Japan move vs PNB blamed on PR firm

The story about Japan’s rejection of the Philippine National Bank (PNB)’s request to set up a remittance system for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) is the handiwork of a US-based public relations firm.

This was disclosed yesterday by Sen. Joker Arroyo in an interview.

"We know all along that’s part of PR work," he said, explaining that ideally OFWs should not be affected by the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) since their remittances do not qualify in the P540,000 ($10,000) threshold of suspicious bank accounts or transactions.

He maintained that the rejection was a grand scheme to pave the way for policies in the Philippines that would be subservient to foreign powers, particularly the US.

Earlier, Sen. Ralph Recto revealed that a group known as Accelerating Growth, Investment and Liberalization with Equity (AGILE) received a seven-year lobby fund from the US government worth $41 million (P2.2 billion) to assure, among others, the country’s passage of the AMLA, whose terms and conditions are to be directed by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

This was firmly denied by the US Embassy in Manila yesterday.

Ronald Post, the US Embassy’s Counselor for Public Affairs, told The STAR that it’s not true that the US funded lobby groups to pressure Congress to amend the AMLA.

"We don’t have that kind of money. And if we do, we do not use it to lobby," he said.

Recto, however, said that the money was made available by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to Maryland-based consulting group named Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), which teamed up with AGILE not only to assure the passage of AMLA amendments but to push for a "dozen laws" which all bear the imprint of US interests.

"You can say that the genesis of recently passed Philippine laws can be traced to that state," Recto said.

"AGILE’s efforts span all major areas of the Philippine economy. AGILE’s tentacles attest to the omnipresence of this unaccountable group," he said.

Recto said that AGILE holds satellite offices in key government agencies, including the Central Bank, the Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, Civil Aeronautics Board, Department of Agriculture, and the National Telecommunications Commission, to name a few.

He added that AGILE agents are also in Malacañang, nesting in the office of at least one presidential adviser.

"It’s policy concerns range from genetically modified foods to intellectual property rights, radio frequencies, shipping, BIR reorganization, rice importation, capital markets, e-commerce, and open skies policy. No agency escapes from the kuku (claw) of AGILE," Recto said.

He added that AGILE has also been paid by the USAID to bring down tariff walls and lift all barriers to competition "so the US trade steamroller can smother local businesses."

To shed light on the issue, the Senate summoned AGILE officials to a hearing this morning.

Also invited to appear before senators are Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Rafael Buenaventura, and businessman Sergio Luis Ortiz, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Depending on how this morning’s hearing goes, the Senate would decide whether to reconsider its approval of the bicameral report on the AMLA amendments and subject it to further changes.

But the twelve senators who voted for retaining the provision on keeping the court order a requirement before AMLC can open suspicious bank accounts are gathering strength.

"It’s the only protection ordinary citizens have against possible abuses by the AMLC," said Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

Meanwhile, Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III said there is no "compelling reason" to scrap the requirement.

Recto, who was not able to vote last week because he was recovering from a gallbladder operation, indicated that he would side with his twelve colleagues in case a new vote is called for on the AMLA amendments.

He said the US and other FATF members should not punish the Philippines because its anti-money laundering law does not conform with theirs.

"Contrary to their claims, we are not a money-laundering haven. If we are, the country should be awash in dollars and the peso-dollar exchange rate should be about 10 to 1," he said.

House approves AMLA’s recall

House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. announced yesterday that congressmen have unanimously approved the resolution to recall the ratification of the amended bill on AMLA.

"This opens the door for the resumption of the bicameral conference committee with the Senate in order that we can head off the sanctions that are expected to be imposed on March 15," he said.

De Venecia said that the House panel to the bicameral conference committee was reconstituted and the Senate is expected to the same.

He said that out of the 27 calendar days left until March 15, there would only be 12 session days where Congress can tackle anew the AMLA.

"We don’t have the luxury of time so we must make these adjustments as soon as possible," De Venecia said.

Meanwhile, the Philippines has asked for Washington’s help in convincing the global watchdog to forgo FATF sanctions.

"The government has sought the assistance of the United States to exercise its moral suasion on FATF members to hold adverse actions directed against the Philippines," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement.

"We are now suffering the effects of the anticipated imposition of FATF sanctions. We are afraid that things could get worse once the actual sanctions are imposed, " Bunye said.

Despite initial rejection by the US to help in this case, Bunye expressed the Palace’s optimism that American President George Bush would use his influence in the FATF to hold back the global watchdog from implementing sanctions against the Philippines until Congress can work out the AMLA amendments.

Bunye disclosed that Mrs. Arroyo would "continue to work with Congress in finding a solution to this problem."

In the meantime, Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said that the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) are now drafting measures to help OFWs remit their money pending the passage of a new AMLA.

She pointed out that there are other means to remit money other than the banking system, which the OFWs could use temporarily until an AMLA is passed into law.

At the Department of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said that it is sending Undersecretary for international and economic relations Delia Albert to Paris to try to convince FATF to remove the Philippines from its list of non-cooperative countries and territories and help explain the Philippine position on the AMLA. — With Jess Diaz, Paolo Romero, Marichu Villanueva, Mayen Jaymalin, Efren Danao