber Crime Division.

“With that self-serving findings and decision of the LBP, we cannot hope that the bank would still be open for possible payment of fewer than two million pesos for all those cases,” TDC National Chairperson Benjo Basas said.

“We will wait for the findings and recommendations from the NBI for these will be material to our case,” he added.

For labor lawyer Luke Espiritu, the LBP “cannot shift the burden to the teachers.”

Espiritu, who also serves as the consultant for teachers, said that the loss and damage caused by the phishing incidents are well established concerning the affected teacher’s accounts.

“These being established, the defense of having observed extraordinary diligence in preserving the affected accounts is Landbank’s burden,” he said.

He added that LBP is “obligated by law to exercise extraordinary diligence to handle deposits with meticulous care” thus, it “cannot evade this required degree of care by simply speculating that the teachers must have failed in exercising sufficient vigilance to preserve their respective accounts’ integrity.”