Duterte vents ire at Bangko Sentral, AMLC for ‘protecting somebody’
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Monday warned the AntiMoney Laundering Council (AMLC) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) against “protecting somebody.”
Speaking at the 80th Anniversary celebration of the National Bureau of Investigation ( NBI), Mr. Duterte said: “I’d like to address myself to the Central Bank guys and the AMLA. Alam mo ( You know), I’d like to warn you to avoid a confrontation between us, Central Bank people.”
“You cannot tell the public because you were protecting somebody, those who are really into money laundering,” Mr. Duterte added.
To recall, Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II said in September that he had diff iculty seeking the AMLC’s cooperation in the Justice department’s investigation into the money trail of the drugs trade at the national penitentiary.
At the center of the probe is Senator Leila M. de Lima, whom the Duterte government accuses of protecting and profiting from the illegal drugs racket.
“I was having difficulty in asking some data from the AMLC despite the fact that some of these bank accounts [were] included in the affidavits of the inmates. Under the AMLA (Anti-Money Laundering Act), if the case being investigated is under the Dangerous Drugs Act (the information should be provided) without filing a petition in court,” Mr. Aguirre said at the time, in response to AMLC’s citing procedural matters that also involved seeking court approval.
TRILLANES REVISITED
Mr. Duterte then recalled an earlier controversy that hounded him during the campaign season, saying: “You know when I was a candidate there was a guy, a senator who’s so stupid, torpe talaga siya, that I had 211 million bank deposit.”
“If I had that money, why did you not initiate an investigation? For I really had none,” he added.
Mr. Duterte was alluding to allegations raised by Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV, toward the close of the election campaign this year, that Mr. Duterte had at least P227 million in a bank account at a Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) branch at Julia Vargas Avenue, Pasig City.
The senator — who was then running for vice- president — claimed at the time that the amount was not declared in Mr. Duterte’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth (SALN). At the height of that controversy, BSP officer- in- charge Vicente S. Aquino issued a statement on May 2, saying: “We would like to categorically state that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Anti- Money Laundering Council (AMLC) are not the source of the documents and information being cited by a vicepresidential candidate regarding the alleged bank accounts of a certain presidential candidate.”
“We assure the Filipino people that the BSP and the AMLC are not engaged in partisan politics and will never allow themselves to be used as a tool for political persecution or harassment, or as an instrument to hamper competition in trade and commerce,” the statement added.
‘OR I WILL GO TO YOU’
Mr. Duterte in his remarks at the NBI also said: “The Secretary of Justice is saying that you are hard to deal with. You better go to the Secretary of Justice or I will go to you. I will call for you and you have to answer so many questions to me.”
“Either you cooperate in this Republic to protect and serve our people, or don’t make it hard for us. Otherwise, I will make it hard for you,” he added.
Mr. Aguirre on Monday also responded to Ms. de Lima’s statement on Sunday that he was “manufactur[ing] false evidence designed to link me to illegal drug trade.”
“Her standard defense is that DoJ is manufacturing evidence against her in all fora where she is being accused as the drug protector. Yet, she has not presented any iota of evidence to prove her accusation!” Mr. Aguirre said in a text message to reporters.
“She was always acting as if she is someone special and above the law,” he added.