Cayetano pushes to lift bank secrecy law

MANILA, Philippines - Senator and vice presidential bet Alan Peter Cayetano Thursday called for the lifting of the bank secrecy law for public officials to prevent corruption. 

“Dahil sa kakulangan ng matapang na solusyon at mabilis na aksyon, naging talamak ang korapsyon at gulo sa matataas na opisina ng gobyerno. Sa Pilipinas, ‘pag nagnakaw ng kaonti, nakukulong, ‘pag nagnakaw ng marami, nagiging senador o bise presidente,” Cayetano said.

He added that the country’s bank secrecy law, which is among the strictest in the world, has become a major stumbling block on resolving many corruption and money laundering cases in the public sector.

“Public officials like the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and Vice President Jejomar Binay can easily dip their hands on the nation's coffers because somehow, our legal system allowed them to conceal their true wealth through dummy accounts. Bolder solutions are needed to end this disorder,” Cayetano said.

The senator said that if elected, he and his running mate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will push for a measure allowing the full disclosure of bank accounts of officials accused of graft and corruption. They will also pass an anti-dummy law that will prevent public officials from hiding their true assets in dummy bank accounts.

“By promoting transparency and accountability among our public servants, we can be sure that there would be no more Binay-like or Marcos-like plunder of the people's money,” Cayetano said.

“Kapag walang korapsyon sa gobyerno, mas maraming matatanggap na serbisyo ang mga tao, matitigil ang gulo at tiyak na may tunay na pagbabago. Ito po ang inaalok namin ni Mayor Duterte sa ilalim ng aming gobyerno,” he added.

Meanwhile, Duterte slammed Vice President Jejomar Binay for speaking about corruption.

"Who can solve corruption? Binay? All I can say is that I noticed that Binay has large arms counting money," the tough-talking mayor said.