EDITORIAL – Enforcing a law

It’s been five years since the country passed Republic Act 9160, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001. The other day, a bank manager became the first individual to be convicted for violating RA 9160. Eric Allagadan, manager of Union Bank’s branch in Greenhills, San Juan, was convicted by a Pasig court for diverting P14 million to the account of a certain Mario Misa. The money was supposed to go to an account of the Bureau of Customs. The Anti-Money Laundering Council said Misa is part of a crime ring whose members are at large.

RA 9160 was passed amid global concerns over the use of the banking system to launder funds by terrorists, drug dealers and other transnational criminal syndicates. The law needed fine-tuning; despite its passage, the Philippines was one of the last to be stricken out of a blacklist of countries that were not doing enough to fight money laundering. The conviction of Allagadan is a good indication that RA 9160 won’t turn out to be one of the many laws in this country that are not enforced.

Bankers have expressed valid concerns that tougher laws against money laundering could spook legitimate bank depositors, especially in a country where the law is sometimes used by those in power for political harassment. Those fears will have to be balanced with the need to go after criminals who exploit the globalization of the banking system to finance illegal acts particularly terrorism. At the height of the Abu Sayyaf’s kidnapping spree, two of its suspected members were caught trying to deposit a large amount of money in a bank in Mindanao. The money was believed to have been part of the ransom paid for the bandits’ numerous kidnap victims.

Gambling lords, smugglers, drug dealers and corrupt public officials also use the banking system to launder crime proceeds. A Union Bank teller had alerted authorities about Allagadan. Such vigilance can go a long way in stopping money laundering as well as the illegal activities that are the source of dirty money.