'Unified' effort in fight vs money laundering urged

MANILA, Philippines - Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Marcelino Libanan is pushing for a “unified” and “concerted” effort among government agencies in the fight against money laundering.

Libanan also urged concerned government agencies to forge an agreement on the sharing of information and resources and to take advantage of the modern technology available in fighting this menace.

“Let’s have an agreement among all government instrumentalities spearheading this campaign. We must use the modern technology available to us in fighting this menace,” Libanan said in a statement.

The BI chief proposed that the member-agencies of the National Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee be engaged in a continuous sharing of information, saying that it is a key to stopping and preventing money gained from illegal means from being laundered to legitimate businesses.

“In order to ensure that the Philippines shall not be used as a money laundering site for proceeds of any unlawful activity, we must forge an agreement where information on any illegal activities are monitored and carefully assessed,” he said.

Libanan said the BI’s National Operations Center (BINOC) was created to monitor the bureau’s operations in all the airports and subports 24 hours a day.

Money laundering is a crime in the Philippines. It is a process where illegally obtained money is processed through various transactions to make it appear it was obtained legally.