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- Category: Top News
- Published on Tuesday, 05 February 2013 20:40
- Written by Mia Gonzales / Reporter
The bicameral conference committee on Tuesday passed the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla) after the Senate panel reluctantly agreed to exclude casinos and Internet gaming from coverage of the law to beat the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) deadline.
Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, Senate panel chairman, is hopeful that the final version of the measure would be enough to keep the Philippines from the FATF blacklist.
“We only have one day to go and if both panels do not budge, the other consequence would be no law at all. Therefore, we would definitely be blacklisted if we do not have a law. Therefore, with a heavy heart, we agree to the position of the House panel and just hope that the amendments are sufficient to comply with the requirements of the FATF,” Guingona said at the bicameral conference meeting.
The senator later said, “it’s better to have a law than no law at all” and that loopholes that remain could be addressed by the 16th Congress.
Guingona said the Senate agreed to exclude casinos and Internet gaming from those covered by Amla, as proposed by the House of Representatives, to break the deadlock, despite its impact on the fight against money laundering.
“Ninety percent [of the Senate bill] was agreed upon but we must not forget that casinos are a big gaping hole in money laundering. So drug money, criminal money can still come into the Philippines,” he said.
Guingona said the Senate panel could not insist on the qualified inclusion of casinos and Internet gaming since the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. objected to the inclusion of the industry in Amla.
“On record they object to it. That also diluted my persuasive powers so to speak because a government agency is on record objecting to the inclusion of the law. They weren’t onboard,” he said.
Guingona said, however, that Amla is a “continuing legislation” so in the 16th Congress, “we will have another round, and I am almost sure we will have another round of amendments.”
“Whatever loopholes left would be plugged in next time,” he said.
Former Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Director General Vicente Aquino said the final version agreed upon that day “is the best that we can get at the moment from both houses of Congress.”
“We don’t want to force our luck or extend our luck. Let us see when the FATF plenary comes, whether this will be acceptable to the FATF or not,” said Aquino, who has just completed his term as AMLC chief.
Rep. Sergio Apostol of Leyte said the House panel, which he chairs, stood its ground on casinos because of its contribution to the economy.
“The casinos will really help the economy of our country. We are talking perhaps about in five years’ time we will have a bigger income than our regular budget with the two big casinos coming in and the present casinos. And if we can bring in foreign players, then we will have a very big income,” Apostol said.
Asked about the impact of the exclusion of casinos and Internet gaming from Amla coverage, Apostol said this would have to be addressed by the AMLC.
“The AMLC should be proactive. They should not wait for a law to help them. In fact, that was what the House was saying in this Aman Futures. You should be proactive. The problem is you are waiting always for a complainant. That’s wrong. You are the complainant,” he said.
Guingona said the only other major amendment was in the buying and selling of real estate, as covered by the Amla.
In the Senate version, real-estate brokers were required to report to the AMLC for transactions at least P25 million, but under the final version, the Land Registration Authority (LRA) would be reporting to the AMLC for transactions P500,000 and above.
Guingona said all other provisions of the Senate version were agreed upon and the bill is expected to be ratified at the latest by Wednesday, the last session day before Congress goes on a four-month break for the May elections.
Sen. Joker Arroyo said the final version has “enough safeguards,” including higher penalties for banks that accept dirty money, which he introduced.
“One of the elements there is that banks now are accountable for accepting dirty money, which is another term for laundered money. With that provision, banks now will be very careful in accepting deposits which may be deposited for money-laundering purposes,” Arroyo said.
Under the final version of the bill, “the penalty of imprisonment ranging from four to seven years and a fine corresponding to not more than 200 percent of the value of the monetary instrument or property laundered shall be imposed upon the covered person, its directors, officers of personnel who knowingly participated in the commission of the crime of money laundering.”
“Banks are first line of defense versus money laundering. But if accountable, they will be very careful,” Arroyo said.
He also said that under the measure, the AMLC “cannot be used by the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] for their campaign because before tax evasion was predicate crime, and we removed this.”
“The prohibition against using Amla versus tax evasion or revenue purposes is prohibited. People are scared of BIR. BIR and AMLC will team up, they will be the biggest terror. That’s eliminated,” he said.
Arroyo also said the law has safeguards to protect innocent people from not necessarily harassment but mistakes of government agencies because there is no accountability.”
“Now that there is accountability, government will be more careful,” he said.
Guingona said that with the passage of the law, “the noose has just been tightened around the necks of criminals stashing dirty and corrupt funds and properties in the Philippines.”
“You who take advantage of the country’s legal framework as nesting ground for unlawful activity, your days of crime are numbered. Aside from forfeiting dirty money, the Amla, as amended, ensures life-changing prison sentences and crippling fines for money launderers,” he said.
Guingona noted that the amended Amla “requires not only banks but all establishments covered, supervised and controlled by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Insurance Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission to promptly report to the AMLC transactions suspected of money laundering.”
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