Those of us wishing for a change in President Duterte’s behavior in 2017 will be greatly disappointed.
In a series of one-on-one interviews with TV networks before the end of 2016, it was clear from what he said that if anything else, the nation can expect more of the same. This means that the war on illegal drugs and tirades will go on.
Ironically, the President also said he wants a peaceful and progressive Philippines and that the country is open for business and wants more investments. He made special mention of the entry of China that will dramatically increase foreign investments beginning this year.
To many observers, these may seem contradictory statements. For the President, however, there is no contradiction. It is simply a difference in the reading of the situation—what is happening on the ground. To him, the number-one problem in this country is illegal drugs. It is the primary stumbling block in the attainment of peace and progress in the country. Solve it and the country will be rid of a deadly menace.
The difference is that his critics do not seem willing to pay the steep price.
Who is right? On the home front, it would seem that the President is winning. This is shown by his robust approval rating. Overseas, of course, together with his critics here at home, the unabated killings must stop. As the illegal drug war continues, there is nothing that can be done except to wait and count the costs when it will finally come to an end —if ever it comes to an end.
Just last Dec. 27, three teenagers and a pregnant woman were killed in Caloocan City during a police operation. No satisfactory explanation was given by the police. Even the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, an advocacy group that also wants stronger measures to fight crime, was shocked at the killing of these four apparently innocent people, calling them an unnecessary collateral damage to the war on drugs.
One wish that majority of Filipinos would want the President to stop is the insulting words that he uses in his tirades: “ulol,” crazy, idiot and stupid. Tirades by a leader maybe unavoidable at times but using insulting words is severe. It is not doing our country any good in the eyes of the international community. Mr. Duterte must stop this.
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One good development in the anti-money laundering front is a bill filed by former President Gloria Arroyo and now a deputy speaker in the House to remove the Anti-Money Laundering Council from the supervision and control of the Bangko Sentral. As one who handled transnational crime during her administration, it is about time. The governor of the central bank being involved in police investigations is anathema to managing the country’s financial coffers. Money laundering is the biggest criminal operation in the world today dwarfing any other criminal activity.
Corrupt government officials in every country use money laundering to hide the proceeds of their crime. Although big strides have been made in this field in the last couple of decades, there is still a lot of loopholes in the system, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies worldwide to run after corrupt officials, especially from less developed countries.
Criminal syndicates also use money laundering to legitimize proceeds from their crime. This is happening under the very noses of our law enforcement agencies even as I write this piece.
More than amending the Anti-Money Laundering Law, we need to craft a new law to give teeth to law enforcement agencies in fighting corruption and other crimes. Many of our corrupt officials can still hide their stolen money in our banking system using various techniques and taking advantage of loopholes in the law.
Removing the AMLC from the supervision and control of the central bank governor should only be the first step in reforming our Anti-Money Laundering Law. If Congress fails to do this, corruption will never be minimized or reduced in this country. But with all the corruption allegations involving our government officials, there is a strong incentive not to amend the anti-money laundering statute. After all, where else can corrupt officials hide the proceeds of their crime? It is not after all wise to simply stash away huge amounts of money in a house.
So, the banks still remain to be the best place to hide dirty money if not here in the country, in some overseas offshore bank like in the Cayman Islands, Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean and a few other places that have remained havens for stolen money. Some still claim that the illegal drug trade is the biggest but it is nothing compared to the amount involved in money laundering. The Bangladesh money laundering case has demonstrated the weaknesses of our system.
If the AMLC under the central bank were handled by professional law enforcement people, the monitoring would have been such that AMLC world have seen able to monitor the transaction electronically. This is relatively simple to do and does not involve huge amounts of money. It is just coming up with a software program and buying affordable computer hardware available in Greenhills. Hopefully, the Arroyo bill will find support in Congress as a first step in amending the Anti-Money Laundering Law.
