Toughen anti-money laundering law

One of the amazing things I noticed shortly after Britain exposed the terrorist threat the other week was how quickly the Bank of England, their central bank, was able to order the freezing of the accounts of the key suspects. In fact, the world got to know the names of those arrested through the announcement of the Bank of England.

I wonder if our own Anti-Money Laundering Council can be as efficient if the situation calls for it. Thus far, I have been hearing favorable reviews on the quiet work being done by the council. One difficulty the council faces is the law itself, because the power to freeze accounts is with the Court of Appeals. There is always the danger that by the time the court acts on it, there is nothing more to freeze. In fairness to the court, I have also received good reviews on the court’s reaction time, thus far, to requests from the council.

So the only problem the council has to contend with in order to get its work done well is its budget. Like most useful government agencies, it is grossly underfunded, as if our leaders want it to fail. I hear that the council had only been allocated P10 million as an annual budget. Dedication and competence can only take them so far. A senior executive in San Miguel or PLDT probably gets more in salary, allowances and benefits than the council’s total budget. Absolutely absurd!

One might think the council has access to an intelligence fund that would help it carry out its duties wherever that would take them in the world. But rumors have it that the Budget Secretary denied a request for a measly P5 million in intelligence fund for the council. It is a strange investigative body with a worldwide mandate but with zero intelligence funds. If Ate Glue is really all fired up to fight terrorism, giving the Anti Money Laundering council sufficient resources to do its job must be high on her agenda.

One other thing we must do is update the Anti Money Laundering law. I was browsing through the website of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that is in control of the worldwide efforts to combat money laundering. The website observed that money laundering methods and techniques change in response to developing counter-measures.

"In recent years, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has noted increasingly sophisticated combinations of techniques, such as the increased use of legal persons to disguise the true ownership and control of illegal proceeds, and an increased use of professionals to provide advice and assistance in laundering criminal funds."

This is why the FATF now calls upon all countries to take the necessary steps to bring their national systems for combating money laundering and terrorist financing into compliance with the new FATF recommendations, and to effectively implement these measures. Countries are strongly encouraged to extend the reporting requirement to the rest of the professional activities of accountants, including auditing.

In more specific terms, the FATF wants lawyers, notaries, other independent legal professionals and accountants be required to report suspicious transactions when, on behalf of or for a client, they engage in a financial transaction in relation to the activities which fall into the description of money laundering. The example that comes to mind is the work allegedly done by the lawyers of PIATCO, if there is truth to the supposed results of a raid on their Hong Kong offices filtering here regarding the disposition of millions of dollars of supposed "PR money."

The FATF also wants to require dealers in precious metals and dealers in precious stones to report suspicious transactions when they engage in any cash transaction with a customer equal to or above the applicable designated threshold. There is a boom in the trade of precious metals in recent months.

The fight against terrorism, drug and other criminal activities as well as corruption calls for a strong anti-money laundering law. Our government, from the executive to the legislative and the judicial branches must all do their part or we are hostages to big money being used in the service of anti-social activities. It is as simple as that.

Biofuels

Perhaps the Biofuels bill now pending in Congress is putting pressure on the wrong party by focusing on the oil companies. Ultimately, the decision to use biofuels rests on the consumer. And the consumer will base his decision on what the manufacturer of his car says. Having made a sizeable investment on his car, a consumer would make sure using alcogas or ethanol or cocodiesel isn’t going to damage the car engine and put his investment at risk.

As it stands, we have yet to hear from the car manufacturers that they are 100 percent behind the use of biofuels. In fact, I understand in some cases, the use of fuel other than what is specified in the car owner’s manual invalidates warranties.

Mandating the oil companies to sell nothing but biofuels could be unconstitutional if it would deprive citizens of property through loss of warranties because the fuel is incompatible with the car engine. Let’s hear from Toyota and the rest of the car manufacturers what they feel about this bill before the use of biofuels become mandatory.

Batanes

An old friend, photographer Mandy Navasero, who 20 years ago took the picture I am using in this column, is a woman with a mission to save our heritage. More specifically, she wants to preserve our heritage as represented by the indigenous houses of Batanes, our northernmost province.

For this purpose, Mandy and her photography students are opening a photo exhibit called Batanes and other destinations. The show will be open for viewing at the Rockwell Power Plant North Court from Aug. 24 to 27, and will culminate in a fundraising auction on Aug. 26 at 4 p.m.

"Just try to picture us, 14 intrepid tourists, of disparate backgrounds and ages, bonded together by our love for travel and taking pictures, against a breathtaking backdrop of undulating emerald hills, shimmering seascapes, and – of course – charming stone cottages. The result: Each and every photo sparkles with a kind of magic; the kind that only truly exotic places inspire," Mandy explains.

The effort is to promote tourism and put Batanes on the UNESCO World Heritage List... the Philippines list only five sites: Tubbataha Reef, the Rice Terraces, Vigan, Puerto Princesa’s Subterranean Underground River and the various baroque churches...

The five best photographs as judged by Lilen Uy, Eric Torres, Patrick Koenigswater, Wyg Tysman and Eggie Apostol will be auctioned and the proceeds will go to help Butch Abad and the Batanes Heritage Foundation conserve the indigenous houses of Batanes – whose vernacular architecture exemplifies environmental design. Butch plans to save 1,500 houses.

Mandy said the beauty of Batanes is, of course, legendary – but the Ivatans’ rich heritage is not familiar to many of us. For centuries Ivatans have fashioned their homes out of limestone, wood, and thatch, perpetuating traditional skills that have been passed on from one generation to the next. Preserving these houses and the unique manner of building them (i.e., through community effort) links future Ivatans directly to their past. Allowing the structures to deteriorate would be tantamount to letting an entire culture slip into extinction.

Butch Abad, who is a native of Batanes, puts it this way: "An Ivatan house, and its maintenance, is a community enterprise and a community responsibility." He describes how different pockets of a community are responsible for different aspects of building. If an earthquake hits, for example, the community must come together to help rebuild the houses. So preserving and promoting the Ivatan house is preserving and promoting the Ivatan spirit and cultural heritage."

Each house costs about P150,000 to restore. There are more than a thousand houses in need of saving. Mandy and her students expect this event to mark the beginning of a sustained effort to save an important part of our heritage.

Pinoy joke

This one’s from Marilyn Mana-ay Robles.

Nay? bakit po VICTORIA ang name ni ate?

Kasi anak dun nagbunga ang pagmamahal namin ng itay mo...

Eh bakit si kuya, ANITO?

Ay, tumigil ka na nga Luneta at baka mapalo kita! Tawagin mo na si kuya FX mo!

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]