RP committed to fight laundering

The country’s desire to stop money laundering, and not the fear of sanctions, should push the passage of the anti-money laundering law, the chairman of the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries said yesterday.

"We must pass the proposed law not out of fear but to show the world that the Philippines is committed in stopping illegal activities like money laundering," Rep. Jaime Lopez (Lakas, third district of Manila) told The STAR.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which considers the Philippines one of several countries "uncooperative" in the issue of money laundering, has given the government until the end of next month to pass a law to plug loopholes in the banking and financial system or face much tougher scrutiny of its banking transactions.

Lopez said that even without the deadline, the government is determined to pass a law to free the country from the dirty money of international crime syndicates.

The lawmaker said three House committees – ways and means, justice and economic affairs – have formed a technical working group to consolidate 10 related bills for a draft measure to be submitted for plenary debate next month.

Resource persons from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Bankers Association of the Philippines and the Department of Justice have been invited join the group in helping draft the proposed measure.

Under the proposed consolidated House version of the anti-money laundering law, banks are compelled "to report suspicious bank transactions to the Monetary Board, which in turn will determine the origin of the money."

To make this more effective, Lopez said, penal provisions will be included. They are expected to impose stiff fines and penalties on banks that fail to report on questionable transactions.

He noted that the Philippines is among the countries where organized crime groups have been pouring in money obtained from drug trafficking, kidnapping and smuggling.

Other countries considered as money-laundering centers are the Bahamas, Lebanon, Panama and Russia.

Lopez said the submission of a consolidated bill for plenary debate would be enough basis for the government to appeal for the removal of the Philippines from the list.