Noy to senators: End feuds, pass vital bills

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has stepped into the Senate controversy as he urged the feuding senators to set aside their personal brawl and focus on passing priority bills before Congress takes an extended break next week for the midterm elections in May.

Aquino said he did not want to delve into the utilization of Senate funds, as his priority is the passage of vital measures pending in the Senate.

“If we are not able to pass these bills, we will go back to square one,” he said.

There are only three days left for Congress to act on Senate Bill 3123, which seeks to widen the scope of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA).

“We also have deadlines from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). We don’t want any hindrance in our ability to participate in the world financial market to boost our economic objectives,” the President said.

“When I come back, I will appeal to the senators to set aside personal issues as there are more important national issues that have to be attended to,” Aquino told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland Friday night (Saturday in Manila).

The Senate though is expected to approve the remaining amendments to the AMLA on Wednesday in time for the plenary meetings of the FATF in Paris from Feb. 18 to 22.

Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, chairman of the sub-committee on AMLA amendments of the Senate committee on banks, currencies and financial institutions, said he would give his colleagues until tomorrow to complete their interpellations before he moves to have the bill approved on second reading.

Aquino said he will not certify the Freedom of Information bill as urgent to give way to further debates on the matter.

He said there are specific conditions under the Constitution that would allow him to certify a bill as urgent.

“Let us not forget the other pending legislation for the remaining session days of the current Congress, among them the law concerning the anti-money laundering aspect and the Human Rights Compensation bill that we have promised a long time ago,” Aquino said.

Senators have locked horns regarding the use of Senate funds by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

Enrile and his resigned chief of staff, lawyer Jessica “Gigi” Reyes, were accused by some senators of distributing funds in favor of the majority amid reports of a plot to oust Enrile as Senate chief.

But the debates on Senate funds turned personal when Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano exposed the alleged meddling and influence of Reyes in Senate affairs, calling her a “senator” in her own right.

No intention

Cayetano, meanwhile, clarified it was not his intention to insinuate that there was an illicit relationship between Enrile and Reyes when he threatened to reveal “100 truths” about the Senate President during his privilege speech last Wednesday.

His statements fueled public speculations about the Senate chief’s true relationship with Reyes, who was described by the former as Enrile’s “partner in running the Senate’s affairs.”

Cayetano explained he only threatened to reveal separate things about how Enrile and Reyes ran matters in the Senate.

“I didn’t mean that they are together. I meant that I know a lot of things about him and Atty. Gigi, I know a lot of things about the two of them,” the senator said.

Enrile has denied any romantic dalliance with Reyes.

Cayetano has been accused by his critics of using the issue of the Senate funds and his attacks against Enrile to gain political mileage for his reelection bid.

But he said the entire point of his tirade against Enrile was to restore the people’s faith in the Senate as an institution by bringing about transparency and accountability on the use of government funds.

He added that he was doing well in the surveys even before the controversy over the use of the Senate funds broke out.

“With all humility and with all due respect, in the last surveys, I’m technically tied for number two. And we know that in the Senate, it is about gaining friends and not enemies and we all know that the Senate President is very popular,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Pia Cayetano said yesterday that she was still confused about why Enrile was so angry with her and her brother.

Responding to the apology issued by Reyes the other day and her claim that Enrile’s personal hurt involving the two Cayetanos was deeply rooted, she said she could see no other reason for the Senate President to be upset with her except for her stand on the Reproductive Health and sin tax laws.

“With all honesty, I cannot think of any other issue, apart from the RH and sin tax laws, that might have caused Senate President Enrile to feel so strongly against me. He asked for my removal from the bicameral conference committee on sin tax. And of course, we all know our views on RH were poles apart,” Cayetano said.

AMLA amendments

Seven senators are scheduled to interpolate on Senate Bill 3123, the second installment of the amendments to the AMLA that the FATF is expecting to see enacted as law as part of the country’s compliance with the global standards on anti-money laundering and combating of terrorist financing.

The FATF is expected to review the compliance of the Philippines during the plenary meeting in Paris to determine if the country has met its standards.

The country was spared from the FATF’s blacklisting last year when it was able to enact the first AMLA amendment and the law criminalizing terrorist financing.

An upgrade was consequently given to the Philippines, from the dark gray list to gray, but according to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), the next downgrade would go directly to the black list.

Guingona said the bill should have been ready for second and third reading but he agreed to accommodate the requests of some of other senators, led by Sen. Joker Arroyo, to finish their interpellations on the measure.

Committee amendments were already introduced for the bill, which should have proceeded to approval on second reading based on the regular legislative process, but Arroyo and the other senators insisted that the measure be returned to the period of amendments.

In a manifestation made last Wednesday night, Guingona said the country could no longer afford further delays on the approval of the bill.

“In view of the fact that this bill has been certified urgent by the President and this committee has been very, very patient in accommodating and waiting for those who have registered for interpellations, but in view of the urgency of the subject matter and in view of the upcoming FATF conference this February, I would like to manifest that at the end of Monday next week I will no longer yield to any interpellations and will move to end the period of individual amendments and call for a vote,” Guingona said.

Apart from Arroyo, the other senators who have manifested their intention to interpolate are Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Manuel Villar Jr., Edgardo Angara, Loren Legarda, Ralph Recto, and Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada.

Senate Bill 3123 seeks to expand the list of unlawful activities and predicate crimes under the AMLA to include terrorism and conspiracy to commit terrorism, bribery, fraud, malversation of public funds and property, forgery and counterfeiting, and tax evasion.

It also calls for the expansion of the institutions required to submit regular reports to the AMLC on suspicious transactions that they receive to include foreign exchange corporations, money changers, pre-need companies, casinos, real estate agents, and dealers in precious stones and metals. – With Marvin Sy