Cebu Bankers assure ATMs will stay online

ATM (INQUIRER)

The Cebu Bankers Club (CBC) assured the banking public that they will still be able to withdraw money from Automated Teller Machines (ATM) during the weekend, even if cell sites will be shut down for Sinulog.

CBC past president Maximo Rey Eleccion said that most banks in Cebu City, if not all, use leased lines (cable) while only a few depend on wireless fidelity (WiFi) connections.

“I don’t think we will go offline if and when cellular sites will be off,” he said in a text message.

Eleccion said that only ATMs powered by WiFi and using General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) will be offline.

City Hall already advised the public to withdraw cash in advance since WiFi-dependent ATMs may be affected once mobile data services are suspended during the weekend.

Police and local government officials earlier agreed to disrupt cellular services, supposedly with signal jammers before it was proposed to shut down cell sites altogether, to prevent terrorists from detonating bombs through cellphones.

The plan to shut down cell sites would make text messaging and call services unavailable, which Eleccion said would pose a minor problem.

“Only our ATM loaders will be affected because they cannot anymore receive dispatch or text messages to fix or load money to a particular ATM that has a problem or needs cash reloading,” he said.

Cebu City banks are set to do full loading prior to Saturday’s foot procession, Eleccion added.