Lacson: PHL laws vs money laundering should be updated

(Eagle News) — Philippine laws covering money laundering should be updated, Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Thursday, March 5.

Lacson issued the statement in light of what Senator Richard Gordon said was the bringing in of $447 million or P22.69 billion in cash by only 46 individuals in five months.

“The bringing of huge sums of money in and out of the country in past months with seeming impunity indicates the urgent need for action from our government, not just by the Executive but also by the Legislative. Our authorities should keep up with, if not keep one step ahead of, criminals who are trying to do the same,” Lacson said, citing in particular the Bank Secrecy Law and the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

He said, however, that authorities should make sure the amendments  “cannot be weaponized for political purposes.”

He added there was a need to address the corruption that is “one big reason for authorities’ tolerating money laundering.”

According to Lacson, he himself was “at the receiving end of such abuse by the law” when several people made allegations he had millions of dollars in his accounts, prompting him to “waive my rights under the Bank Secrecy Law.”

“And acting from those experiences, I proposed amendments to the AMLA and filed a bill excluding all public servants from the Bank Secrecy Act,” he said.