Palace action on AMLA amendments urged

10/04/2008

Speaker Prospero Nograles has asked President Arroyo to certify as urgent the proposed amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) of 2001 to make it “compliant with current international anti-money/counter-terrorist financing standards.”

According to the House leader, “global efforts to stabilize the financial markets and the sustained war against terrorism dictate the immediate revision of Republic Act 9160 or the AMLA.”

The House of Representatives has approved on second reading the amendatory measure, House Bill 5077, and the President’s certification would hasten its final passage by the House.

“A certification by the President would allow us to fast-track its final reading approval even as the House plenary has started its floor consideration of the proposed P1.14-trillion General Appropriations Act for 2009,” the Speaker said.

Nograles, through the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, wrote his letter-request to President Arroyo last Sept. 30.

The House of Representatives has yet to receive a reply from Malacañang.

Majority Leader Arthur Defensor, however, said HB 5077, after its earlier second reading approval, has been recalled by plenary to undergo further “perfecting amendments.”

“If the President certifies the bill as urgent, as requested by Speaker Nograles, HB 5077 can be approved on third reading without waiting for the required three-day period following second-reading passage,” Defensor stressed.

Nograles himself is one of the principal authors of the consolidated bill with Representatives Rufus Rodriguez and Jaime Lopez, chairman of the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries.

“Compliance with international standards against money laundering will make it more difficult for criminals to divert to the legal front money taken from illegal activities,” Lopez said.

Key provisions of the proposed bill include the coverage of “designated non-financial businesses and professions as reporting institutions, such as casinos, including Internet casinos; real-estate agents; dealers in precious metals and stones; lawyers, notaries, other independent legal professionals and accountants when they prepare for or carry out transactions for their clients’ money, monetary instruments, property or other assets.”

Also, it expands the list of unlawful activities to include terrorism and terrorist financing, trafficking in human beings, sexual exploitation of children, corruption and bribery and environment crimes.

It also grants the Anti-Money Laundering Council the authority to inquire on a bank deposit upon order of a court based on an ex-parte application.

It also prescribes due process safeguard provisions in the implementation of a freeze order.

HB 5077 also provides for a system of incentives and rewards and for the disposition of forfeited assets and retention.

Charlie V. Manalo and PNA

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