Money laundering, greenhorns

Batas Mauricio

DOES the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) have the right to simply return to Bangladesh part of the money that had been surrendered for safekeeping to it by casino operator Kim Wong? I am asking this in view of the admission of AMLC chief Julia Bacay Abad that she already signed a document purporting to return the money that Kim Wong turned over to AMLC.

The admission, made during the Tuesday Senate inquiry on the theft of some US $81 million Bangladeshi money from the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York early February 2016, sent shockwaves to many lawyers, particularly Kim Wong’s lawyer, Inocencio Ferrer Jr., and Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile.

Ferrer and Enrile both pointed to a process to be followed under the Anti-Money Laundering law, which bars immediate return of any money already recovered or which may have been surrendered to the AMLC. Did not Abad and the other AMLC officials know this process? Why were they in a hurry to return the money even if the process prescribed by law had not been followed yet?

Pardon me but this is the real problem with most officials of the Aquino government, President Aquino himself included. Many of them seem greenhorns in running the country and their respective agencies, so that even the most basic procedures that would ensure good performance are either unknown to them, or are simply ignored for reasons of their own.

Indeed, the late Sen. Joker Arroyo was right when he said that Aquino’s government is a “student council type of government,” run by mere youths who are either inexperienced or totally lacking in discernment required by their sensitive positions. The result is not just lackadaisical performance in governance, but, more seriously, lack of performance at all.

This sorry state of affairs among our officials was in fact displayed vividly early on under Aquino’s term, when, just after almost a few days after he assumed the presidency, his bumbling approach to a hostage situation at the Luneta, witnessed by the world through instant news reporting, caused the death of a dozen or so Hong Kong citizens.

What have the Filipinos done to deserve this dangerous fate? There would be as many answers from as many commentators we have in abundance in this country, but to me, these misfortunes are happening to us because of one single reason: we no longer truly listen to God, and no longer obey His commands.

In the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, particularly under its Chapter 3, it is there written that because people no longer listen to God and no longer obey His commands, and men no longer put their trust in Him but in their fellow mortal beings, He has lined up dark curses and grave punishments for them.

One of these curses is written this way, under Isaiah 3:4: “I will make mere youths their officials; children will rule over them.” Clearly, being run by people who are childish in their dispositions although they pretend to possess the intelligence of mature men and women, just like our own officials now, is something that God has decreed for those who have turned their backs on Him. It is a misfortune indeed for a people who claim to be Christians.

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It was a scandal of epic proportions, all right. I am referring to the news that says Mar Roxas, the standard bearer of President Aquino, of the Liberal Party, and of the so-called “Righteous Path Coalition” in the forthcoming May elections, is the top candidate who won’t be voted upon by voters, according to the survey of the Social Weather Station (SWS) and Businessworld.

Why, big money had already been spent (and is continuing to be spent at present) for the campaign of Mar by Mar himself and his supporters, including Aquino and other big businessmen, and yet, it is earthshaking to know that he is still the most disliked candidate at this point that the May 9 elections is just a few days away.

This has brought great shame, most especially to President Aquino, in the light of his hardcore endorsement of Mar which nevertheless appears to have been ignominiously set side by many voters. Well, this should put to waste and would even give a lie to survey results claiming that Aquino allegedly continues to enjoy high approval and popularity ratings at this point.

That notwithstanding, the bigger scandal here appears to be the outright “murder”, as it were, of the news about the results of the Roxas survey that was commissioned by SWS and by Businessworld, perpetrated by almost newspapers around the country. The truth is that, the news was hardly carried by newspapers, even if it already went viral among radio programs the day before.

The question is: why was this news story (that Mar topped the choice of candidates who won’t be voted upon) “killed” and not published by almost all newspapers around the Philippines? Why was it reported only on radio? What could have been the possible reason?

The problem of most newspapers about this news is that, there is proof that their reporters wrote the story and submitted to their editors. If only one or two editors failed or refused to use the story, that could be understandable. But if almost all newspapers did not report the news, what gives? What benefit was bandied about to prevent the publication of a story as newsworthy as this?

Here is a sample of the news story submitted by reporters to their editors on this survey, shared with me by Ludovico Somintac: “At last, Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas topped a survey.

“But this is with respect to the ‘presidentiables’ who won’t be voted upon by the voters come May 9. Malacanang immediately contested the methodology used by SWS in conducting the mobile survey, which showed Mar Roxas as the top choice for those who will not be voted upon by the public.

“Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Palace wanted to know the methodology employed by SWS in its mobile survey, because its results are inconsistent with their monthly surveys, and with the surveys of Pulsa Asia…”

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com