Money straps key to Jack Lam deposits

Check the bank currency straps on the P50-million bribe to the two Immigration commissioners. Those paper straps would lead to Jack Lam’s bank deposits, which the President wants seized.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council would do well to heed that simple advice from Congressman Johnny Pimentel of Surigao. “Follow the money trail starting with the currency straps,” he says of the bribery in the alleged illegal online gaming in Clark Freeport.

A currency strap, also called bill band, is a piece of paper used to bundle banknotes of the same denomination to facilitate counting. Printed on it is the name of the bank from which the cash is withdrawn and the denomination, with the tally initialed by the teller.

Pimentel notes that when the bribe money was shown on news television, the bank’s name and P1,000-denomination were clear from the currency straps. “Starting with the currency straps, it should be fairly easy to trace from which account the money was withdrawn,” he says. An inquiry into that bank account can lead to multiple other links.

Immigration commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles were exposed to have taken the P50-million bribe. Money changed hands after the arrest of 1,316 Chinese nationals illegally working at the Clark casino of Macao gambling lord Jack Lam. Justice Sec. Vitaliano Aguirre said Lam bribed his subordinates for the release of the illegal aliens.

Accusing Lam of tax fraud, President Duterte has asked the AMLC to confiscate his assets from the unlicensed online gaming. The AMLC freezes bank accounts preparatory to asset sequestration by the court. The bribery rap would be the AMLC’s legal basis for a court freeze, says Pimentel, head of the good government committee.

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Smoking can kill, but Big Tobacco is alive and well – bad news for health activists. The ban on cigarette advertising has had the unintended effect of cutting sales costs while stunting upstart brands. Stiffer taxation is where anti-smoking advocates are gaining headway. Due to higher prices per pack, the World Health Organization notes a global drop in smoking, from one-fourth to one-fifth of males.

It has yet to be seen whether the two-tier tax that Congress passed for low- and high-grade tobacco really would increase collections. But for quick results the taxmen should crack down on the use of counterfeit tax stamps on cigarette packs. The trick reportedly is employed in the rural areas. Thousands of cartons pasted with fake stamps are whisked out of cigarette factories, past the checkpoints. Apparently big amounts change hands. Undetermined, meanwhile, is whether the P8-billion drop in the tax take, from P99.5 billion in 2015, was due to evasion or decline in smoking.

Curbs have been suggested to the Bureau of Internal Revenue. These range from the installation of more CCTVs at the factories, to stricter production and sales audits, to raids of sari-sari stores to make the small owners squeal on the suppliers of fake-stamped brands. The P8 billion that taxmen should recover is big incentive to employ all those ways to stub out the counterfeiters, health officials say.

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The House of Reps will hear today if the MRT-3 commuter rail truly is crumbling from slipshod management. Among the points to be raised are the frequent train breakdowns, the non-overhaul of 43 old coaches, and non-operation of 48 new ones.

At the Philippine National Railways is good news. Refurbished the other week were two 20-year-old locomotives from General Electric-Transport. The repowered engines would boost daily trips to 56 from 34, and ridership from the present 58,000. The P50-million cost per locomotive easily would be recovered.

Meralco Rail teamed up with GE’s local distributor Desco for the project that involves one more diesel-electric locomotive by March. The three units were shipped to the GE plant in Pennsylvania to ensure that only original parts were used. The work included engine recompression, and test runs for traction, acceleration, and safety. New computerized train controls and signaling were installed.

New PNR chairman Roberto Lastimoso’s mission is to revive the century-old railway. Once touted as Asia’s second best (next to Japan’s), the PNR deteriorated from poor management, upkeep, and funding. This is the first major upgrade of the 26 locomotives acquired in 1992. Only 12 are in use for its daily commuter runs from Manila-Tutuban to Alabang, Muntinlupa. More locomotives are to be rehabilitated this year.

North lines are to be revived, to Malolos, Bulacan, onto Subic, Zambales, and Baguio City, Cordilleras. The south line is to be extended to Calamba and Los Baños, Laguna, then onto Legaspi City, Albay, and Matnog, Sorsogon, with a bypass to Batangas City port. A circumferential railway is also slated in Mindanao.

Lastimoso says the funding will come from public-private partnership and foreign aid. The rails shall be for cargo as well, like in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Laos.

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