Up to six syndicates involved in bringing in 'dirty' money, Gordon says
MANILA, Philippines — Up to six syndicates are responsible for the illegal entry of foreign currency into the Philippines, Sen. Richard Gordon said at Thursday's hearing on alleged money laundering by Chinese nationals.
According to Gordon, chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee, a total of $633 million or P32 billion in cash entered the country in 890 transactions from September 2019 to March 2020.
Records of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said that the money, which came in three currencies, was brought into the country through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
"Ang lumalabas dito, na kasama ay talagang may mga sindikato (It seems that those involved are really part of the syndicates)," he said.
"Ngayon ang alam namin, ay umaabot na yata ng lima or anim na ang sindikato (Now what we know is that there are up to about five or six of these syndicates)."
'Bureaucracy at its worst form'
Senators at the hearing also slammed what they said was the poor handling of the money laundering cases allegedly involving Chinese nationals.
For his part, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon questioned the slow movement of the investigation into the cases. "Is there no new technology? Are we still waiting for the paper to come to us?" he asked.
According to AMLC Executive Director Mel Racela, the council started conducting an examination in February and is still gathering more information.
"You will [only] meet one month and ten days after your intelligence transpires. Huling huli na. Nagastos na 'yung pera. I am shocked. Bureaucracy at its worst form," said Gordon.
"Aksyon kaagad dapat. Hulihin niyo yan. We're not happy about this."
The AMLC chief said intelligence agencies coordinate through a Viber group.
Racela argued that the Civil Code says good faith is always presumed, thus, he said, the AMLC could not establish money laundering until unlawful activity is properly established.
Drilon responded, "That is why we have a suspicious transaction provision. Transactions that cannot be supported by the ordinary course of a business. The issue of 'know your customer or client' is why it becomes suspicious. Hindi ako naniniwala that our law doesn't provide for that."
'POGOs not worth the income'
POGOs have been placed under relative scrutiny in recent months after two separate Senate hearings found links to kidnapping incidents, prostitution dens as well as alleged bribery at the Bureau of Immigration.
At Thursday's Senate hearing, Drilon said: "Since the POGO came in our shores, all these things suddenly happened. I'm disappointed with PAGCOR's statement that they are in favor of keeping POGOs here all because of the income."
According to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian in an earlier interview, the BIR had only collected a total of P11 billion from POGO taxes, when his calculations said that the amount should have been closer to some P62 billion.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, at a separate hearing also said that Immigration personnel at airports would allegedly pocket bribes from Chinese nationals who wanted easier entry onto Philippine soil.
At yet another hearing, Hontiveros disclosed the findings of her office's investigation into sex trafficking linked to POGOs, disclosing a "menu" of sexual favors that included Filipino women, some as young as 14 years old, who fell victim to sex trafficking.
“It’s not worth what we see as (its) adverse effects on our society," Drilon said at the hearing Thursday.
'Criminal cases involving Chinese are isolated incidents'
Reports of rowdy Chinese nationals have not been uncommon on social media, although authorities have cautioned that some narratives may only be invented for the purpose of spreading anti-Chinese sentiment.
Kaisahan Para sa Kaunlaran president Meah Ang See in an earlier interview said that bad behavior by members of a certain nationality does not justify making racist statements about them.
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She said then that although there have been complaints about the behavior of Chinese visitors and workers, Filipinos should not use racial attacks against them.
"Criticize the act because the act is wrong. [But] you have to remove the racial part. You have to remove the ethnicity from horrible acts because they are horrible. Period. [It’s] not because they are horrible Chinese," she said.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines reiterated its stance against illegal activity committed by its own nationals.
"The Chinese government attaches great importance to combating all kinds of illegal and criminal activities and has been maintaining close cooperation with the relevant agencies of Philippine government on cracking down transnational crimes, which has produced fruitful results," it said.
In transcribed remarks released in February, the Chinese Embassy also said that the Ministry of Public Security of China has obtained a list of Chinese nationals suspected of committing long-term telecommunication fraud crimes abroad, although they did not explicitly link these to POGOs.
The embassy said these were classified as the persons prohibited from exiting China.
"The Chinese Embassy firmly opposes any irresponsible remarks based on fake news and condemns any groundless allegations against China out of ulterior political motives," the embassy added.
"Individual illegal and criminal cases involving Chinese citizens are only isolated incidents and cannot represent the whole picture of China-Philippines relations."
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