GMA urges Congress to pass new Central Bank Act

President Arroyo urged Congress leaders yesterday to help the country regain investors’ confidence by immediately passing the proposed amendments to the Central Bank Law.

In her first meeting with members of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), the President said the approval of House Bill 878 would help erase the negative image of the country as one of Asia’s money laundering centers.

"We can only let this negative image stay at the expense of our economy. We need to act with dispatch to repair the image of our banking system," she said.

The Philippines has been branded as a money laundering haven by various international finance groups. And Mrs. Arroyo said the discovery that deposed President Joseph Estrada had laundered millions of pesos in ill-gotten funds only gave credence to the claim of these groups.

"This has given credence to reports of the Philippines as among the top 15 countries in the world suspected as haven for money laundering," Mrs. Arroyo said.

It can be recalled that Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson accused Estrada of depositing in various secret bank accounts millions of pesos from the proceeds of the illegal numbers game jueteng.

The accusation led to Estrada’s impeachment and subsequent trial in the Senate, which was aborted when a majority of senators voted to suppress evidence against Estrada leading to his sudden ouster by the so-called People Power II last month.

Mrs. Arroyo said she is fully supporting the speedy implementation of the new Central Bank Law based on the recommendation of the money laundering task force of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

She noted that the modified law calls for stricter compliance in customer identification, record-keeping, reporting of suspicious transactions and internal control of banks.

She added that the new law would also give BSP examiners access to deposits of more than P50 million which are believed to be tainted with fraud or irregularity.

The President urged Congress leaders to ensure that certain provisions be included in the law that would prevent possible excesses or abuses against depositors.

"We will make sure that adequate safeguards against arbitrariness are placed in this legislative initiative before it is finalized and passed into law," she said. "This is important to make the Philippines a convincing, if not smart, choice for all investors."