MANILA, Philippines (Eagle News) — Former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo filed a bill that seeks to limit the power of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas over the Anti Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
The proposed provision made by the former president said that it would “insulate the BSP officials from the actuations of AMLC, especially the political ones which may be influenced by the council officials’ loyalty to their appointing authority.”
“The BSP should be liberated from the burden of supervising the very rigorous demands of criminal investigation such as those performed by AMLC,” Arroyo said.
She, however, said that its governor could serve as a member of the Council.
Arroyo also spared AMLC Chairman Amando Tetangco Jr., saying that under his supervision, he had exposed some problems in the operations of the AMLC.
“Tetangco was a “fine career technocrat” who served the BSP itself with distinction,” but career technocrats like him “do not have the temperament and training to supervise criminal investigations such as those conducted by the AMLC,” Arroyo said.
“Therefore, to insulate the BSP officials from the actuation’s of AMLC, especially the political ones which may be influenced by the Council officials’ loyalty to their appointing authority, the BSP should be liberated from the burden of supervising the very rigorous demands of criminal investigation such as those performed by AMLC,” the former president added.
Arroyo also said that the AMLC seemed to be beholden to the previous administration which appointed its members, referring to the Aquino administration.
She pointed out that information about certain personalities connected to the previous administration like Senator Leila de Lima, had not been disclosed by the AMLC.
The said agency has been acting much on its own with regard to its investigations, without bothering to get specific clearances from the BSP governor,” Arroyo said.
“The AMLC, whose officers were appointed by the previous administration, has demonstrated the potential of being used as a tool of selective justice,” she added.
The former President referred to the refusal of the AMLC to probe De Lima who is facing allegations that she had received millions of pesos in drug money from high-profile inmates of the New Bilibid Prisons, and from Eastern Visayas illegal drugs distributor Kerwin Espinosa.
“In the previous administration, grossly inaccurate information on the alleged bank accounts of then presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte and other perceived opponents of the officers’ appointing authority were leaked out,” Arroyo said.
“In contrast, information is now being withheld from authorized investigators on the bank accounts of certain persons under investigation, who happen to be identified with the previous authority which appointed them, and to whom they seem to owe their allegiance,” she added.