AMLC on the ‘hot seat’

After the seventh and final hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the $81-million money laundering scam, the current media focus is the jostling for Cabinet and other appointive posts of the incoming Duterte administration.

While news about the world’s biggest cyberheist and its dismal handling by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has taken a backseat, it doesn’t mean that government regulators would get off the hook that easily.

During the run up to the May 9 polls, then presidential frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte vowed to order a probe on AMLC should he win the presidency. He was incensed after the agency was mentioned in published reports as one of a few suspected sources of leaked bank data which was supposed to be covered by the Bank Secrecy Law.

Whether the source of Sen. Antonio Trillanes’ expose against Duterte was a deliberate AMLC leak or fabricated data, the incoming president deems it necessary to look into AMLC’s role, especially in the perceived persecution of known adversaries of the Liberal Party and the Aquino administration. These include the late Chief Justice Renato Corona, Vice President Jejomar Binay, and Duterte himself.

But it’s not just in the case of Corona, Binay and Duterte that the anti-money laundering watchdog has been put to task.

ALMC executive director Julia Bacay-Abad, for example, is currently facing criminal raps before the Department of Justice (DOJ) for allegedly using false information to justify freeze orders against businessman Antonio Tiu, a major exporter of fruits, vegetables and other agricultural commodities.

Tiu, a friend of the Binay family, accused Abad of maliciously and falsely implicating him in the alleged unlawful money laundering scheme of the vice president.

The businessman claims he was maliciously and falsely implicated in a supposed unlawful money laundering scheme after AMLC’s Abad allegedly made it appear he had financial transactions which purportedly had no underlying legal or trade obligations, purpose, or economic justification.

As a result, more than 30 bank accounts of Tiu and his companies were ordered frozen, which greatly hampered his business operations.

He tags as “absolutely false” Abad’s claims he purchased $20-million from a local bank in 2008. At the same time, he stressed his companies’ transactions were properly disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange.

As Duterte assumes office on June 30, Tiu is among many who are hopeful that AMLC officials would finally be made to account for allowing a supposedly independent institution to be used as a tool for political persecution. But even before it happens, he’s already pursuing all available legal remedies, beginning with a criminal complaint for perjury which is currently pending at the DOJ.

Crackdown continues

Government’s drive against fake and smuggled cigarettes continues to bear fruit as more and more sellers are arrested by authorities.

Just last May 23, there were newspaper reports that agents of the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue, together with PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) operatives arrested another storeowner for the sale of fake Mighty brand cigarettes in Quezon City.

Armed with a search and arrest warrant, CIDG agents arrested one Kevin Co Ong of King Co Store in Speaker Perez St. after he was caught in possession of fake Mighty Menthol soft pack and Mighty Full Flavor King Size variants through the complaint of a Mighty Corp. representative.

Ong was charged with violating the Intellectual Property Code. According to authorities, violators may also be held liable for violating the Consumer Protection Act and the National Internal Revenue Code, whose penalties range from one to 12 years imprisonment and fines of up to P200,000, or both.

Newspapers also reported that NBI-Cabanatuan agents nabbed one Jeffrey De Guzman Castro in Talavera, Nueva Ecija for possession of large quantities of fake Mighty Full Flavor, Mighty Menthol 100s, Marvels Filter Kings and Marvels Menthol 100s.

Like Ong, Castro was also charged with violating the Intellectual Property Code.

CIDG chief Police Director Victor Deona said the PNP remains vigilant against counterfeiters and warned individuals and business establishments against the sale and distribution of fake cigarettes.

He emphasized the fake products hurt the economy because they are not tax-paid and this is why they are being sold very cheap, adding the CIDG is serious in its crackdown on these fake products.

Earlier, the CIDG arrested a woman at the Sta. Rita Public Market in Guiguinto, Bulacan for selling fake Mighty cigarettes.

The BOC BIR, NBI and PNP authorities are in continuous pursuit of counterfeit traders and are going all out in their nationwide campaign against producers, distributors and traders of fake cigarettes. The campaign was launched last year and has already resulted in numerous apprehensions in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Agents of the NBI, armed with search warrants, recently arrested six people and seized fake Mighty cigarettes in a series of raids in Zamboanga City, Cebu and Nueva Ecija.

The NBI-Western Mindanao Regional Office (WEMRO), under regional director Manuel Almendras, held three stall owners at the Zamboanga Public Market for selling 3,400 fake packs of Mighty Menthol and Full Flavor variants. Meanwhile, the NBI-Central Visayas Regional Office (CEVRO) ordered the holding of two stall owners at the public market of Pinamungajan, Cebu, for selling five boxes of fake Mighty Full Flavor and Mighty Menthol variants.

Also, the NBI-Cabanatuan district office arrested a retailer for selling 50 reams of fake Mighty Full Flavor soft pack. The suspects were held for committing trademark infringement and unfair competition under the IPC.

NBI director Virgilio Mendez reminded traders to deal only with authorized company representatives who are in proper uniform with corresponding identification cards and company vehicles.

Incoming president Duterte was probably right when he said the Customs and Internal Revenue bureaus as among the most corrupt agencies in government, but the two agencies’ relentless campaign against fake and smuggled cigarettes which deprive the state of much-needed revenues is worth mentioning. After all, there are still honest and hard-working people in the BOC, BIR, PNP, and NBP who are still doing their jobs.

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