LBC Express says PDIC is responsible for impact of claims suit on business

LBC Express Inc. is holding the state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) liable for any damage the seizure order on its assets will have on business, operations and financial condition.

"Appropriate action will be taken to lift, discharge, and/or quash the writ of attachment, as well as to hold PDIC liable for any damages suffered by the respondents by virtue of the enforcement of such writ," LBC Express said in a disclosure on Monday.

The logistics company hinted its credit worthiness has been place on the line after some of its bank accounts were attached to a writ of garnishment in a claims suit.

Shares of stock in LBC Express Holdings Inc., under the name of LBC Development Corp., were also indentified in the books of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC). LBC Express Holdings is a controlling shareholder of LBC Express Inc. while LBC Development is the parent firm of LBC Express Inc.

"LBC Express Inc. needs to be continuously in close communications with its suppliers, partners, and counterparts to minimize (if not avert) any negative impact of this garnishment on LBC Express Inc.'s credit," it said.

This comes on the heels of a writ of preliminary attachment served against the company filed on December 28, 2015.

"The writ of preliminary attachment directs the sheriff of the court to attach real and personal properties of any of the defendants sufficient to satisfy the plaintiff's claim and costs of suit, unless any or all of the defendants provide security to satisfy any final judgment in the case, in the manner provided by the Rules of Court," the company said in an earlier filing.

To address this, LBC Express Inc. and LBC Development Corp. have filed a motion to dismiss the civil cases filed by the PDIC, following the writ of preliminary attachment served against their assets.

The execution of the writ has resulted in the garnishment of the bank accounts of LBC Express Inc. which has "given rise to administrative challenges."

LBC Express disclosed the list of assets attached, as of 12 noon of January 6, 2016. These include:

• Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company – P119,000

• Philippine National Bank - P2,860,000

• Allied Banking Corp. - P350,000

• Land Bank of the Philippines - P3,588,343.60

• Land Bank of the Philippines - P20,379.09

More than 1.205 billion shares in LBC Express Holdings, with LBC Development registered owner, were also tagged in the records or system of the RCBC Stock Transfer Processing Section, after the bank was served a notice of garnishment from the Regional Trial Court Branch 143 of Makati City.

LBC Express Inc. is "not yet in a position to determine the long-term effects and impact of the notice of garnishment on the business, operations, and financial conditions of LBC Express Holdings Inc."

The now-shuttered LBC Development Bank, represented by the PDIC, claimed it was owed P1.8 billion in unpaid services by LBC Express Holdings. Other defendants in the case include LBC Development and LBC Express Inc. – Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VS, GMA News