SENATOR Ramon Bong Revilla, Jr. asked the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to enforce measures demanding greater transparency and reliability from e-wallet service providers immediately after reports of a massive and widespread fund loss on GCash accounts occurred which compromised many Filipinos’ need to access their funds.
On Monday evening (May 8), many users of digital wallet service provider GCash (operated by G-Xchange, Inc.) started to storm different social media platforms airing their grievances about some unauthorized transactions on their respective accounts resulting in depleted balances.
According to complaints, affected GCash accounts reflected unauthorized online fund transfers to various accounts in different banks. Up to Tuesday afternoon, many users are still unable to access their accounts.
“Hanggang sa oras na ito, wala pang malinaw na paliwanag na ibinibigay ang GCash. Hindi pwede yan. Dapat malaman ng mga users kung ano talaga ang nangyari dahil pera nila yan e… pinaghirapan nila yan. Hindi sapat na nagbigay lang sila ng statement na basta ibabalik lang ang nawalang mga pera. Kung hindi na-hack, eh ano ba talaga nangyari? Bakit napunta sa piling mga bank accounts? Masisiguro pa ba natin na ligtas ang mga pera natin?”, Revilla said.
“Kawawa yung mga kababayan natin. Kung kailan kailangan nila yung pera nila, at saka biglang nawala. Eh paano kung may pinaglalaanan sila na kailangan mabayaran agad?”, he lamented as he expressed concern to those gravely affected by the situation, especially Filipinos who immediately need to access their funds on the said e-wallet.
The solon also emphasized that corporations vested with public interest have a fiduciary duty to the public that they serve.
“Dapat sinisigurado ng financial institutions katulad ng mga digital wallet providers na laging protektado at ligtas ang mga pondo na nilalagak ng publiko sa kanila. May fiduciary duty sila eh. They should exercise the highest degree of diligence para hindi nangyayari ang mga katulad ng nangyari nitong nakaraan”, Revilla explained.
Some users reported losing as much as P70,000 on their GCash accounts during the incident. Several victims also reported that as many 3 unauthorized transactions occurred in their accounts in just a span of a few hours.
