EDITORIAL - Don’t sweep dirt under the rug

As phishing, money muling and other online scams surge, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has strengthened its authority to access and share financial account information without violating laws on bank secrecy and data privacy.

Under its Circular 1214, the Bangko Sentral has authorized its Consumer Account Protection Office to look into e-wallet, bank and other financial accounts suspected of being used in financial and social engineering scams. In issuing the circular, the BSP has invoked the Anti-financial Account Scamming Act or Republic Act 12010, which was enacted in July last year.

A regulatory body needs utmost credibility, with its members seen as honest, dedicated and competent public servants. Exemplary behavior is expected particularly of the BSP and its policy-making body, the Monetary Board, whose officials are the highest paid in the Philippine government.

The board has only seven members, who each earned from around P23.5 million to over P25 million last year, with BSP Governor and MB Chairman Eli Remolona getting a hefty P47.96 million, according to Commission on Audit records. That amount includes a basic salary of P1 million a month, with the rest coming from allowances, bonuses, incentives and other benefits.

It should not be asking too much if they are held to the highest standards of integrity in public service.

Yet many months after a scandal erupted in the MB over reports that ghost employees were allegedly hired in the offices of two board members, the nation is still awaiting the BSP’s findings, and possible sanctions.

V. Bruce Tolentino and Anita Linda Aquino were both appointed in 2020 by then president Rodrigo Duterte as full-time private sector representatives to the Monetary Board. They were supposed to have a term of six years, but the ghost employee scandal drove them out of their posts.

Malacañang accepted their resignations effective June 30 last year. The BSP said it was conducting a probe into the alleged hiring of ghost employees – an offense that has sent lesser government employees to prison for several years. Are highly paid officials above the law, entitled to full retirement benefits and fat pensions?

Public trust is crucial for BSP and MB members to effectively carry out their duties, and to deserve salaries bigger than what the president of the republic receives. Questions raised about their integrity must be addressed decisively and with transparency.

Addressing doubts about the integrity of MB members must include a thorough housecleaning. And housecleaning shouldn’t mean sweeping dirt under the rug.