The Supreme Court has rejected BDO Unibank Inc.’s bid to recover P76,000 withdrawn by a depositor, ruling that the bank’s own gross negligence caused the loss.
The court’s Third Division, in a decision penned by Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao, said the Sy-led bank failed to follow its own procedures in processing a regional check.
The case stemmed from Cristina Barcellano’s deposit of a P151,200 Landbank regional check into her savings account at a BDO branch in Lucena City.
A teller mistakenly treated the check as local, making the funds available after three banking days instead of the required seven-day clearing period.
Barcellano withdrew P76,000 after the amount was credited to her account. BDO later received a stop-payment order on the check and demanded repayment.
Barcellano initially agreed but did not return the money. BDO withheld the remaining balance in her account and filed an estafa complaint against her.
The Regional Trial Court and Court of Appeals acquitted Barcellano, finding no fraud, deceit or abuse of confidence and attributing the loss to BDO’s negligence.
BDO then asked the Supreme Court to review the civil aspect of the case, arguing that Barcellano should return the P76,000 under the doctrines of unjust enrichment and solutio indebiti, which generally requires repayment of money received by mistake.
The Supreme Court disagreed, saying BDO failed to show that Barcellano knew she was not entitled to the funds. The bank also failed to explain why the stop-payment order was issued or establish that she knew the check would not be honored.
The court said Barcellano acted in good faith when she withdrew money that BDO itself had made available in her account.
It found BDO grossly negligent for treating the regional check as local, crediting it before the proper clearing period had elapsed and failing to detect the error before receiving the stop-payment order.
The court also rejected BDO’s reliance on solutio indebiti, saying the doctrine did not apply because the erroneous payment resulted from the bank’s own gross negligence.
BDO failed to exercise the extraordinary diligence and reasonable prudence required of banks, the court said.
