rent deposit

I would just like to ask, currently we are renting an apartment for more than 2 years now, when we first paid the rent the lessor (sister of the owner) asked us for 1 month advance and 2 months deposit, from then on we have been paying the rent and had no payment in arrears up to now. A few months ago the lessor (sister of the owner) informed us verbally that the lessor (real owner) is planning to go back home from taiwan and will be using the apartment for himself. with this we already looked for another place to transfer since we also want to transfer already because we are not liking the management anymore (they've been asking for additional monthly payment P1000 for water for electric pump but we are already with maynilad and pump is not being used, repairs on the apartment such as plumbing are being charged to us, luckily we know how to reason out, and lastly we have doubts that our electricity is being tapped). To make the story short we don't want to stay there anymore. Yesterday we found an apartment and we informed our old landlady that we will be transferring, we asked for the deposit, she said their problem is that they don't have the money at hand to give back to us. Isn't it that the deposit we gave should have been deposited to a bank as a collateral for whatever damage, repair, or unsettled bills that we should pay before we leave, although like i said we are updated with the rent, bills and no damages to the house. What can you suggest we do regarding this for us to be able to secure our deposit?