A Regional Trial Court judge has ordered Banco de Oro to pay a Bacoleño P408,100 in   damages  caused by   its failure to reimburse him for funds  lost from his ATM account.

Bacolod RTC Branch  42 Judge Fernando Elumba in Civil Case 08-13219 ordered BDO to pay Demetrio Vinson III  P8,100 in actual damages, P150,000 in moral damages, P150,000  in exemplary damages and P100,00 for attorney’s fees.

Vinson furnished the DAILY STAR a copy of Elumba’s ruling yesterday.

In his 16-page decision, Elumba said  that on  March 30, 2008 Vinson made a  withdrawal  for P8,100 at the  ATM machine of the BDO Gonzaga branch  in Bacolod City but no cash was dispensed  as the machine became temporarily unavailable.

When Vinson proceeded to  the BDO branch  at the Lopues East Branch he realized that he was debited P16,200 from his savings account instead of only P8,100, the court noted.

Vinsson made a complaint  through BDOs hotline  and subsequent formal demand  but the P8,100 was never credited back to his account as the bank claimed there was no discrepancy in its records, the court added.

“There is merit to the plaintiff’s stand as he theorized that, defendant should know that its business is impressed with public interest, and that it should have exercised extraordinary diligence in handling complaints and in service the public. This is about or concerns the trust and confidence that the plaintiff  or the public should have in banks,” Elumba said.

BDO in its counterclaim said  the baseless allegations  of the plaintiff,   resulted in damage to its reputation.

The bank said it was entitled  to moral damages of P300,000, exemplary damages of P200,000  and P100,000 in attorney’s fees.

But the judge, in his decision, dismissed the BDO counterclaim of P600,000  for lack of merit.*CPG

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