Similarly vigilant

Kindly allow us to react to your (7 December 2011) editorial entitled, “Vigilance” which opened with the following remarks: “if not for the vigilance of several media groups, 27 members of the Ampatuan clan and several of their associates would have gotten hold of their frozen assets.”

We recognize that a vigilant media can be a driving force and make a difference, but the above statement apparently conveyed the message that the media or its vigilance is the sole reason why the Ampatuan assets, up to now, remain “preserved”. It did not take into account the six-inch thick petition for civil forfeiture and annexes that the AMLC and its statutory counsel, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), had prepared and labored through during the effectivity of the freeze order and filed with the Court, not to mention the countless man-hours spent looking for other assets that may yet be included in the forfeiture case. Up to now, AMLC and OSG are squaring off with the Ampatuan counsels in the application for bank inquiry that the AMLC filed with the Regional Trial Court.

Contrary to what was claimed by some misinformed persons, the freeze order did not expire on December 2, 2011 such that the funds in the banks could already be withdrawn. December 2 was the last day of the freeze order’s effectivity (in computing the period, the first day is excluded while the last day is included). The Provisional Asset Preservation Order on the subject assets was issued by the Court in a timely manner thereby ensuring that all frozen bank deposits and other assets remain “preserved”. This is what really matters.

Anyone who knows the AMLC’s legal history will tell you that almost all the petitions for a freeze order that we file with the Court of Appeals graduate into civil forfeiture cases. The Ampatuan case is no exception.

The AMLC and the OSG have been similarly vigilant and in constant close coordination in handling banking inquiry, freeze and civil forfeiture cases, including the Ampatuan case. Unlike the media, however, we do not write about our work. We do not telegraph what we are doing. The very nature of the AMLC’s functions — financial intelligence unit — prevents us from so doing. But, in order for people to know the good things that we do, we really need the media — a media which hears before it condemns and publishes the truth after it hears. We are on the same side after all — the side of truth and justice.

Thank you for the Philippine STAR’s support in pushing for the urgently needed amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001 and for publishing this letter.