SC will have final say on DBP-Landbank merger—official
State-run Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) believes that the Supreme Court would have the final say on its proposed merger with the Land Bank of the Philippines.
DBP Chairman Dante O. Tiñga said on Thursday, May 25, said the Supreme Court would eventually weigh in on the legal questions over the Department of Finance-led (DOF) merger of two government-owned banks.
Tiñga, who is a former associate justice of the Supreme Court, however, clarified that DBP would not initiate the petition before the high court.
“DBP stakeholders who will be affected by the merger could challenge this before the Supreme Court,” Tiñga told reporters.
Meanwhile, Tiñga said the bank’s management would not oppose should President Marcos decide to approve the DOF’s draft executive order (EO) calling for the Landbank-DBP merger.
“We have to resign first if we will oppose the decision of the president,” Tiñga said.
Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno earlier said that the DOF had submitted to President Marcos a draft EO for the planned merger.
Diokno said he was hopeful that President Marcos will sign the document before the end of the month.
When asked about the draft EO, Tiñga said it is unlikely for the president to sign the order before May 31.
Tiñga also stood firm in his opposition that the merger requires legislation, because the two state-owned banks were created by law and, therefore, must be merged through an act of Congress.
Meanwhile, DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Michael O. de Jesus reported that the bank’s net income rose 17 percent to P1.23 billion in the first three months of the year from P1.05-billion a year ago.
De Jesus said higher interest income from expanded lending activities to critical sectors of the economy fueled the double-digit growth in its bottom line.
“DBP’s resurgent financial performance in 2023 is an attestation of its stability as a government financial institution,” de Jesus said.
“We shall continue to build on this growth trajectory and carry on our mandate of being a catalyst of growth in areas where economic activities are limited and most needed,” he added.
DBP is the eighth largest bank in the country in terms of assets and remains a relevant and reliable partner of the national government in serving the financing needs of strategic and critical economic sectors.